The Dresses/ Objects Project is Now Officially Open

Hello friends!

The Dresses/ Objects Project has officially opened. Hoooraaay! We opened on Friday night with a room full of people, five live dancers, three live musicians, and enough wine to carry us through the opening hours into the evening. What a delight! I managed to snap these photographs at our final rehearsal so you can see the space, the dancers, and the musicians too. I'm still sifting through documentation of opening night and will share the results with you once my brainwaves have returned to normal--because I'm trusting that they will!








It was a challenging process but, in the end, I'm super happy with all the results and wouldn't have it any other way. From first printing the poems on fabric over three years ago, to the opening weekend dance performances, to the weeks of exhibition still ahead, I'm absolutely honored and humbled and thrilled to have collaborated with over 30 brilliant women artists to make this project happen. Before this show, I was used to making work that would fit on a table, or possibly a human, but this installation occupies over 1,600 sq feet! My goodness, and now it is complete. Hooray, and then hooray!

Before I go, I also must thank the journalists who covered this project in various papers and articles. I am especially grateful (and still blushing) for these generous articles in the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner. My goodness, what a dream. The installation is up until July 18, gallery hours Tuesday-Saturday 1-5, and yours truly will be present on Saturday afternoons making one final dress from the letterpress prints. I've had so little sleep in the last two weeks that it all feels very much like a dream. Perhaps it is a dream, a dressmaker's dream of sorts... xoxo, k.

The Dresses/ Objects Project: Opening Weekend

Hello my friends,

I just tucked myself into a quiet corner of the installation to take just a few minutes to say hello. (Hello, world!) You've seen a number of photos of the beloved dresses but I just wanted to show you a few sneak peaks of other work in the installation. This is just a peak so I don't ruin the surprise for folks who will be able to join me at the opening receptions.

This is it! The moment has arrived. The installation is almost complete--the dresses are sitting pretty in their various locations on dress forms and hangers and dress racks, most of the photographs are edited and printed and ready to be hung around the space, there is still some handwork to be done on a few letterpress fabric prints and a bit of finishing painting too--but we are nearly finished with the installation. Almost there!










This last image is of a postcard of the lady herself, Gertrude Stein. It seemed only fitting that she would actually appear somewhere in the midst of this installation. A token, a gesture, a nod, maybe even a bow in appreciation. That's it for now, dear friends. I just wanted to peek out from behind my sewing machine and hammer and clothespins to show you a little bit of what we've been doing the past two weeks. Hello, world! Now, come help us celebrate, won't you?

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The details: The Dresses/ Objects Project by Katrina Rodabaugh in collaboration with 30 women artists. Installation on view from June 25 through July 18, gallery hours Tuesdays- Saturdays from 1-5pm. Live dance performances with EmSpace Dance during the opening reception on Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26 from 7-9:30. (The doors open at 7pm and the performances will start by 7:30 so get here before 7:30 to see the dresses in their full installation effect! Dance performances will happen in sections throughout the evening with mingling breaks between.) If you're in the area, I hope you'll come join the celebration and please say hello if we haven't met. xoxo, k.

From Inside the Artwork, Outside the Comfort Zone.

My friends,

Today, I am in the midst of the largest installation I've ever attempted, in the middle of the largest creative project I've ever coordinated, just two weeks away from the largest opening I've ever orchestrated with over 30 artists in collaboration! I keep thinking to myself, "I'm just making the world of a book into the size of a room" but today that room felt very, very big!

Today, I am inside the artwork looking out at the world. Stretching my hands to the space just beyond where I can usually reach, patting the edges for things that might bring comfort and sustenance and warmth. Today, it all feels bigger than me. Tomorrow, it will feel like something else. Today, I want to sit in the garden with a cup of tea and a homemade gingerbread muffin and just sit still and think quietly.

Today, I am stretching beyond my comfort zone into the space where new thinkings can be discovered. Today, I am gathering my sewing things, my fabric prints, my poems, my photographs, my beloved dresses and I am installing them into the exhibition room.

Today, I want to pause in this moment: make space for the unknown; turn a lamp on over the things I know and trust and recognize with comfort; take just a few more hours to remember this first day installing a book that's actually the size of a very, very large room. Somehow, this project I started three years ago is now just nine days away from it's opening reception. My, oh my, oh my...

xoxo, k.

Photo Shoots & Late Afternoon Sun

Hello friends,

Another photo shoot of The Dresses/ Objects Project is now completed. Yee haw! I spent three hours photographing dancers, poets, and video artists and these photos are just a few of my favorites. You remember this very first photo shoot with my husband and I, the second photo shoot with beloved local bloggers/ visual artists, and this last shoot with writers and performing artists. I think I have one last shoot left to plan, mostly with the choreographer and a few other key ladies for the upcoming installation. Oh, the late afternoon light was so kind to us! And I love the pretty, detailed dresses against the industrial warehouse walls. Which photograph is your favorite?

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As you can imagine, my head is filled to the brim with to-do lists. I find myself making lists and crossing things off of lists on a daily basis: Costume shopping list, fabric store list, Craigslist list, wall work list, poetry list, postcard distribution list, email list, list of the lists! Okay, I don't actually have a list of the lists but maybe I should. The big opening day is June 25, 2010, just exactly 18 days from today. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it. xoxo, k.