The Textile Museum hosted Mod Madness – an after-hours event filled with music, art and activities.
By Julie LaPorte
WE ARE SCIENCE! at Mod Madness. Photo by Max Cook.
Tapping into the Mad Men spirit, D.C. art-lovers donned their best 1950s and ‘60s garb and braved the rain and pressing heat to attend the Textile Museum’s Mod Madness – an after-hours celebration of the vibrant designs that re-energized British textiles after World War II.
Coinciding with the current exhibit Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain, Mod Madness brought in 550 guests, filling the Textile Museum’s rooms. The Pete Muldoon Quartet providing a jazzy soundtrack to the festivities in the garden while DJ Jahsonic set up his station in the main exhibit. Guests mingled over food and drinks and could even silk screen their own t-shirts or canvas bags with Washington Printmakers Gallery. Kristina Bilonick, artist and Program Director for the Washington Project for the Arts, was on-hand at the printmaking station and demonstrated the basics of silk screening, an art form popular in the 1970s.
WE ARE SCIENCE!, a performing arts organization that “explores truth in the interactions of the moment,” collaborated with Curator Lee Talbot to create a fun, interactive tour of the exhibit Art by the Yard.
“PM at the TM (the Textile Museum’s after-hours program) attracts a different demographic,” said Talbot, “And WE ARE SCIENCE! brings a new interpretation of the exhibit.” Led by Adam Good, with a background in avant-garde poetry, and John Lee, with a background in improve theatre, guests moved from room to room exploring the impact that the three designers – Lucienne Day, Marian Mahler and Jacqueline Groag – had on British textiles post-WWII, the context of their contribution and a bit of gossip about the competition between the women.
To read Washington Life’s review of Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain, click here. For more information on the Textile Museum and upcoming events, visit their website.
Mod Madness. Photo by Max Cook.
