part of ARC • Activate, Research, Create
Week 4: Imaginary Friends
ARTISTS TALK + PERFORMANCE by Little Roots
Imaginary Friends is a multi-day gallery installation with accompanying programming for all ages that fosters rigorous experimental arts collaboration between parents and their children. The represented projects, which span media, have been co-created by local artist-parents—and one grandparent—and their children (ages 1-12), led by child collaborators’ imagination and play.
TUESDAY, JUNE 23; 4-6pm
MAIN ST. GALLERY
Little Roots is an engaging community music experience founded on the belief that music is for everyone. As lifelong musicians, Little Roots creators, Annie Lynch Stevenson and Maggie Shar, recognize the value of quality live, interactive music from birth onward. Maggie and Annie select and write songs that are rooted in a variety of folk music traditions and are intentionally enjoyable for people of all ages.
TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 10am - 10pm
QUILT-IN-A-DAY
Come witness the creation of a quilt in a single day. The quilt will be created by artists of the Transmissions: Quilts for Trans People project. Seating will be available. Stay for as long as you wish.
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 5:30-8:30pm*
QUILTING BEE + PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE
Quilting bees are traditional gathering places where people, often women, join to complete quilts together. They're a chance to circle up, share stories from winter, eat food, gossip and finish each other's quilts. They're often accompanied by music, dance and other forms of community gathering.
No quilting experience necessary, we'll teach you everything you need to know. we will prioritize trans people in quilting seats, so please be mindful.
Featuring performances by: Ro Oppenheimer (emcee), Lex Grotesque, Jane Love, Miss Alaynia, ohyung, and kohana wilson
A.P.E. has 2 wheelchair accessible bathrooms and the gallery floor is level with sidewalk at the entrance.
*Masks are required at the Saturday event. The event will have a range of sound/stimulus levels and seating options with masks and ear plugs provided. The tie-quilting we’re teaching involves knot-tying
(think: tying your shoes).
QUILT RAFFLE!
Throughout their tour they’ve been fundraising for Trans Asylum Seekers Support Network, a mutual aid organization based here in Western Mass. It only makes sense that their final New England stop, here in Northampton, will continue to go towards supporting the work on the Network.
Raffle info:
-tickets $10/1, $25/3, get as many as you like
-venmo @qwuilts and include your email in the note
-winner drawn Saturday night June 20th, pending ticket sales
part of ARC • Activate, Research, Create
CIRCLES OF HERE:
a collective pilgrimage
Circle of Here: A Collective Pilgrimage is a shared durational walking practice exploring presence, relation, listening, and belonging through embodied attention to place. Rooted in the ongoing Circles of Here series, the gathering invites participants into a collective process of attunement, where the simple act of walking in circles becomes a meditative and relational gesture capable of revealing subtle connections between body, land, memory, and one another.
Together we will enter into relation with the site through a collective vocal invocation and a small offering to the place itself, acknowledging the ground as collaborator, witness, and living presence. Moving in silence for one hour, participants will engage in continuous circle walking, allowing perception to gradually unfold through the duration. The practice asks nothing to be performed or achieved, only listened to. Through sustained movement and shared presence, the walk becomes a temporary field of collective awareness where new forms of relation and recognition may quietly emerge. Following the walk, we will gather in reflection to share observations and gently close the circle together.
SUNDAY, JUNE 7; 10am
CHILDS PARKplease enter at N Elm St. park entrance gate across from 70 N Elm St.
Street parking is available along the side of the park
Participants are asked to bring:
— Single head stake or large nail
— Rope or string for drawing a walking radius (8ft or longer)
— Comfortable clothing, shoes, and sun protection suitable for extended walking outdoors
— A small biodegradable offering for the land (optional)
— Water to stay hydrated
part of RECORDS: MEMORY AS PROTEST
VISUAL DIARIES and DAYDREAMING
a workshop with artist Tana OshimaGeorgia O'Keeffe said: "I create an equivalent for what I feel about what I'm looking at--not copy it". Paul Cézanne said: "I don't paint the field. I paint the sensation of the field". Recording life events on paper doesn't mean we have to reproduce reality as it is. Resisting reality's often necessary but rigid structure is a powerful way to loosen up the mind. Come let your imagination run wild in the best possible way, that is, on a piece of paper!
Materials will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your favorite diary or notebook.
This workshop will be facilitated by co-curator Sophie Gill with videos provided by artist Tana Oshima.
SATURDAY, MAY 16; 2-4pm
MAIN ST. GALLERY
this event is FREE and open to the public
part of INTUITION EXCHANGE
ONLINE ART FORUM
please join Virginia Sandman, Marianne Connolly, Barbara Hadden and Debra Olin in a conversation about the work, intuition and the artistic process.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 7:30pm
REGISTER HERE
part of the exhibition LIGHT BEING:
DARK FEET, DARK WINGS
an experinece with astonomer James Lowenthal
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 10:30a
WRITING THROUGH LIGHT
Poetry Workshop with Jan Freeman
Join poet and educator Jan Freeman for this Saturday morning poetry workshop, Writing Through Light in response to Light Being at A.P.E. Gallery. Together we will write drafts, read poems about light, and do an exercise to open perceptions, memories, imagination, and awareness of all our senses. New and experienced poets are welcome.
Saturday, February 14, 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Limited to 8 people. Cost: $30
To register, email Jan Freeman
JAN FREEMAN is author of three collections of poetry and a new manuscript, The Odyssey of Yes and No. Her awards include numerous fellowships from MacDowell, VCCA, and Moulin a Nef. Her poems are forthcoming in Ploughshares, Plume, and the Lily Poetry Review, and have appeared in Poetry, Plume, APR, North American Review, the Brooklyn Rail, Salamander, and other publications. She is former director of Paris Press, which she founded to publish Rukeyser’s The Life of Poetry. She directs the MASS MoCA Writing Through Art Poetry Retreats. www.janfreeman.net.
**cancelled**
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 6:30pm
SOUND BATH
With Donnabelle Casis of Sonorous LightLimited to 8 people. Cost: $30
Register by reserveing a spot via Venmo (@donnabelle-casis) or Zelle (413-320-2828)
DONNABELLE CASIS is a visual artist and sound practitioner trained in Sound Therapy through the KIN Unified Healing Institute. Through SonorousLight™, her work weaves intuition, vibration, and deep listening, offering sound as a pathway to balance, embodiment, and inner alignment.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 5pm
LANTERN MAKING WORKSHOP
Join Elizabeth Stone and others in making star and moon lanterns that will then be used for a lanterns stroll down Main St. Fun for the family, children welcome.