Patterns and Power: A Discussion on Craft and Labor in Art

a conversation with Joyce Kozloff & Sarah Zapata, moderated by Catherine Quan Damman Wednesday, April 19, 6–7 pm Silver Center, NYU, Room 301 (enter at 32 Waverly Place) Focusing on two NYC artists who approach decoration from a political mindset, this discussion will explore relationships between craft, pattern, and labor, especially as a means to question power structures. Joyce Kozloff, a major figure in the Pattern and Decoration and Feminist art movements, employs mapping and other visual traditions to rethink history and culture. Artist and writer Sarah Zapata creates sculptures, installations and performances with techniques including hand weaving and sewing to examine themes such as gender, identity, and colonialism. Both work with intricate, handmade processes, troubling the history of craft as “women’s work.” Moderated by Catherine Quan Damman, Linda Nochlin Visiting Assistant Professor, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at NYU; the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU; and the Department of Art History, College of Arts & Science, NYU. Visitor Access and Registration For in-person attendance without an active NYU ID card, please RSVP via our contact form by April 18. Everyone who RSVPs by April 18 will be granted in-person access to this event. After this deadline, only individuals with active NYU ID cards can be guaranteed in-person access. RSVPs for more than one person should list all names on the contact form. Audience members are also invited to register to attend via Zoom. Images: Left: Sarah Zapata, Siempre X (detail), 2015-2016, handwoven fabric, natural and synthetic fiber, hair extensions, rhinestone transfer, 6 x 10 feet. Right: Joyce Kozloff, Mad Russian Blanket (detail), 1977, collage and colored pencil on paper, 65 x 80 in., Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art Collection, Gift of Susan and Steven Jacobson, 2013.1.1.