Gallery Night

Fasten Designer Collective and Gallery Presents:

Work by Becky Tesch and Erika Wolf

January 14th - February 28th

Opening Reception on Gallery Night; Friday, January 16th 6-9pm

Fasten is pleased to present the works of two Milwaukee artists. Becky Tesch will be showing a collection entitled "Garbage and Glue" including her newest found-object sculptures and collages. Erika Wolf will be showing collected works of oil on canvas paintings.

Becky Tesch is a Milwaukee native who graduated from UWM with a degree in graphic design. Beside her graphic design work, everything she makes with her hands is out of recycled materials. Under her label MyMishMosh, Becky creates jewelry, accessories, and home goods out of bike parts, building materials, and found ephemera. In her collection of art, discarded and seemingly useless materials are infused with new life and beauty by her simple sweet juxtaposition of color and texture.

Erika Wolf graduated from the Cleaveland Institute of Art with a BFA. The subjects in her paintings are common objects arranged into narratives and infused with simple grace. In the words of the artist; "My paintings are a validation of my personal experience, a manifestation of my search for meaning, and a representation of the beauty inherent within the imperfections of my own human involvement."

January Classes

Intermediate Sewing
Wednesday January 14th, 6-9pm
Fee: $20
One day workshop. A follow up for students who have taken the basic sewing class, or for those with some experience. Students bring their own machines, and should already know how to use them well. The focus in this class is garment construction. Types of fabrics, notions, and tools are discussed. Design techniques such as draping, swiping, and pattern-making are also discussed. Students will complete one garment. Materials: Sewing machine, 2 yards of stretch-knit fabric.



T-Shirt Reclamation
Thursday Jan 22nd 6-9pm
Fee: $20
Rescue old boxy t-shirts from conformity. Learn patterns and draping, cutting and pinning techniques, the use of origami in fashion, and visual design elements for transforming all of your old tees into fitted and flattering articles. Take home tutorials and one ready-to-sew garment. Supplies: Two or three old T-shirts. One box of safety pins. Your own sewing machine (if available.)



GENERAL WORKSHOP INFORMATION
-All workshops will be held at Fasten in Bay View
-Students are expected to bring their own machines, however, there is a house machine available for a $5 usage fee.
-Students receive a 40% discount on supplies purchased at Fasten during the month of class.
-Students must sign up at least one week before the class date.
-Call 414-747-9229 to pay by credit card,
Or mail a check with your name, address, phone number, and the class title to
Fasten Collective 2224 S Kinnickinnic Ave. Milwaukee WI 53207

Free Goodies for You!

Do your chirstmas shopping at Fasten and receive a gift yourself!

Free grab bag filled with hand-made goodies with every purchase (of $10 or more).

Dec 10th through the 23rd!

We love giving gifts. These bags are full of all sorts of special little things hand-made by our designers. Some items are made especially for the promotion, and we make them together, other items are actually small items from our designer's collections. Hey, Merry Christmas!

Craft Night! Wednesday December 10th

Tis the season! This craft night, get ready to dive into a motley pile of unwanted Christmas ornaments and decorations, and with a few tools, glitter, and googley eyes, construct masterful frankenstein ornaments sure to arrouse your loved ones and friends. Seriously, that's our craft night project! It's gunna be awesome, you'll see, just come on down. All supplies provided.

Wednesday Dec 10th 6-9pm

At Fasten

"Decay" Work by April Heding

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee student, April Heding, will be showing two bodies of work in this solo exhibition. The black and white photos with their ghostly and often abstract images are results of alternative darkroom processes. The other half of the show includes ink drawings again with photographic images burned into them. Both collections examine the artist's relationship with death.

Join us for an opening reception on Friday December 5th from 6-9pm. The artist will be in attendance along with local dj's BangLaFresh.

Craft Night

The next craft night is Wednesday Nov. 12th. Come on down to Fasten between 6-9pm. Bring a friend, a snack or drink to share, and some creative energy.

You may come to work on a project of your own, taking advantage of our space, tools, machines, expertise, and company. Or, if you don't have a project to bring, let us inspire you. This month Little Ocean designer, Janelle, will be leading the craft night group in making some adorable aprons. They make great gifts! You are encouraged to bring your own fabric (you'll need at least 3/4 yard), but as always, you're welcome to dig through our free bin, or purchase some of our vintage fabric. And if you have any cute trim you'd like to include, bring it along too!

See you there!

Featured Collection

Lindsay Keating-Moore is the designer behind KM Stitchery. Her line of 2nd hand tees feature inspirational women printed with hand-cut stencils. Read our interview with her below.

How long have you been crafting and designing?

I have been crafting since my sophomore year in college so about 5 or 6 years now. I remember how I started, one year for Christmas I wanted to make something for my boyfriend at the time, something handmade. I had never really crafted before. I went out and bought some fabric, used my mom’s sewing machine and made him a little stuffed animal. With the left over fabric, I made a bag and that’s how I got started!

How was KM Stitchery born?

I originally started KM Stitchery in 2005. Back then my line was totally different. After making my first bag, I kind of took off from there and eventually I was making applique clutch bags from recycled fabrics. Then in the fall of 2007, I felt like I wanted to make more of a statement with my work. Some of my friends were cutting stencils, and my husband decided to make a stencil of Dylan Thomas and I thought, “Hey, I could do that”. Then I thought about who I’d make a stencil of, I had been reading Emma Goldman at the time so I immediately thought of her. I really surprised myself at how well it came out! I thought it would be cool to print stencils on t-shirts and then I thought about folks I knew who were making t-shirts with Ghandi or Martin Luther King and I thought, “You know, you never really see any revolutionary women on t-shirts”. Hence, KM Stitchery was born!

Describe your line.

I make hand cut stencils of feminists and print them on recycled clothing. Each stencil is cut by me with an x-acto knife and printed onto clothing. My line is mainly about two ideas: feminism and being eco-friendly! I wanted to have a clothing line that exclusively features prints of women. I wanted to make a statement. I have seen lots of screen printing companies that print mainly or entirely men on their shirts. I find that to be really frustrating. Especially when it’s considered normal for women to wear male figures on their shirts but weird for men to wear female figures. That’s why I’m starting to print on men’s clothing too. When I tell people that they seem confused. That’s a double standard I want to break. So no more male figures, just awesome feminist women! Also, it’s really cool to see how excited women get about my clothing. I think it’s empowering for them as women. It’s also important for me to be eco-friendly. I print my designs on recycled clothing. I would rather reuse the tons of clothing that already exists than support the production of new clothing. Another reason why I don’t buy new clothing is because I don’t want to support sweatshops. Other ways that my company is environmentally friendly is that: I use non-toxic water based inks, all my fabric tags are printed on recycled fabric, I make my business cards and hanging tags on the back of cereal boxes, and I also recycle brown paper bags by using them for packaging up orders.

What is your background in feminism?

I was an English major in college but if I could do it all over again I would have double majored in English Literature AND Women’s Studies (or gone to art school!). I didn’t get into feminism until my senior year of college...a late bloomer. The first thing that brought me into awareness was the different beauty standards for men and women that my friends at the time had pointed out to me. Also, in my world literature seminar we were discussing gender roles in the novels we were reading, one example is, “The Passion” by Jeanette Winterson. That got me into reading a bunch of books about feminism and they really opened my eyes. bell hooks was one of the first authors I read. Now I’m at the point where I alternate between reading a feminist non-fiction book and then a novel. I’m always reading feminist books. Feminism is extremely important in my life.

Who are the women in your line and how do you choose them?

The women I currently have stencils cut of are: Angela Davis, Gloria Steinem & Dorothy Pitman Hughes, Victoria Woodhull, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, bell hooks, Susan B Anthony, Frida Kahlo, Audre Lorde, Lucy Stone, and Simone de Beauvoir. I try to have a diversity of women represented, especially race, nationality, periods in time (first wave, second wave etc), sexual orientation etc. The great thing is that I am always cutting new stencils! I cut 1-2 new stencils per month. As I build up my stencils, I would like to have a very diverse selection of women. I started out cutting stencils of women that I knew about and liked, but then my customers/people interested in my line emailed me their suggestions. Now I have a nice long list of women! I try to cut stencils of well known feminists and also women who are not as well known, women who’ve been left out of history. A perfect example of this is Victoria Woodhull. She actually ran for president in 1872, before women had the right to vote! That’s a pretty momentous event....but for some reason it’s been left out of history. I want to give the recognition they should have gotten.