Labor of Love at High Five Arts, Mill No. 5, Lowell

Change of Plans! Due to the winter weather that will be upon us this spring....Labor of Love opens next Saturday April 8th from 1-3 pm at Mill No. 5, 250 Jackson Street, High Five Arts Gallery 5th Floor, Lowell, MA 01852.

This exhibition includes two works from my series of woven portraits, the most recent one, Catherine (2017), was created at the Studios at MASS MoCA and is made from using my Nana's wedding dress and parts of my own wedding dress combined into a new fabric. Next to Catherine is Bernie, a tribute to my uncle created my weaving his old leather coat. Both pieces honor the memories people who were very important to me.

Displayed in the narrow hallway of this old mill building is a series of woven pieces about labor, 3,570 minutes in total. Scout Hutchinson writes, "Piwinski similarly integrates unexpected materials into her time-based woven pieces, seven which are on view in Labor of Love. Their titles reflect the total number of minutes the artist spent creating them. Materials such as folded pages from a textbook, strips of old letters, and notes from an art history class are recontextualized within the warp and weft of these narrow lengths of woven cloth. They cascade down the gallery walls, serving as vibrant and textual markers of time - time spent in class, in a relationship, or simply on creating the artwork itself."

As part of this exhibition, I have been weaving in the space on my Saori loom. I have been there two Sundays so far and have had several visitors and participants such as David and his daughter pictured below.

Each Sunday the fourth floor is full of life- live music, a farmer's market, several unique vendors and more. Yet, only some adventurous visitors find me weaving up on the fifth floor. Visitors have told me that it is a magical discovery to find the exhibition and have appreciated being able to ask questions about the exhibition and have conversations. With the help of others, another piece will be added to the show just in time for the opening on Saturday afternoon, 529 minutes of VT Flannel. This brings the total number of minutes up to 4,099.

Thanks Sarah Tomkins for helping to weave strips of flannel last Sunday.

In addition to the opening reception next Saturday, I will be weaving in the space other times. If you are interested in becoming a part of the project, please join me...

Sunday, April 9th from 11-3pm