First Friday with the Arts: Lexie Millikan

Name: First Friday with the Arts: Lexie Millikan
Start: 2024-07-05T17:00:00-05:00
End: 2024-07-05T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Arts Council of Southeast Missouri

Schedule

Fri Jul 05 2024 at 05:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Arts Council of Southeast Missouri | Cape Girardeau, MO

From the Heart Land
Exhibition by Lexie Millikan
Lexie Millikan is an artist, educator, and curator living in western Kentucky. Lexie received her BFA, with a focus in fiber, installation, and social practice, at the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO. After working at her alma mater as the Fiber Technician and Lecturer, teaching studio classes like Intro to Sewing and Sustainable Design, she eventually moved to Kentucky where she currently serves as Executive Director of the national non-profit organization, Quilts of Valor Foundation. Lexie continues to teach textiles and sculpture classes in universities, high schools, and community settings in the Midwest and Mid-South. Her own artwork has been exhibited throughout the country and has been featured in Nashville Arts, Paducah Life, and Quiltfolk magazine. Lexie has represented Paducah in the UNESCO Creative Cities network at events and exhibitions in Mexico, South Korea, and Spain, and Italy.
"The textiles that surround us speak volumes about us. From the garments that we wear on our bodies, to the kitchen towels that dry our dishes, a person’s textile choices (or lack of) can create a complex portrait of them.
I’ve been wearing work clothes all my life, clothes that I had to get a little more out of. Holes got patched. Garments got passed down through generations. Jeans got turned into quilts, curtains into rags. This was the reality of the (sometimes) working poor. The material culture of poverty reimagines all domestic textiles over and over again.
The history contained in work clothes exposes the burden of the working class, from the factory where it was made, to the labors of the person wearing the clothing. My art continues this work cycle, taking into consideration both the time and physical labor of the making process. By reusing materials from the people around me, I’m exploring the identity that is wrapped up in our everyday textiles, and deconstructing in order to reconstruct them into something that I can make sense of. From long-term collaborative installations, performative mending workshops, and traditional processes like quilting, I am working through ideas of identity, care, and labor."
Join Lexie directly before her opening reception for a Learning Things Is Cool artist lecture from 4:00 - 5:00 PM in the gallery!
The Visual Arts Cooperative will have all new artwork in their gallery. Have you ever thought about joining the VAC? Now is the time to follow that dream! They are looking for new artists and would love to talk to you about that process during First Friday.
Micro Gallery #1 features artwork by our Happy Campers Project teachers. Micro Gallery #2 features student photography and poems curated by Tara Bova, the Library Media Specialist at Blanchard Elementary.
Keep your eyes peeled for a post about how our Friends of First Friday are celebrating!