In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, a group of women artists in Managua decided to host a series of events. One weekend event was called Managua Art Market and was held March 18 and 19.
The market/festival consisted of seventy women artists in fifty booths, along with free presentations, workshops, and demonstrations that ran concurrently. The setting was in a beautiful and fairly new shopping center but with mostly empty retail spaces. This setting was mutually beneficial as it brought in the public while also having little to no cost for exhibitors.
Since Maria Magnolia only has upcycled denim clothing, it was fun to produce a first “art” piece to exhibit. Sure, several garments are also art-to-wear, but this piece was stretched onto a frame and formally displayed.
Entitled “Subversion,” thirteen diverse denim pockets are overlayed and stitched together. Several have exposed red silk fabric emerging or hidden within. This tribute was to the historical inequity of women’s clothing, especially pockets which were considered “subversive” for centuries. Even today, women’s pockets are generally shorter than men’s. Pricey women’s pants are usually hemmed while men’s pants are rarely hemmed. The list of inequities continues.
The second highlight was a workshop called “How to Visibly Mend Jeans.” The limited capacity was for 10 participants but 14 showed up. From young to old, novice to experienced, male and female, it was a fun, motley and enthusiastic group.
With only one hour, the workshop was able to successfully include: quick history of denim, unraveling pieces to understand its weaving and colors, learning the basic sashiko and blanket stitch, learning reverse and standard applique, and finally visibly mending their own jeans.
It is always gratifying to have workshop participants show off their newly found skills!
This “first” was great fun and remarkably successful. Best of all, talk is already happening about the next one in 2024.