First Friday event welcomes everyone to see studios
The Colby Arts Office held a First Friday event on March 4, featuring Lunder Open Studios until 8PM. The evening started with music and a presentation from Tender Table, an organization combining food and art to build community. The Lunder Institute for American Art Resident Fellows this spring semester include: Golaleh Yazdani, Veronica Perez, and Julia Arredondo. Additionally, Lucy Brumberger `22 and James Lamarca `23 showed part of their up-and-coming fashion line in the studio.
Golaleh Yazdani shared a handmade combination of roasted beets and written words to preview an upcoming installation she is working on called “Social Nourishment.” She also shared napkins printed with a phrase that translates to, “from the pain the food is here,” Yazdani’s message to encompass grief.
“It is part of a performance more than it is a generous act,” Yazdani said, although attendees were very appreciative when she passed out food as part of the artwork.
The walls and surfaces of her spacious studio were covered with two-dimensional backgrounds for stop-motion installations. One project was playing in the corner. Since the multimedia prints were produced as backgrounds, they were displayed as archives and not standalone images.
The open studio event exhibited variety in mediums and appearances of artists from incredibly different backgrounds.
Julia Arredondo, an Art Resident through May, identifies with a Gemini-like duality of two distinct styles. Arredondo’s drawings vary in size, as she develops original shapes and imitates forms favorite artists share on Instagram as well as some pottery by Theaster Gates. She fills these vessels slowly, and each features a uniform repetition of tiny blue stars.
All of the Resident Fellows engage in constant creation and collaboration. Arredondo said that the artists enthusiastically spend free time trading ideas and getting to know each other.
Also exhibiting their work in the studios was the fashion duo James and Lucy with items from their developing brand. The clothing features a zero waste system of thrifting, upcycling clothing and reworking pieces for original styles. They also compose from scratch, obtaining sustainable fabric by the yard to make original patterns and designs. One of their most sustainable strategies is sourcing deadstock or overstock material from brands with excess fabric that they donate or sell at reduced prices, rather than throwing away masses of fabric.
Like most of the artists, Brumberger reminded viewers that the work in the studio is “a little unfinished.” However, a pair of pockets not sewn onto a pair of jeans became a signature look at their fall fashion show. Now, the jeans with pocket cutouts hang on the rack at Greene Block and have been consistently very popular, especially with students who attended the studio show.
“It’s raw, it speaks to your brand,” Carter Feiss `22 said. “There’s definitely a style.”
The business is juggled among an incredibly busy student duo, but after a successful fashion show in December, they plan to further develop and continue to show their artistic fashion pieces. An upcoming show in April along with the Fringe Festival presents another formal opportunity to see their showcase.
“We would love to dedicate all of our time to this,” Brumberger said. “It’s a side hustle until it doesn’t have to be anymore.”
First Fridays will continue as a community event that brings artists and art enthusiasts together to learn about and appreciate innovative local artists as they keep working.
~ Molly George ’23
