LOOM3: LABELER opens at Chatham Mills on May 22

LOOM3: LABELER

Department of Art faculty member elin o'Hara slavick and Jeff Waites (UNC, 2002, highest honors) have co-curated the LOOM3: LABELER exhibition at Chatham Mills.  The exhibition features work by fifty artists, including students and faculty of UNC, Triangle area artists, as well as independent artists and artists affiliated with academic institutions around the country. The opening reception is from 5PM-10PM Saturday, May 22.  Hours are Saturdays 5PM-10PM; Sunday-Wednesday 11:30AM-3:30PM; Thursday and Friday 5PM-9PM.

LOOM artists have collaborated in the past two exhibitions to integrate their creative energy with the overwhelming presence of the Chatham Mills building.  Artists both use the mill as a venue for their work and incorporate "artifacts" salvaged from the mill's operation.  Weaving the mill's abandoned "artifacts" into their works, artists have unique opportunities for commenting on both the historical significance of Chatham Mills and the past communities that shared their lives with the factory.

 LOOM3: LABELER THEMES:
1) Labeling: the woven clothing labels once made at the mill as well as notions of identity, class, race, and gender
2) Labor: industrial, historical, and contemporary labor, and process and loss in art making
3) Community:  artists' collaboration in historical sites creates new allegiances between artists and communities.

Chatham Mills, now a historic site, opened in the 1920s and reached its height in the 1960s and 1970s as the world's largest manufacturer of woven garment labels.  The mill closed on November 1, 1996 because its outdated equipment did not allow it to compete with other manufacturers.  Chatham Mills is now in the process of renewal; current owner Tom Roberts wants to preserve the building, perhaps as an emerging art center.

Directions: Chatham Mills is 15 miles from Chapel Hill. Take US 15-501 South towards Pittsboro. The mill is on the left, under the water tower, 1.6 miles after the US 64 interchange.

For more information contact Jeff Waites at 919-968-3034 or loom@hotmail.com; elin o'Hara slavick at 919-962-0728 or eoslavic@email.unc.edu.  See our  Calendar for specific times and events