At Saturday’s pop-up swap from 1-7 pm, Score! attendees will bring their once-cherished items to a donation table—music, apparel and accessories, art supplies, housewares, books and media, and (my personal favorite) random gems and miscellany—and find new prized possessions of their own. Pay an entry fee of $3 and you can take whatever you like! If your eyes are bigger than your arms, think about purchasing a $5 custom tote bag. Not only will it help you out, all the proceeds from the event benefit City Harvest so you’re helping others at the same time. 3rd Ward provides the space, local DJs provide the music, fashion bloggers provide the documentation, and don’t worry, there will be a bar. What’s stopping you? Maybe it’s all of the “random gems and miscellany” in your way…
Welcome to the Wednesday feature here at the ReadyMade blog. Each week, I will provide a list of upcoming events, releases and happenings for the following Thursday through Wednesday. If you have (or know of) an event that you would like to be included, please shoot me an email, and I will do my best to make it happen.
24-Hour Draw-A-Thon Saturday, November 21 through Sunday, November 22
New Orleans, Louisiana
With 24 hours of programmed drawing booths, workshops, games, and other activities, the Press Street Draw-A-Thon at The Green Project facilitates literally thousands of drawings that wind up covering every inch of the space. Also, it’s a free, all ages event where you can release some creative energy.
Cranksgiving Saturday, November 21
New York City, New York
Since 1998, the New York Bike Messenger Foundation (NYBMF) has organized Cranksgiving to act as both a competition and a food drive. Last year, the alleycat race donated over $1,000 worth of food items to Saint Mary’s Soup Kitchen and over $1,600 to City Harvest. Each rider has one hour to find the participating grocery stores in Manhattan, purchase the designated items, and head to the finish line. In order to participate, you just need to register at the event and race!
Welcome to the Wednesday feature here at the ReadyMade blog. Each week, I will provide a list of upcoming events, releases and happenings for the following Thursday through Wednesday. If you have (or know of) an event that you would like to be included, please shoot me an email, and I will do my best to make it happen.
Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th Anniversary Thursday, November 12 (opening weekend)
Cherokee, North Carolina
Construction began on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1935, the longest planned single-unit road in US history. After 75 years, this elongated park is the most heavily visited part of the National Parks Service. Kicking off the anniversary celebration this weekend, the schedule through January includes lectures, tours, concerts, history days, and ends with the Blowing Rock Winter Festival to wrap things up.
Kimberley Hart: SCOUT Opening Thursday, November 12
New York City, New York
In her second solo exhibit at Mixed Greens, Kimberley Hart and her alter-ego take on the less glittery role of battling an unknown adversary through drawing and sculpture. Gone is the glitter and in its place are weapons and predatory species in this new-found dystopia. See her portfolio, and previous tales, here (a favorite is the Hunting Stand With Unicorn Bait).
Welcome to the Wednesday feature here at the ReadyMade blog. Each week, I will provide a list of upcoming events, releases and happenings for the following Thursday through Wednesday. If you have (or know of) an event that you would like to be included, please shoot me an email, and I will do my best to make it happen.
Go East Group Exhibition Thursday, November 5 through Saturday, November 7
New York City, New York
L.A.-based LeBasse Projects heads east this week, setting up shop in NYC and showcasing contemporary west coast artists that embrace unique techniques. For three days, you can check out international artists with a left coast flair on Rivington Street. Also, be on the lookout for future pop-up exhibits from the gallery…
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair Friday, November 6 through Sunday, November 8
Chicago, Illinois
In its 16th year, SOFA Chicago takes over Navy Pier for three days of art, sculpture, lecture, and innovation. Some of the exhibits even forgo the traditional tradeshow booth and are taking over a space showcasing installations exactly how the artists envision. Five special exhibits explore the work of Sam Maloof, Israeli jewelers, wood turning, global glass, and ceramicists. Get tickets here. (more…)
Welcome to the Wednesday feature here at the ReadyMade blog. Each week, I will provide a list of upcoming events, releases and happenings for the following Thursday through Wednesday. If you have (or know of) an event that you would like to be included, please shoot me an email, and I will do my best to make it happen.
Indie Chic @ 10th Street Call for artists now through Thursday, November 5
Tempe, Arizona
Arizona State University hosts its alternative craft fair on December 5, andthe organizers are accepting artist entries now through next Thursday. Head to the ASU Art Museum for all of your indie, handmade gift-giving needs.
—Halloween Festivities This Week—
Very Postmortem: Mummies and Medicine Friday, October 30
San Francisco, California
The ghoulish gala celebrates not only Halloween, but ancient mummies and the contemporary technology used to examines them. You can purchase your tickets here, and that will gain you access to the wicked Legion of Honor, top shelf elixirs, and music from Pop Rocks and DJ Shissla.
I had this old record player and a decent collection of stories on vinyl that I’d listen to as I fell asleep.
Every night I would beg my mom to let me listen to the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” record, particularly as Halloween got closer which meant I’d be listening to it generally from late August till January (in our house Halloween lasted till your candy ran out).
I caught quite a show this weekend in Omaha at the Pizza Shoppe Collective. The band didn’t use the stage—or even mic up—and brought us over an hour of captivating acoustic sounds, hoots, hollers, and Americana.
Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three hail from the banks of the muddy Mississippi and riff on ragtime and blues with a busker spirit that seems more romantic than cheesy. All four guys speak in a sort of drawl that isn’t quite Southern and isn’t quite country, but a sort of timeless down home twang that makes their hats and suits and ties sincere. With a menagerie of instruments including a banjo, stand-up base, guitar, washboard, snare, harmonica, and kazoo, Pokey can get anyone stomping their feet and daydreaming about boxcars and whiskey.
While I am a big fan of Etsy, Supermarket, BuyOlympia, and many of the other online retail outlets available for independent makers to sell their wares they always leave me wondering what all these things feel like; how much they weigh; how they are made and how they are put together. There are of course plenty of weekend fairs and marketplaces to see the actual work and a few shops and galleries here and there dedicated to selling the work of individual makers but they are few and far between, inevitably leaving certain parts of the country underexposed to this type of work.
So I was excited to recently learn about The Foundrie, an upcoming holiday pop-up shop being created in St. Louis by Shelah McClymont.
From their site: “Introducing the first annual holiday market place known as The Foundrie. This carefully curated brick and mortar shop will feature the work of local artists, crafters, and independent designers. A small selection of vintage wares and revamped treasures will add to the eclectic mix and overall aesthetic to create a remarkable shopping experience for our well deserving customers.
“We are looking to fill the shop with hand picked items from the following categories: housewares, jewelry, clothing, accessories, stationery, and fine art. In order to create a unified and beautifully merchandised space we are focusing our search on items with a specific style and design in mind.”
Applications for space on the Foundrie’s shelves will be accepted until Halloween so if you’re interested, get on it!
Yesterday, Andrea Zittel spoke at the Des Moines Art Center and she touched on topics from the constraints of time (and how that caused her to eat ketchup soup) to discussing limitations and how they actually increase her creativity. To be honest, ever since I watched her segment of PBS’s Art:21 series, I have thought she is one of the most interesting people, and I (rightly) figured she would be even more so in person.
Andrea talked about her life after graduating from school and moving to Brooklyn, where she first started playing around with configurations of her store front/living space, which was something like 200 square feet split into public and private areas. “Since I couldn’t live like other people did, I wanted people to want to live like I did.”
While her designs are decidedly modern and clean, when she started, she didn’t like the look of modern furniture at all. But after reading The Fountainhead, Andrea found herself drawn to the inversion of values that came with the Industrial Revolution (which allowed frilly, fancy things that used to be handmade—and only for the wealthy—to be mass-produced for everyone).
Welcome to the Wednesday feature here at the ReadyMade blog. Each week, I will provide a list of upcoming events, releases and happenings for the following Thursday through Wednesday. If you have (or know of) an event that you would like to be included, please shoot me an email, and I will do my best to make it happen.
Toronto International Art Fair Thursday, October 22 through Monday, October 26
Toronto, Ontario
In it’s tenth year, the Toronto International Art Fair has grown to become a focal point of Canadian art. Curated by Jeffery Spalding, the flagship exhibit titled Heartland focuses on both up and coming and veteran contemporary artists. Even the Art Gallery of York University’s Performance Bus will be on hand to chauffeur people between exhibits. (Image: Robert Fones, Title: What You Don’t See Displayed, 2008/2009.)
The Creative Time Summit Friday, October 23 through Saturday, October 24
New York City, New York
This is a whirlwind conference, jam-packed with everything from an award going to the Yes Men to a forum on social justice. Held in the New York Public Library, the Creative Time Summit hosts more than 35 international artists, academics, anarchists and activists giving concise presentations throughout the entire day on Saturday.
This is the ReadyMade editors' blog. ReadyMade is named after the term that Marcel Duchamp coined in 1915 for a series of sculptures that playfully rethought the relationship between people and mass-produced objects, everyday items and art. ReadyMade is about people who make things and the culture of making.
24-Hour Draw-A-Thon
Cranksgiving
Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th Anniversary
Kimberley Hart: SCOUT
Go East Group Exhibition
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair
Indie Chic @ 10th Street
Very Postmortem: Mummies and Medicine
Toronto International Art Fair
The Creative Time Summit
