Rose B. Simpson’s Dream HouseExtended Through May 7, 2023 at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum

Simpson’s connection with her multigenerational, matrilineal lineage of ceramicists resonates throughout the installation, developed as spaces reminiscent of the intimate adobe architecture found in Southwest New Mexico. Upon entering FWM’s eighth floor gallery, visitors’ shadows are projected onto the gallery wall, immediately welcoming and acknowledging one’s presence in the space as one enters the installation.

Partitioned into separated rooms that visitors navigate between and peer inside, each presents an aspect of home: safety and emotional comfort, the work of psychological and spiritual growth, as well as abundance and fullness. Built so that visitors can peer inside, the first room features a video work depicting a landscape conveying Simpson’s notions of safety and empowerment, while the space is filled with textiles created to express comfort, along with a tapestry of interwoven figurative ceramic pieces. A table and chairs designed by the artist fill the second room, representing familial influence and the dedication to her practice of self-reflection. Large ceramic masks suspended above the workspace reference a lineage and accountability to forebears and a sustained connection to them. The third room, presenting aspects of fullness, features artist-made clothing, pottery, and shelves. In each of these spaces, Simpson includes video footage capturing important locations and moments of personal resonance.

In the fourth and final space, representing “the present” and located in front of the gallery’s monumental window, Simpson offers a light-filled gathering space for visitors to enter, sit, rest, reflect, and contemplate their own relationship with home and nourishment. Various public programs will be hosted at this communal site throughout the run of the exhibition, offering visitors a deeper connection of self-awareness in relation to place and community.

In the museum’s first floor gallery through April 16, 2023, visitors are also invited to explore a Process Lab for Rose B. Simpson’s residency, which documents material experiments like plaster tests, weaving, and screenprinting that led to the making of Dream House. Self-guided activities are available for visitors of all ages, including making and painting a paper pulp bowl, collaging textures to construct a dream house, and painting symbols on a wall to represent ideas of home. As happens through all of FWM’s Process Labs, visitors get a glimpse at the artist’s iterative process and an idea of the work that goes into the creation of an exhibition.

Dream House is organized by Senior Project Coordinator Abby Lutz and Chief Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs DJ Hellerman in collaboration with the artist, and was initiated by Karen Patterson, FWM’s former Curator & Director of Exhibitions.

About Rose B. Simpson
Rose B.Simpson (born 1983, lives and works with her young daughter in Santa Clara Pueblo, NM) is a mixed-media artist whose work explores the impact, both emotional and existential, of living in the postmodern and postcolonial world. Simpson has a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Art, an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She has had recent solo exhibitions at the Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, NM, the Nevada Art Museum, Reno, NV, and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, is featured in a current solo at the ICA Boston and has recently opened Counterculture, a public art installation at Field Farm, Williamstown, MA (2022). Museum collections include the Denver Art Museum, ICA Boston, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Nevada Art Museum, Pomona College Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Art in America, Forbes, Vogue, and The New York Times. Simpson is represented by Jessica Silverman in San Francisco and Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.

About The Fabric Workshop and Museum
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is an internationally acclaimed contemporary art museum devoted to the creation, presentation, and preservation of innovative works of art. Its mission—Collaborating with artists, revealing new possibilities—embodies a 45-year commitment to helping artists experiment with the expressive possibilities of a broad spectrum of new materials and techniques. Through its renowned Artist-in-Residence Program, FWM provides artists at all stages of their careers with the opportunity to collaborate with its studio staff and take their work in fresh and often unexpected directions. FWM presents large-scale exhibitions, installations, and performative work, utilizing innovative fiber and other media including sculpture, installation, video, painting,
photography, ceramics, and architecture. Founded in 1977, FWM brings this spirit of creative investigation and discovery to an eager audience, broadening access to art and advancing its role as a catalyst for innovation and social connection.

Remaining Public Events

All Ages Workshop
First Friday: Dream House Prints
Friday, February 3, 2023
4:00–6:00 pm
FWM’s Artist-in-Residence Rose B. Simpson has used the structure of a house as a metaphor to communicate who and where she is in her life. Create your own screenprinted dream house or create a dream community with family and friends! Learn to build the elements of a home with screenprinted architectural forms and embellish your print with cut paper shapes! Families welcome.
$10 Public | $5 members | $5 kids ages 4-15 | FREE for kids under 4 | advance registration encouraged

Lecture + Workshop
Designing Indigenous Visual Languages with Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Friday, February 3, 2023
2:00–4:30 pm
How can design education support the understanding and revitalization of tribal visual sovereignty and the inclusion of an indigenous perspective? In this lecture and workshop, Sadie Red Wing, a Lakota graphic designer from the Spirit Lake Nation of Fort Totten, North Dakota, will share her background in design education and advocacy and introduce her research in the origins of Lakota symbols. Learn how symbols reflect and evolve from elements of the landscape and explore how to find meaning in place to shape your own visual communication.
After the lecture, explore the creation of your own symbols by reimagining basic shapes that resonate with your own personal history. Each participant will print and take home a commemorative screenprint.
$40 Public | $30 members | $15 students with ID | advance registration encouraged

Workshop
Ritual of Tea with Dope Botanicals and Natural Dye Workshop
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
6:00–8:00 pm
Step in from the cold and join FWM staff and Taahirah and Nakia Stith of Dope Botanicals around a table within Rose B. Simpson’s Dream House to learn about tea preparation and plant based alchemical remedies. After enjoying a custom tea blend inspired by the winter season and Dream House, head to our print studio to create your own set of tea-dyed napkins, screenprinted with natural mordants!
$85 Public | $75 FWM members | limited space available, advance registration encouraged

Support
Major Support for Rose B. Simpson: Dream House has been generously provided by The National Endowment for the Arts, with additional support from Joy of Giving Something, Inc., Girlfriend Fund, Maja Paumgarten and John Parker, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Megan O’Reilly-Lewis, and Wayee Chu and Ethan Beard.
In-kind support has been provided by The Clay Studio.

###


Media Contacts
Max Kruger-Dull
Blue Medium, Inc.
Tel: +1-212-675-1800
[email protected]

Philadelphia-based inquiries:
Justin Rubich
FWM Communications
Tel: 215-561-8888 x224
jrubich@fabricworkshopandmuseum.org