Paper Dresses will be up through Sunday, have you seen it yet? If not, do bring your friends and family for a nice little North Adams jaunt after giving thanks! We’ll be open Friday-Sunday 10-6.

Erin Sweeney, Origami Paper Dresses

This week we feature the works of Erin Sweeney and Yudelka (Yuki) Tavera.

Erin’s work explores the comfort and distress of confinement within her home and her community. as well as the bonds that we form with our physical spaces. She has lived at the same place in Peterborough, NH for nearly nine years, occupying the first floor, the entire house and now just the top floor. Her parents live next door. Most of her family within a few miles allowing her to see her niece and nephew several times a week. She can walk to her studio. Sounds glorious and awful all at once!

Yuki wearing her watercolor dress and discussing Objective Objections of Objectification

Yuki challenges the viewer to think about body typing in women with her piece “Objective Objections of Objectification”. It is a collection of artworks created to reflect the reality of the abundance of myopic messages and imagery projected onto society as the sole standard of beauty pertaining to the feminine human form.

The series showcases the emotional consequences women of various body types face and how they’ve dealt with the negative connotations of their specific shape. Narrowed down to a mere twelve objects, each type exists as a living “anthropological sample” to be studied and reflected upon each with stories and quotes from real women that have categorized themselves. The artist goal being to empower participants while serving as documentarian versus artisan and expose the societal patterns of abuse and discrimination for what they are.

Ultimately, this last line of Yuki statement’s gets at the heart of why this exhibit has been so important for every single one of us. We hope you have been empowered by what each woman has created and shared through this special exhibit. Hope to see you in the shop.