Pass the milk please. / Get me the broom and sweep up this mess. / Why don’t you kiss me goodnight anymore? / Feed the dog in the morning. / Will you be my friend again? / Meet your maker. / Can we lay down?

Tit for Tat is an invitation for creative correspondence with makers through letter writing and decoration of phrases/sayings in the form of fragments, equilibriums, humor, conversations, and sparks in the air. There will be three active engagements for exhibition visitors and invited makers. 

Part 1.  May 12:  Opening. Showcasing correspondences received from invited collaborators in the gallery space.

Part 2. May 20, 11:00-2:00: Tea Party. Folks in the community are invited to make their own phrases or sayings, drink tea and eat friendship bread. 

Part 3.  June 10, 4:00 - 7:00: Closing Tea Party. Join us for a farewell to pick up original works. Each person who contributed will receive a zine made with documentation from the exhibition.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS:

Dorian Dean (she/they) was born in Baltimore, Maryland and currently lives and works in Iowa City, Iowa. In 2022 Dorian completed a MFA in Painting and Certificate of Book Arts at the University of Iowa and received their BFA from Tyler School of Art. Collaboration and community engagement through building relationships is an essential part of their art practice. Teaching for over 16 years, Dorian uses art as a tool for social change, with the belief that sharing experience in non hierarchical models empowers people to get curious and question whose “rules” really serve them. As curator for the Times Club at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City, curation and collaboration has become a way to put this engagement into action. Dorian has taught and developed curriculums at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of art and the Barnes Foundation. Dorian's writing has been published in the Brink Literary Journal and her work has been shown at the MDW Chicago art fair with Stop Gap Projects, Charles City Art Center, Iowa, Bisignano Gallery at the University of Dubuque, Iowa, University of Central Missouri, James May Gallery, Milwaukee, and has a forthcoming exhibitions at Soil Gallery, The Vestibule and Das Schaufenster galleries in Seattle.  @dorianstelldean

Adam Farcus is an Illinois-based activist, artist, curator, feminist, organizer, poet, quasi-linguist, teacher, and writer. Farcus received their MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, BFA from Illinois State University, and AA from Joliet Junior College. They currently serve on the FATE board, as well as participate in the Climate Psychological Alliance, organize with the Utopian Megaproject, and teach with the Education Justice Project. Their work has been exhibited at numerous venues, including the Modern Museum of Art Fort Worth; Vox Populi, Philadelphia; the American University Museum; and the Advance Art Museum in Changsha, China. Farcus’s academic writing has been published in Art Education and the Journal of Second Language Writing (in collaboration with Allison Yasukawa, forthcoming) and their creative writing has been published in Rattle and Funny Looking Dog Quarterly among others. Farcus is the director of Lease Agreement, an alternative and nomadic curatorial project, and they are an Instructional Assistant Professor of Art at Illinois State University. https://adamfarcus.com/ @toubab_adama

PS1’s exhibition program is generously supported by Artifacts, Velvet Coat, OPN Architects, Revival, Woodcraft, Hare Parlor, Nodo, and Hudson River Gallery. Thank you!

on display in the Teaching Shed (between 225 & 229 N Gilbert)

public event Saturday April 15, 5-7:30pm
a crochet workshop and smore-roasting party!

“Come Stay a While” is a large, immersive fiber arts environment. We play with light and shadow, vibrant colors, and texture to create an interactive, comfortable, accessible, warm space where joy can be found. As a collective of artists and members of the queer community, we found ourselves seeking spaces in which we can reconnect to and relive the joy of childhood. Anyone can experience healing through a child-like reconnection with joy and play. Crochet and other fiber arts media hold a certain type of "home-ness", a tether to the hearth, with which we can reconnect to childhood. 

 We recognize that both fiber artistry and joy are rebellious concepts. Slow crafts, like crochet, are antithetical to a world that prioritizes and necessitates mass-production; systems of power do not prioritize the creation of comfort. As stated by fiber artist Kendall Jade Ross, "It's just a craft until a man says it's art"--fiber art itself is often relegated to a sub-category because of its historical connection with femininity and womanhood. In the creation of an art piece that prioritizes joy and uses fiber art, we are working to rebel against systemic power. Use the space to sit and gossip, play a game, make something, drink a cup of tea, or whatever makes you happiest.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Quinlan Stafford is a fiber artist, writer, and earring collector. She started crocheting to keep her hands busy during Zoom classes and has never stopped, ever. 

Maura O’Dea (she/her) is an artist and poet from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is currently completing degrees in Spanish and English, and she stays busy in the meantime by crocheting silly things and looking at birds.

Margarita Rasgado López doesn't ever like things a normal amount. With knitting, it was love at first scarf. Trans rights are human rights.

Tamara-Jo Schaapherder (she/her) is truly so obsessed with crochet and is on her way to making it her whole personality. She is currently working behind the prepared foods section at the New Pioneer Coop and looking forward to the many sunny days on their way.