Craft Parlour with Anahita Jamali Rad

Apr 20, 2024
Field:

Workshop

Location:

Rear office, Western Front

Time:

11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Description:

Craft Parlour was a series of six workshops on the intersection of craft-based artistic practices and writing led by artist-in-residence, Rebecca La Marre, alongside invited guests, and a working group of ten participants: Rosamunde Bordo, Amelia Butcher, Xinwei Che, Hannah Crosson, Sun Forest, Amy Gogarty, Chloë Lalonde, Christian Newby, Emiliano Sepulveda, and Julia Wong. The working group was assembled to attend each session and think, read, make, and play with the entanglement of text and material. Members of the working group also had the opportunity to present their own research during the workshops, and publish work in a digital publication produced at the conclusion of the project. 

The sixth and final workshop was facilitated by Anahita Jamali Rad and featured presentations by working group members Hannah Crosson, Sun Forest, and Chloë Lalonde. The session began with a virtual artist talk by Lalonde, followed by a collage workshop led by Rad. Also joining virtually, Crosson led the group through a clay wedging exercise using ground clay dust sent from Chingford, England. To conclude, Forest hosted a gimijang, leading the group in a kimchi making workshop.
Guests sit on stools with their belongings piled at their feet. They gather at a table covered in protective plastic and direct their attention out of the frame.
Two guests face away from the camera and towards a projection of a zoom presentation on the wall. The title on the screen reads Colour Code followed by text and a diagram with different color blotches labeled by either a letter or number. Four Zoom participants are visible in domestic settings, as windows on the right side of the projection.
One guest faces a projection of a Zoom meeting. The presentation shows paint markings in different shapes and colours. Each shape is labeled by a different letter A through Z.
An artist in a black sweater and reading glasses play with their fingernails while speaking. They tilt their head to the right while looking to the left. Another guest in a beige top sits next to them, listening.
A guest in a black sweater and reading glasses rest their chin on their right hand. Their left arm sits on their hip with their eyebrows slightly raised.
A guest wearing an apron cuts a strip of indiscernible words from a magazine. They carefully rest their left hand on the page while lining up the blades of soft grip scissors to create their slice.
Three guests sit in front of colourful magazines. One flips through pages while another cuts away.
A guest wearing a plaid top cuts indiscernible lines of text from a magazine. They pull the page taut with their right hand while cutting forward with their left.
A guest, with their back to the camera, splits two lines of text with scissors.
The cut out phrase How are you, rests on a piece of glossy off-white rubber. Free floating below, is the word gravity, and other indistinguishable text. A hand presses down on one of the scraps obscuring the view.
Guests sit around a table cluttered with electronics, magazines, paper towels, glue sticks and scissors. They work away, each artist concentrating on the material in front of them.
Guests sit around a table cluttered with electronics, magazines, paper towels, glue sticks and scissors. They work away, each artist concentrating on the material in front of them. An open laptop reveals a zoom meeting with multiple participants.
A Zoom meeting is projected on the wall. A photo of a mortar and pestle with clay inside are shown next to an image of baggies holding powdered clay.
Two guests stand on one side of a table shaping clay. An artist in a black sweater pushes the clay on the table, while the other, in a blue apron, pulls the clay with their fingers.
A guest in a navy button up top pushes a slab of clay down on the table. Their gaze is directed to something outside of the frame.
Two guests smile at something outside of the frame. They keep their hands working on the slabs of clay in front of them.
Two hands pinch the side of a small concave clay sculpture. They use only a pointer finger and thumb on each hand extending the others so that they are out of the way.
A participant in a navy button up top collects flattened pieces of clay together in front of them. To their right, sits a tangerine and the hands of another guest working away.
Guests sit around a table covered in chopped produce and appliances. An artist stands up with hands clasped motioning towards a blender. Projected behind them is a Zoom meeting showing participants tuning in.
Two guests, with their backs to the camera, stand around a blender full of garlic, onion, and bell peppers.
Three guests stand around a table line with food, utensils, and electronics. One guest holds and points to a milky liquid while the others observe.
Guests gather around a plastic lined table. Half of the group wears gloves while massaging cabbage with kimchi sauce. The others watch keenly.
Four guests stand around a table, as two, with gloved hands massage a red sauce into cabbage. The other two with arms behind their back pay close attention.
Gloved hands reach onto a tupperware of kimchi. A projector glows, directing its light out of the frame. Behind bottles of Yakult, cables, and a laptop, are more gloved hands transferring kimchi from one bowl to another.

Captions:

Western Front is a non-profit
artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.