Millicent Kennedy – November 12-14
Website: https://www.millicentkennedy.com
Millicent Kennedy’s (they/them) practice is interested in how we archive a physical world in flux. Utilizing print, natural dyed textiles and found objects, their work as a whole is interested in connecting two or more things that could seem separate or worn away from one another. Like dyeing and mending, the alchemy is in the labor and material itself, that lead to transformation.
They received a Bachelor’s Degree from Northeastern Illinois University and MFA from Northern Illinois University where they were awarded the Helen Merritt Fellowship.
They’ve received solo exhibitions from Belong Gallery, SXU Art Gallery, Roman Susan and Parlour and Ramp, as well as site specific installations with Charles Allis Art Museum, Terrain Exhibitions Biennial, and Purple Window Gallery. They have received artist residencies with Roman Susan, Terrain Exhibitions, Awakenings, Lillstreet Art Center, and is currently in the Bridge Program at Hyde Park Art Center. They also serve as the Director at NEIU’s Fine Art Center Gallery and teach at Northern Illinois University. Their studio is based out of Chicago.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My practice is an exercise in and exploration of labor. Through small, repeated hand labors of printing, sewing, and box making, I embellish, reference and reimagine objects of mass production, labor history and pre-digital production methods. Discarded objects of the recent past, become the site for alchemy and archive through dyeing, mending and embroidery.
The work is both death shroud and archived material, often housed in custom made boxes. These hand labors become the through line or connecting stitch that repurposes our world full of broken and neglected objects and ties them back to the human hand.
In-person and Virtual Lecture: Tuesday, November 12, 9:30 am:
To Stitch is to Hold: Printed Images and Found Objects
Through dye, print, found objects and slow stitch Millicent Kennedy’s art practice holds objects and the subject matter inspired by the built world. Ranging in scale and context, their work often responds to specific places, stories and histories. In this lecture they will reflect on inspiration, and research that has directed their investigation of materials and the handwork of natural dye, screenprint and hand stitching.
In-Person Workshop: Printing and Painting Fabric with Indigo and Iron
Nov 12 – 1:00pm – 4pm (CT)
Nov 13 – 9:30am – 4pm (CT)
Nov 14 – 9:30am – 4pm (CT)
In this hands-on workshop, students will make and use an indigo vat, as well as clay resist that can be used to create images on cloth. Students will also be introduced to methods of using tannins and ferrous on cloth which will make clear dark marks. The resulting fabric samples can be sewn through easily as dye does not affect the porousness of the cloth.