The Fabric Workshop and Museum presents Jessica Campbell: Heterodoxy
The Fabric Workshop and Museum Presents
Jessica Campbell: Heterodoxy
October 6, 2023–March 24, 2024
Press Preview: Thursday, October 5, 10:00 am
Jessica Campbell, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. “Heterodoxy” (Process Image), 2023. Photo credit: Carlos Avendaño.
Philadelphia, PA, August 8, 2023 — The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is pleased to present Jessica Campbell: Heterodoxy, on view from October 6, 2023 to March 24, 2024. The exhibition and discussion series explores Heterodoxy, the secret feminist debate club that gathered in New York from 1912 until 1940. With a nod toward “Polly’s,” the Greenwich Village restaurant on MacDougal Street in which early meetings of Heterodoxy took place, Campbell’s exhibition will take the form of a gathering space and archive, outfitted in a tufted rug environment.
Working outside the centers of power, Heterodoxy gave its members a safe forum to confront issues relevant to their time and advocate for change with other passionate, thoughtful women. The club brought together members from diverse professional fields, political alignments and personal backgrounds to debate issues that remain remarkably relevant today such as voting access, the right to an abortion and access to birth control, sex education, universal child care, public health, and prison reform. No records were kept to allow members complete freedom to speak their minds, although the New York Tribune published a story about the club in the mid-1910s, impressed that Heterodoxy could function with no written bylaws. Counted among its dozens of members was the physician Sara Josephine Baker, the first woman to receive a doctorate in public health, whose successful campaigns for preventative treatment among impoverished immigrant communities in New York significantly reduced infant mortality and blindness; the cartoonist Lou Rogers, whose satirical works between 1912 and 1922 advanced the causes of women’s suffrage and access to birth control; and Beatrice M. Hinkle, who developed a feminist practice of psychoanalysis that promoted the self-actualization of women through research conducted with members of the club.
Campbell, in collaboration with the FWM Studio, is creating sixteen hand-tufted rugs (4’ x 10’ each). Adorned with floral motifs referencing a photograph taken of Heterodoxy member Ami Mali Hicks in her Greenwich Village studio, the tufted rugs will be installed vertically to cover the gallery walls as hanging tapestries. Three custom designed pine tables (30” x 8’) along with an eclectic arrangement of wooden chairs will support the gathering of up to two dozen visitors, each seated on a screenprinted fabric cushion that carries forward the floral language of the gallery walls. Mirrored windows of tinted plexiglass inset within the walls and tables will, upon illumination, reveal to the public a series of artworks and interpretations of historical documentation relating to the club and its members. One such artwork, a scalloped doormat made of overlapping painted felt pieces stitched together, was constructed as directed by Amy Mali Hicks’ book, “The Craft of Hand-Made Rugs,” published in 1936 amid a revived interest in generational crafts that did not require industrial equipment. Other displays will reveal facsimiles of documents selected by the artist through visits to the library and archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the American Philosophical Society, both located in Philadelphia.
“We are very excited for audiences to experience this exhibition,” says DJ Hellerman, FWM’s Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. “With each residency, our Studio transforms itself to work with new materials and develop new skills to help artists realize an experimental vision. In working with Jessica Campbell, we took on tufting—a first for the Workshop—and developed a new mode of presentation for the artist, whose research-based practice has brought forth rich histories that speak to our time. The results are an incredibly compelling invitation to engage with the important work of the Heterodoxy movement as a way to think about how we can work towards necessary social change today.
Campbell, as a visual artist and cartoonist, explores the ways in which combinations of seemingly disparate media, subject matter, and tone can, together, act as tools for research and the production of knowledge. Her works in Heterodoxy expose the everyday experiences that reveal both current and historical misogyny. Campbell is particularly interested in how both Heterodoxy’s strategy of interdisciplinary dialogue and the dissolve between the personal and professional could be implemented today as a way of generating creative solutions to vital social issues.
As part of this presentation, the public will be invited to engage in a public lecture series featuring speakers who address salient issues of our time and those debated by Heterodoxy. A publication featuring exhibition documentation, comics by the artist, and an essay about the group will be produced in conjunction with the exhibition.
Heterodoxy is organized by Chief Curator & Director of Curatorial Affairs DJ Hellerman, and Project Technician Allen West in collaboration with the artist and the FWM Studio team.
About Jessica Campbell
Jessica Campbell is a multidisciplinary artist and author working in comics, fibers, painting, drawing, and performance. Drawing on a wide range of influences, including science fiction, art world politics, and her evangelical upbringing, Campbell explores ways to reflect heterogeneity through a combination of disparate media, subjects, and tone. Whether through cartoony depictions or the use of unorthodox material, her work often wields humor as a device to help one come to terms with its darker subject matter.
Campbell is the author of three graphic novels, including RAVE (Drawn and Quarterly, 2022), Hot or Not: 20th Century Male Artists (Koyama Press, 2016) and XTC69 (Koyama Press, 2018). Her comics have been published by MoMA, The New Yorker, and Hyperallergic, among other publications. Her Chicago Works show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2018–2019) was reviewed in Art in America, Hyperallergic, and Juxtapoz. Other solo and two-person exhibitions include Field Projects, New York (2019); Roots & Culture, Chicago (2015), and La Galerie Laroche/Joncas, Montreal (2012–2013). Her work has been included in group shows at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI (2022); The Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2022); Richard Heller, Los Angeles (2019); the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario (2019); the ICA, Baltimore (2018); Monique Meloche, Chicago (2017); and was included in Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2021). She is represented by Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL.
Shopworks
Hicks Flowers Yardage
Newly produced in our print studio exclusively for the FWM Shop, Jessica Campbell’s three-color
yardage design is available to the public in a unique burgundy and yellow colorway printed on cotton
sateen. Inspired by floral motifs found in a photograph taken of Heterodoxy member Ami Mali Hicks in
her Greenwich Village studio, this design (in another colorway) serves as custom seating within
Campbell’s exhibition.
$100/yard
Hicks Flowers Tufted Coaster
New for your coffee table! Inspired by Heterodoxy member Ami Mali Hicks, this tufted coaster is taken
from the same design that immerses viewers in a tufted-rug environment in Heterodoxy.
$18 each
Related Programs
Reception
Opening Celebration: Jessica Campbell: Heterodoxy
Thursday, October 5, 2023, 6:00–8:00 pm
FREE and open to the public
Be among the first to experience Jessica Campbell: Heterodoxy, the culmination of the artist’s residency.
Light refreshments served.
Coinciding with DesignPhiladelphia (October 4–15), this open house event includes our other exhibitions
plus a peek behind-the-scenes at current projects underway in our Studio.
Virtual Talk
Come Let Us Reason Together: Jessica Campbell in conversation with DJ Hellerman
Thursday, October 12, 2023, 7:00–8:00 pm
Via Zoom | Free, registration required
Discover how feminist groups of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including
Heterodoxy, have shaped how we live today. How might their example help us create a space and
structure for discussing the issues of our own time?
Join this virtual talk with artist Jessica Campbell and curator DJ Hellerman. Following the artist’s
presentation on the research that led to her FWM solo exhibition, the two will discuss the impact of
feminist clubs and lessons their successes and failures may hold for today.
Talk + Trunk Show
Of Our Own Times: Lecture + Trunk Show with Padmini Govind
Friday, November 17, 2023, 6:00–7:30 pm
$10 Public | Free for FWM members
Padmini Govind’s mother established Tharangini, the oldest and last remaining hand block printing
studio in Bangalore, India in 1977. Padmini has upheld this beautiful craft tradition as well as the ethical,
organic, and sustainable practices that her mother heralded. Learn about the practices of hand block
printing, block carving, natural dye techniques, embroidery, community outreach, and sustainable
practices at Tharangini and enjoy an exclusive trunk show featuring block printed items crafted by the
artisans of Tharangini Studios
Master Class
Of Our Own Times: Block Printing Workshop with Padmini Govind
Saturday, November 18, 2023, 1:00–4:00 pm
$85 Public | $75 FWM members
Join this master class with Padmini Govind of Thanangini Studios for an afternoon of block printing on
handloomed stoles—a type of shawl—woven by artisans in Bangalore, India. Inspired by the floral
patterns featured in Jessica Campbell: Heterodoxy, FWM commissioned artisans at Tharangini Studios
to carve custom woodblocks. Using these in combination with blocks from Padmini’s own collection,
we’ll make our stoles unique with hand block-print techniques using mordant paste and madder root!
Research Lab
Of Our Own Times: Screenprinting with Indigo with Kavyashree Mruthyunjaya Swamy
Saturday, December 9, 2023, 12:00–5:00 pm
$85 Public | $75 FWM members
Artist and scholar Kavyashree Mruthyunjaya Swamy will share her research in screenprinting with
natural indigo, offering a hands-on experience of textile design and dyeing. Indigo dye, derived from the
leaves of the Indigofera plant, has a rich history spanning centuries and is celebrated for its vivid blue
hues. In this workshop, you’ll delve into the modern art of screenprinting while utilizing natural indigo’s
captivating and sustainable properties. Experiment with various patterns, color intensities, and layering
techniques to produce personalized and stunning creations!
More programming in 2024 will be announced soon.
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.
Support
Major support for Jessica Campbell: Heterodoxy has been generously provided by The Coby Foundation, Ltd. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In-kind support has been provided by Tuft the World.
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Note to Editors: A media preview will be held Thursday, October 5 at 10:00 am. To request attendance, please contact Max Kruger-Dull at max@bluemedium.com.
Media Contacts:
Max Kruger-Dull
Blue Medium, Inc.
Tel: +1-212-675-1800
max@bluemedium.com
Philadelphia-based inquiries:
Justin Rubich
FWM Communications
Tel: 215-561-8888 x224
jrubich@