Claire Ashley: Inflatabubble

June 23 - July 4, 2009
Reception: Friday, June 26, 5-7p.m.

For this project, Ashley has constructed an architectural fragment from her home in the gallery space. The fragment is a large scale inflatable sculpture (mattress) which takes the form of a wall with openings that can be interacted with; windows can be looked into voyeuristically, or out of, much like a fairground attraction booth. Photos will be taken and given to anyone who wishes to participate.

Anne Wilson: LOCAL INDUSTRY

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: Saturday June 20 + Sunday 21
SPOKE, 119 N. Peoria, Unit 3D, Chicago, IL 60607
www.SpokeChicago.blogspot.com / spokechicago@gmail.com

Anne Wilson: LOCAL INDUSTRY, phase one-Chicago to Knoxville
Come join Anne and studio assistants to learn how to wind fiber bobbins and contribute to a large collaborative weaving project, opening at the Knoxville Museum of Art in January 2010. The names of all Chicago participants will be included in the project archive. This event is free and open to the public; all ages are welcome!

Bobbin winding teaching and production sessions will be scheduled each
day (6/20 and 6/21) in the following time periods (8 people per session):
10:00 - 12noon: Session 1
12:30 - 1:30: All invited -- both days Anne will present an overview of the Knoxville Museum project and invite interactive discussion
1:30 - 3:30: Session 2
3:30 - 5:30: Session 3
All materials are provided. Additional donations of fiber and sewing threads are welcome -- please bring to SPOKE anytime on Saturday 6/20 or Sunday 6/21.

Email SPOKE to sign up for a time period!
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BACKGROUND
LOCAL INDUSTRY, a participatory cloth-making project at the Knoxville Museum of Art within exhibition "Anne Wilson: Wind/Rewind/Weave," January - April 2010

One museum gallery at the KMA will be set up as a bobbin winding/weaving production site -- tables and winders positioned at regular intervals for groups (adults, college/university students, and school-age children) to wind hundreds of bobbins of colorful fibers. Using the bobbins wound during the run of the exhibition, experienced weavers from Knoxville and surrounding states are invited to take turns weaving a continuous bolt of weft-faced, selvedge-to-selvedge, striped cloth. Once one weaver has completed a passage of stripes, the next weaver responds to that passage, making a color transition that moves into new striped color passages of individual choice. Proceeding this way, although abstract, relates to the Surrealist exercise of "exquisite corpse" drawing.

"Local Industry" emphasizes all weavers as visual thinkers, working collectively to create a visually dynamic striped cloth. The completed cloth bolt will be given to the KMA collection with an archive of all who participated, from Chicago to Knoxville.

Participation in this collaborative group process invites discourse and debate about the contemporary production of textiles, and the crisis of production, worldwide. Rich histories of both handcrafted and industrially produced textiles in the southeast are a key reason to locate this project at the KMA. The fibers/threads we use are not bought new but collected from both factory mill ends and individual studio contributions; this is a re-use project. "Local Industry" also engages in the multi-faceted discussions about new participatory forms in contemporary art.
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Anne Wilson is an artist and teacher in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. To see some of her work, go to: http://annewilsonartist.com/

Spring Benefit & Soirée

Spoke Spring Benefit & Soirée

May 2-15, 2009

Please join Spoke May 8^th from 6-9 p.m. for a night of music, food, drinks, and conversation. Art work & fresh goods by the founders of Spoke will be available for purchase to help raise money to support Spoke and enable the continuation of their mission.

Spoke is a small collaborative enterprise interested in maintaining a spirit of resourcefulness, spontaneity, experimentation, access rather than exclusion and interaction. Spoke is dedicated to providing opportunities for creative individuals and groups.

Featuring work by: Monica Herrera, Rachel Moore, Heather Mullins and Rana Siegel.

Open hours during benefit: 

Saturday, May 2, 11-5

Tuesday, May 5, 11-5

Friday, May 8, 11-9

Saturday, May 9, 11-5

"I try to erase you but you're still here" Regina Mamou & James Rigato

April 17-28, 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, April 17th 6-9p.m. with readings by James Rigato at 6:15p.m., 7:15p.m., and 8:15p.m.

I try to erase you but you’re still here is a collaborative project with photographs by Regina Mamou and writings by James Rigato. Raised in Michigan, Mamou and Rigato collectively respond to the idea of nostalgia based on location—as an origin of pain and yearning for the past. I try to erase you but you’re still here implies the simultaneous need to desire and dismiss juvenile experiences. The failure of trying to erase sentimental memories becomes source material for their project. In her photographic series, Mamou returns to a location she frequented with her family during her adolescence. Spending one week in relative seclusion in a cabin, she examines the construction and fragmentation of her memory in a familiar place. Through his writings, Rigato reconnects with relationships he developed in his teenage years. His writing utilizes techniques employed in romantic and lyrical poetry, and explores the naïveté and pang of young love.

Be a part of Chicago’s Art Parade!

How creative can you be with cookies & seeds?

In the spirit of resourcefulness and gifting, we are asking you to contribute sets of 12 or more cookies or baked goods (with recipes) or seeds (with planting instructions or planted) that can be creatively packaged by you and given away by us as we push, ride or pull moveable sculptures through the Chicago Art Parade on May 2nd. Cookies and seeds will be passed out to people on the streets watching the parade. The items created must be made in a resourceful & responsible manner, creating no waste and as much nourishment and life as possible. All participants will be invited to share their recipes, ideas or furthur descriptions of the lives of their cookies & seeds on our blog www.spokechicago.blogspot.com in an effort to continue dialogue past the parade.

RSVP to spoke at spokechicago@gmail.com with your idea by April 20th. Drop off party & preparation party at Spoke April 30th (details will follow).

All parts of this project are based on Spoke’s mission as a small collaborative enterprise interested in maintaining a spirit of resourcefulness, spontaneity, experimentation, access rather than exclusion, and interaction. We are dedicated to providing opportunities for creative individuals and groups to produce unique and innovative projects, events, performances, workshops, exhibitions and creative endeavors of all kinds.