 "Series A" by Ellen Mansfield. Tile portraits of friends using American Sign Language to communicate. Welcome to Opulent Mobility 2021!
Opulent Mobility 2021 is a groundbreaking annual art exhibit that re-imagines disability as opulent and powerful. This year’s artworks include photography, sculpture, painting, printmaking, collage, graphic design, and dance. The opening event is October 2 from 4-7 PM with an after party featuring performances by "Pick of the Fringe" storyteller Diana Elizabeth Jordan (TBA) and the Avant-Americana genre-bending band The Evangenitals (from 7-9 PM). Masks are mandatory indoors. Food, drink, and the band will be in the outdoor beer garden. Opulent Mobility 2021 will run October 2-30 at Wingwalker Brewery in Monrovia, CA and online at www.opulentmobility.com. The artists of Opulent Mobility 2021 are Megan Bent, A. Laura Brody, Ciara Chapman, Katherine Chudy, Vanessa Cruz, Bronte Grimm, Francesca Hummler, David Isakson, Noel Malloy, Ellen Mansfield, Lisa Merida-Paytes, Teresa Shea, Katherine Sherwood, Annelies Slabbynck, Emily Tironi, and Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen. Accessibility features: ASL interpretation provided for Deaf and HoH audience members and audio descriptions in large print and audio files linked to QR codes for our low vision and Blind audience. For our DeafBlind audience members, please inform us by September 25-26 so we can find Tactile/ProTactile interpreters.
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 "Diva" by Emily Tironi Opulent Mobility has a new venue and could use your help!
Opulent Mobility 2021 will be October 2-30 at Wingwalker Brewery in Monrovia, CA. The opening event is October 2 from 4-7 PM with an after party featuring the genre-bending Avant-Americana band The Evangenitals. The founder (me) will be on hand for the opening and from 1-5 PM PST Saturdays and Sundays during the run of the show. Can you help me get this show on the road? Your tax-deductible donation will make the show even more accessible! It will help fund ASL interpretation for the opening event, after party, and online artist talk, along with audio descriptions to make the work accessible to folks with low or no vision. Thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible. You are appreciated more than you know. XO Laura  Melusine and The Kali Walker by A. Laura Brody. Photos by Heidi Marie Photography. The artists of Opulent Mobility will be:
Megan Bent, A. Laura Brody, Ciara Chapman, Katherine Chudy, Vanessa Cruz, Bronte Grimm, Francesca Hummler, David Isakson, Noel Malloy, Ellen Mansfield, Lisa Merida-Paytes, Teresa Shea, Katherine Sherwood, Annelies Slabbynck, Emily Tironi, and Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen. The artists this year hail from across the United States, Ireland, Belgium, and Finland, and the artwork covers disability in a myriad of forms. Many thanks to everyone who shared their work! My co-curator Anthony Tusler and I truly enjoyed going over the submissions and selecting the art. Now it's time for me to get to work mounting the exhibit. In the meantime, please enjoy past exhibits at www.opulentmobility.com.  This web site is a great way to find out the basics of what I do as an artist, a teacher, and a curator. The blog gets updated maybe once a month, and it'll keep you in the loop.
But what if you want to know more and keep in touch? Sign up for the newsletter for once a month updates on the art, classes, and all around inspiration. For links and information on disability arts, disability culture, and activism, check out the Opulent Mobility Facebook page and Instagram. To get links and inspiration for art, design, sustainability, and feminism (including the importance of pockets), go to the Dreams by Machine Facebook page or ask to join the Stitch Therapy group. There are tons of links and shares on my Making in the Midst Facebook group to give you great ideas for creating your own art, crafts, pet gear, foodstuffs, and a host of other options. It's a private group, so ask to join in. I use my Twitter account mostly for activism and art. And you can keep in touch in general on my personal Facebook page or through my Instagram feed. Fair warning: I am happy to block mean people and trolls are not tolerated.  Melusine, the latest work in progress, is getting many more scales! (So shiny) Stitch Therapy is tonight from 5-7 PM PST
Draping 101 starts Saturday, July 10 July 31 is the deadline for Opulent Mobility 2021 and thanks to Ikouii Creative for the best in show award! It's an eventful time- and July is just getting started. There is so much more to come! Check out my newsletter for more pictures, links, and details. Thanks so much for everything. XO Laura Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.  I'm really looking forward to taking part in the Ikouii Open exhibit and artist talk! It will open online Sunday, June 10th and the artist talks start at 12 PM PST.
It's a small world. Opulent Mobility artist David Isakson let me know about Ikouii, and it turns out I will be exhibiting along with with him and Emily Tironi (who was in the past two Opulent Mobility exhibits). One of the jurors was Antoine Hunter from Urban Jazz Dance Company, a Deaf dancer, who played the prince in the updated Firebird Ballet I just designed for Abilities Dance Boston. Here's a bit about them and this year's exhibit: "The Ikouii Open is an annual online group exhibition of artwork created by both disabled and non-disabled artists worldwide. The goal of the open is to activate social movements, educate, inspire, and evoke change within the arts and disability communities. This year's theme Without Labels will explore the interwoven influence of labels in disability and culture. Disability labeling has the potential to cause individuals to be singled out and even ridiculed. Labels can also define and artificially limit the way that an individual may think of themselves, and perhaps inadvertently push others to lower their expectations of an individual once they are labeled with a disability. While in retrospect, labeling perhaps helps groups of individuals who have disabilities in common form a group identity. Labeling may also provide access to proper accessibility and support. Are disability labels necessary? Do they do more harm than good? Do they force an identity? Do labels and changing definitions help or hinder our understanding of an individual’s lived experience? What are the implications of ‘disclosing’ a disability label? Could we imagine a life without labels?"  "Lavish" by Misty Stokes May has been fruitful!
I am finally getting back to editing the artist talks for Opulent Mobility 2020. In the latest video I talk with Misty Athena Stokes about invisible disabilities, disability identity, art, and fashion choices for Zoom events. On June 10th at 6 PM PST I'll be part of an online curatorial talk for Blank Canvas 8, a group exhibit I co-curated along with several others. To find out more, take a look at the online exhibit at the link above, come to the show I mounted at Wingwalker Brewery, or visit the other locations in Pasadena, Santa Monica, and in Malibu. I'll share the link to the curatorial talk once it has been set. Congratulations to Abilities Dance Boston on their adaptation and production of the Firebird Ballet! The show live streamed May 14-15 and was a big success. I'm proud to be the costume designer for the dancer and their wheelchairs, walkers, and canes. Check out the thoughtful review by Art Fuse on how the Firebird Ballet is taking inspiring flight. And if you're needing a little Stitch Therapy, I've got you covered. Join us June 6 from 5-7 PM PST and we'll get something started (or finished). Get in touch for the Zoom link. As always, this one is free. If you'd like more in depth sewing, check out the classes page and sign up for something! Intro to Sewing is next month and we start Draping 101 in June. Hey. Thanks so much for being part of this with me. You don't know how much I appreciate it. XO laura .  Photo by Pam Noles Get your stitch on!
This Sunday (and the first Sunday of each month) is Stitch Therapy from 5-7 PM. It's a free online get together where we sew, craft, and set up projects in good company. And you are welcome to join us. Contact me for the Zoom link! For serious sewers, the next online class is Intermediate Techniques: 4 Saturdays in May from 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM. In this class, we cover zippers, bindings, seam techniques, and of course pockets. (Pockets are important.) Click on the photo to get to the sign up link and to find more upcoming classes. In July and August we shall be draping.
We accept 2-D and sculptural work, music files, and performances on digital media. Submit online at www.opulentmobility.com. Opulent Mobility is curated by A. Laura Brody and Anthony Tusler. The call for art begins April 11, 2021 and the deadline for submissions is July 31. There is no fee to share your work.
Artists will be informed if their works are accepted by August 15, the exhibit will open October 1, 2021, and the show will run through October 31. Opulent Mobility 2021 will held at Long Hall, Plummer Park in the City of West Hollywood, CA as part of the city’s celebration of Disability Awareness Month. The exhibit will also be online at opulentmobility.com. Many thanks to the City of West Hollywood for their partnership! Opulent, adjective 1. Characterized by extravagant, ostentatious magnificence: lavish, lush, luxurious, palatial, plush, rich, sumptuous 2. Given to or marked by unrestrained abundance: Extravagant, exuberant, luxuriant, prodigal, profuse, riotous, superabundant Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002  Zippered Joy Hey and good greetings!
Below are my upcoming online classes. This Saturday we'll begin with Alter Your Clothes Like A Pro and move on from there. Two classes are all new: Draping 101 (Saturdays in July) and Fabric Creations from 2D to 3D (Saturdays in August). Sign up and pay by clicking the links and you will get the Zoom link a couple of days before the first class starts. 4 sessions for $149. For a free session, join us this Sunday from 5-7 PM at Stitch Therapy! This isn't a class- it's a Zoom get together where we work on our individual craft and sewing projects and catch up with each other. It's good fun and good company. Sign up on the Facebook page or send a note from the contact page. I am looking forward to creating with you. Alter Your Clothes Like A Pro 4/3/21- 4/24/21 from 9:30 AM- 12:30 PM Bring in the items you've been meaning to alter and we'll get them conquered! Typically, students finish between three to six alterations in a 4-session class. Intermediate Sewing Techniques 5/1/21- 5/22/21 from 9:30 AM- 12:30 PM Learn some tips to level up your sewing skills! We'll cover zippers, seam finishes, bindings, piping, and pockets. Intro to Sewing 6/5/21- 6/26/21 from 9:30 AM- 12:30 PM Learn to use your sewing machine, make a reversible tote bag, and make a pair of PJ pants. NEW! Draping 101 7/10/21-7/31/21 from 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM Draping is the art of creating clothing using a form and fabric instead of a paper pattern. If you've seen Project Runway, you have seen draping in action. In this class we'll go over the basic principles of draping, and then make a piece of clothing designed by you! Fabric creations from 2D to 3D 8/7/21-8/28/21 from 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM A step beyond Draping 101 for adventurous designers and sewists. Come in with sketches and photographs of clothing designs you want to create, and together we can help make them a reality. |
A. Laura Brody
I re*make mobility devices and materials and give them new lives. Sometimes I staple drape. Archives
June 2022
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