First Brick Presents: Something Fest
A one day only Performance Fest and Sculpture Garden
June 9th, 2019 from 3-9 PM
Join us for a one DAY only event of queer art and celebration: Something Fest is a joyous, un-capitalistic, un-logo'd, no-label Pride gathering and celebration of / for Summer with a day that reflects a varied and interdisciplinary approach to Performance and Sculpture.
Think Alice in Wonderland tea party, 6 hrs. of art, where you can come and go as you please. There will be tunes. There will be pasta making. There will be dance. There will be sustenance. There will be liquids and one small kiddie pool. There will be laughs. There will be squishy materials. There will be badminton. NO PHOBES, NO RACIST OR HOMOPHOBIC BEHAVIOR WILL BE TOLERATED. This, like all of our programming, is one day only and not permanently in this space or any space for that matter. Folks are welcome to sign-up for mini sets between acts day of!!! We welcome you to be inspired to create a first time spontaneous piece!!!!!! The Sculpture Garden will be installed all day. Leif J Lee, will be doing show titles and a wall mural. Thank you to Morgan Marshall for this gorgeous flyer. The address is to a first brick member’s accessible backyard, there are 3 steps up to the bathroom.
The curators of First Brick understand that the power of queer artists comes not only from their creative production but also from the energy and community that surrounds them. Seeing urgent need in Portland to create more opportunities for queer art to fulfill that beautiful potential James Knowlton and Eric Long created a roving art “gallery” that leaves behind the tradition of maintaining a single physical space for shows along with adherence to other outmoded or unnecessary approaches. “Art is too frequently offered in isolation from community within settings that haven’t deeply challenged embedded heteronormativity,” explains Knowlton. “We engage artists who are not necessarily institutionally validated, and create space for audiences who have felt excluded from the art realm. This is our way of helping queer community to thrive within established as well as expanded art realms.” From the project’s origins in a bathroom stall (co-founded with Molly Alloy and Alynn Carpenter) at Pacific Northwest College of Art where the members met to now, Long adds that the project’s “mobility in changing spaces lets us bring art experiences to places where queer audiences already exist and also to existing art audiences that are not as exposed to queer art perspectives.”
Autonomuse
Carson Terry
Cry Babe
Ellie Gordon
Garima Thakur
Hannon
JP Huckins
Laura Anne Whitley
Leo Lefevre
Steph Linn & Teal Blue
Takahiro Yamamoto
First Brick’s curators do not believe in categorical assumptions of artistic comprehension based on age, institutional involvement, or artistic background. Their programs often bring together folks who are just entering the field alongside very established artists.
First Brick’s programming is supported in part by the Precipice Fund and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
First Brick is the curatorial collaboration of Eric Long and James Knowlton. First Brick offers a platform for those individuals who resist assimilation within heteronormative white supremacist patriarchy. The first brick can be a brave act of dissent against the establishment, or the first gesture towards a new foundation.