Exhibition at Old Schwamb Mill

Along with the solo show at Bloc 11 in Somerville, I'll also be in a four-person abstract art exhibition in Arlington next month. The show is at the Old Schwamb Mill, which is a frame mill from 1864 that is still in operation. I'd never been there before, so I toured the space yesterday. It's an adorable low building, with the woodworking shop downstairs and a small art display space up the creaky wooden stairs on the second floor. The whole place smells like old wood and history. Several of the walls in the art space have been scrawled with chalk or marker -- at first I thought it was recent vandalism, but then I realized that the messages are historical recordings of events such as first snowfalls, written by the workers there over a century ago. We also got to see part of a tour of the still-working machinery on the first floor, which was developed to use water power from the area but has since been updated to electricity.

The gallery area is divided into small rooms, with a larger room or atrium as you come in and wall space between the individual rooms. The space was currently showing a mosaic show which was in the process of coming down while we were there. My work will be on the walls between the rooms, including this very picturesque window space which I am looking forward to filling with maps!

The opening reception will be Saturday, December 1 from 2:30-4:30pm (the day before my opening at Bloc 11); if it's a nice day, there should be lots of lovely light to illuminate the work. The exhibition will run through mid-March. I will also be running a mapmaking workshop on February 9th, and there will be a closing reception in March as well. I'll be sending out emails about those as they get closer; if you're not already on my mailing list, you can sign up on my site at www.emilygarfield.com.