Fabric and installation artist Amanda Browder will enlist the help of the community for two giant fabric installations at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to celebrate the university’s new cultural corridor.
Browder is a New York City-based artist who uses donated fabrics to create large-scale collaborative installations that incorporate local volunteers, city buildings and the stories that are made from her community sewing days. Visit her website at www.amandabrowder.com.
In the first joint project for UAB’s Cultural Corridor, the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, the Department of Art and Art History, and the new Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts together have commissioned Browder to create “Magic Chromacity.” The vast works Browder will create with community members will use recycled and donated materials to create large-scale art pieces adorning both the AEIVA and ASC buildings, which face each other on 10th Avenue South on the UAB campus. The large-scale art pieces will allow the buildings to “speak” to each other while also serving as individual works.
The works will be created during her residencies in April and July, and installed and presented to celebrate the new cultural corridor at UAB on Aug. 26-28. Browder will give a free lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, and an opening reception will be held Aug. 29. Both events will be held at AEIVA and are free and open to the public. The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Art and Art History, John S. Jemison Fund, and the Alys Stephens Center. The work will be on exhibition and available for viewing during daylight hours Friday, Aug. 29, to Friday, Sept. 5.
As part of the DAAH’s new Pop-Up Studio series, Browder is set for two residencies, April 2-5 and July 9-12, which will include community sewing days at UAB’s ArtPlay and AEIVA, and at Desert Island Supply Co. Participants with a skill for sewing are needed to help create the giant fabric installation alongside the artist.
The DAAH is also in need of large pieces, at least 30 inches wide, of brightly colored, nonstretchy fabric, including bolts and half-bolts. Fabric and thread donations from the community may be dropped off at ArtPlay, AEIVA, Alabama Art Supply, The Bottletree and Forstall Art Center. Fabric will be accepted through July 6.
Community sewing days with Browder for the enormous project are:
· April 3, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., at AEIVA
· April 4, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at ArtPlay
· April 5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at AEIVA
· July 9, 4-8 p.m. at AEIVA
· July 10, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at AEIVA
· July 11, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at AEIVA and 3-5:30 p.m. at ArtPlay
· July 12, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at ArtPlay
Volunteers are needed for sewing days to trim, pin and sew, with no experience needed. For more information, contact Jared Ragland at raglandj@uab.edu or visit the UAB Department of Art and Art History online.
Extensions of the UAB Department of Art and Art History, Pop-Up Studios are temporary, interactive art studios with a mission to broaden community awareness and access to the arts.
The studios provide visitors an opportunity to work with visiting artists, faculty and students, who will conduct demonstrations and allow participants to explore their own creativity through make-and-take art activities, artwork for purchase, and more formal classes. Admission is free and open to the public.