Open Spaces: An Intro

Posted on March 1, 2017
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Open Spaces: An Intro   This book series was inspired by the show Open Spaces, a visual-artistic interpretation of the theme of openness. With the recent xenophobic expressions concerning erections of borders, the show holds a particular significance as a counterweight to those. Various ideas about openness, suggested by the artwork in the show, are further explored in the following essay.   Social Spaces   One concept of open space is social space that is not owned or controlled by profit-driven organizations or businesses. In an ecological sense, open spaces describe areas in which the ecosystems...

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In Defense of Democracy in the Age of Intimidation and Conformity Charlotte Eckler in conversation with Bayda Asbridge

Posted on January 1, 2017
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As a native of Syria and an active participant in US society, a linguist and artist living and working in Worcester, Bayda Asbridge is not satisfied to “wait and see” what the changed political climate since the election of Donald Trump will bring. The rhetoric of the election campaign, her fears about a Trump presidency and the observations that led to these fears give her the feeling of being “transported back to Syria,” a totalitarian country with few of the freedoms that Western women and men have come to enjoy....

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Healing Fibers: Invisible Children. Central Massachusetts artists took a difficult theme and created a beautiful show

Posted on December 8, 2016
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September 2016   Healing Fibers 2016 was the third annual visual art show curated by Bayda Asbridge to happen in autumn at the Sprinkler Factory in Worcester, Massachusetts. It dealt with the difficult subject of invisible children. Again and again, we hear about them in the news, the innocent victims of war, the Alan Kurdis and Omran Daqneeshes, the abused and neglected, the Bella Bonds, the anonymously oppressed, trafficked, and children affected by intersectional violence. The effort to show the horrors that go unnoticed and abuses that remain invisible requires a special...

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Artist Interview

Posted on December 7, 2016
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Meaningful Messages and Filtered News Charlotte Eckler in conversation with Ilse Huber Craigher, Sabine Pusswald, and Jessica Maria Weber “There’s a higher purpose to what I’m trying to say, and that purpose is to make a point, socially.” For Charlotte Eckler, U.S.-American conceptual artist, delivering a meaningful message to the public is the goal she wants to achieve with her art. Police brutality, racism, feminism, war, sickness, are all present as topics in Eckler’s work. Whether she’s working with prints, collages, fabrics, or paintings, she always finds a way to weave in her...

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New Annual Art Show for the Politically Conscious: Healing Fibers casts on in 2014 with the first exhibit, “Violence against Women”

Posted on May 30, 2016
in Art Shows

Worcester area artists took action against the world’s most pervasive injustice, “Violence against Women,” at the first Healing Fibers show, held this year in October at Worcester’s Sprinkler Factory gallery. The artists answered the open call to enter works that were both relevant to the topic and integrated fiber from fabrics. In an impressive display of 2- and 3D art, ten artists took part in the 2014 Healing Fibers show, which began a series of shows planned for early autumn each year that will take on complex socio-political themes, for...

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