Tuesday's Designer - Tali Weinberg

(When I read a review of the exhibit “Good Work” by Joetta Maue on the Textile Arts Center blog, I knew that I wanted to feature the curator Tali Weinberg, artist and activist, on Tuesday’s Designer.

Back in the day, in my creative community the crew were all artists and activists. Partially because of the time we lived through, partially because of a deep sense and understanding of the responsibility to tie our thread of then present day activity to the ongoing cloth of creativity and human struggle.
Tali continues this weaving together.
Today’s post centers on the exhibit “Good Work.” Tomorrow’s post will take a more personal look at Tali’s work. )

Tali Weinberg is a Brooklyn-based artist and activist.
Tali on her practice “my practice of making is informed by my work in human rights and fair trade advocacy, community organizing, and grassroots development. Through weaving and stitching, I explore how labor rights, community, ecology, and meaning are shaped by the craft of turning fibers into textiles.”

(All images in this post are from a review of "Good Works" by Joetta Maue on the Textile Arts Center blog)

“I find further inspiration in the women labor movement’s call for “bread and roses.” Life should be beautiful as well as just. So I use my hands to make cloth that touches our skin and inhabits our lives: to turn the results of my own consumption away from excess and back into objects I hope are of comfort, beauty, and meaning for others.”

Domestication, by Belinda Smith, Good Works exhibit at the Textile Arts Center

Good Work is a show curated by Tali now on exhibit at the Oak Knit Gallery on the second floor of the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY.
(A curator is a person who selects and often interprets works of art. In addition to selecting works, the curator often is responsible for writing labels, catalog essays, and other supporting content for the exhibition.)
For this juried show, artists and designers were invited to submit works for the inaugural exhibit in the Oak Knit Studio Gallery with their own broad interpretation of “Good Work.” What has emerged is a meaningful body of work that touches on labor, justice, gender, care, fair trade, the hand, immigration, community, skill and craftsmanship.

Hillary Steel’s work History, in the exhibit Good Works at the Textile Arts Center

GOOD WORK: A May Day celebration of the makers and making of textiles
April 29 – June 12, 2011
Featured artists/makers: Abigail Doan, Atefeh Khas, Belinda Smith, Charlene Lam, El Hombre Sobre la Tierra in collaboration with Global Goods Partners and Via Nativa, Erica Harris, Erin Considine, Hillary Steel, Jill Magi, Maya Valladares, Michele Pred, and Susan Weltman


Work by Erica Harris in the exhibit Good Works at the Textile Arts Center

From a review of “Good Works” by Joetta Maue on the TAC blog. "This May Day, the Textile Arts Center and Oak Knit Studio are celebrating the textile workers, artists, designers, and activists who make our world more beautiful and just—all makers tied together by the products of our labor—all makers whose work tries to do good in a multitude of ways.
May Day… is a day to honor laborers, to mark the social and economic achievements of the labor movement in the US, and for workers around the world to celebrate their ties to an international community."
Resources:
Tali Weinberg
website
blog: Mulberries and Dew
on Etsy

Textile Art Center, Brooklyn, NY
website
blog

Joetta Maue
website
blog
on Etsy

Bread and Roses
Wikipedia has a good article on Bread and Roses, the origin of the term and it's many applications to organizations throughout the world.