Cape workshop: The freedom to create

As they take part in a re:mancipation cape-making workshop, host Gianofer Fields talks to community members and artist/activist Wildcat Ebony Brown about what freedom means to them.

Meet Me at the Chazen is a podcast about the the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art, the largest collecting museum in the Big Ten. As we report what’s happening here, we'll also explore what it means to be an art museum at a public university and how art museums can help enrich and strengthen the communities they serve. Meet Me at the Chazen theme and incidental music is “Swinging at the Pluto Lounge,” composed and performed by Marvin Tate and friends, and is used with permission of the artists.

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Transcript

Gianofer Fields  00:06
 Meet Me at the Chazen. I'm your host, Gianofer Fields. It's just two days before the opening of the re:mancipation exhibit in the Rowland Gallery in the Chazen Museum of Art. It's on the main floor and the space is filled with the sound of last-minute preparations. However, there's something else in the air. Members of the community were invited to create capes inspired by the Wide Awakes, a group of young men in Connecticut who in the 1860s banded together to protect politicians focused on abolishing slavery. The mission spread across the Union and eventually time. The contemporary Wide Awakes is a movement on a mission to radically reimagine the future through creative collaboration. The makers sewing buttons, fringe, and various shiny things onto fabric capes were asked to contemplate what freedom means to them. As you listen, maybe ask yourself the same question.

Wildcat Ebony Brown  01:06
 I'm Wildcat Ebony Brown. I'm one of the artists participating in re:mancipation. And I'm also in the Wide Awakes collective based out of New York who are, you know, a part of this experience as well. And today we are doing a cape-making workshop in the lobby of the Chazen Museum. It's very fun! We have some members of the community that came out to participate and everybody's getting busy playing with the materials. Lenore Routté and I brought tons of our materials that we're repurposing from our individual practices, and are sharing them with the community so that they can utilize them in their very own capes. And the capes will symbolize their commitment to freedom.

Gianofer Fields  01:58
 You know what's interesting? Whenever I think about organizations, I always think about some arduous, what would you call it, what would you call that? No, no, no, what when you join when, hazing, hazing, I always suggest something like, you know, you got to go through this, you got to go through that you got to jump through this hoop. So then by committing to talk about freedom and think about freedom, is that a way into, or would this be a support of Wide Awakes? How is that working out?
 
 Wildcat Ebony Brown  02:29
 Now the way that the Wide Awakes work, anyone can join, we're an open-source network, there's no membership or anything like that. You just have to be willing to reimagine a new world and be committed to making the world a better place, however you can, right? And we use the cape as a tool for community-building. And it is a representation of our movement, what we stand for, because the original Wide Awakes of the 1860s they wore capes when they were out, protecting anti-slavery politicians, right, so they believed that slavery was innately wrong. And they knew that the way to end slavery in America would be to elect the anti-slavery president, so they were really committed to protecting those who were all about freedom for everyone. So that's what we represent. That's what we're committed to. And that's the message that we're spreading. And it was the most, like, seamless, you know, effortless connection to connect the re:mancipation project and the Wide Awakes. And the thing that's really great about it is that as artists, we're all friends. That made it even easier. It's like, hey, we're doing this, and Sanford was like, Oh, I'm doing that. And you know, and Sanford knew about the Wide Awakes when we formed it. And so it's kind of like people jump in when they're ready, there's, and you can when you're ready to just represent what this country could be, and your willingness to do your part to make it better. That's when you put the cape on.

Devorah Kaufman  04:23
 A lot of work in the Asian motif. So that opens is that like that? Well, this is a necklace, a fabric necklace, but I was thinking I'd attach it somehow like this and then leave that open. Right? And then just go on the back. Yeah, and then it would that's what I'm hoping yeah, that's all old that a friend made me some coasters and I'm Jewish, so I bringing in some Jewish stars, lovely, for that. I love it. Yeah, I'm that's coming along. coming along. I'm gonna ... my proper name is Devorah, Devorah Kaufman, and I'm a retired pediatric nurse practitioner. And in my retirement, I have become a fiber artist. Yes. And I am on this, I love the Chazen. I somehow was lucky enough to get on a mailing list. And I've done this, the second workshop I've done. They're amazing. They're just an amazing opportunity for the community.
 
 Gianofer Fields  05:43
 But what brings you out here to make this cape? Clearly you gave it some thought, because you brought things from home to use.
 
 Devorah Kaufman  05:48
 Well, I contacted Jamie because I didn't feel like I had very much information. And she gave me some links to read about the Awake capes and the artists, which was very helpful. And she said, What does freedom mean to you, think about making a cape to support what freedom means to you. And that's what I did. I pulled some fabric that I got in South Africa, some things folks have made for me, I hope to put, I have this broken dream catcher, and I'm hoping to put that somewhere. Anyway, yeah, very fun!
 
 Gianofer Fields  06:25
 So then what does freedom mean to you?
 
 Devorah Kaufman  06:35
 Freedom has to do with peace that everyone can share in their own heart. There's an easiness to freedom. It doesn't have to be so difficult. In some ways, it's hard-earned. But sometimes you just need to find the place, I don't know, I'm rambling, for yourself. And I think I may do a better through my art, through my dream catchers. Freedom is being able to pursue your dreams. Freedom is being able to pursue your religion or your hopes to have your children grow up and feel safe. All those things.
 
 Gianofer Fields  07:29
 So tell me your name.
 
 Jane Richards  07:31
 My name is Jane Richards.
 
 Gianofer Fields  07:31
 And Jane, what brought you here today?
 
 Jane Richards  07:34
 Oh, I was looking at really, I love fabric and art, sthe two coming together to say something important and strong really made me excited.
 
 Gianofer Fields  07:47
 So your prompt is, what does freedom mean to you? So then what does freedom mean to you?
 
 Jane Richards  07:52
 Oh yeah, I'm super blessed. So I think freedom means being able to have the ability to say whatever I want without being persecuted for it. And also just being able to dream and have a dream and grow old and be able to live that dream. Right. So yeah, I think that's what I'd say.
 
 Gianofer Fields  08:25
 So talk to me about your cape that you're working on.
 
 Jane Richards  08:27
 Oh, I don't know. I didn't, I, I'm not quite sure I, I love the pattern. Mine is a tie-dyed blue and white. And it just called to me, just has, it has an opinion. Right? So I'm not sure what's happening and I'm putting pink fringe on it right now.
 
 Gianofer Fields  08:48
 So are you going to let the cape speak to you, or are you going to impose your will upon the cape?
 
 Jane Richards  08:52
 I'm letting the cape speak to me. Today I am! I wouldn't, I'm not a pink person. And I'm like, weird, I brought pink, and so the cape is speaking to me.
 
 Gianofer Fields  09:03
 New year, new you.
 
 Jane Richards  09:04
 Exactly. I'm very excited!
 
 Gianofer Fields  09:07
 Thank you so much.
 
 Jane Richards  09:08
 Thank you!
 
 Veronica  09:15
 My name is Veronica.
 
 Gianofer Fields  09:17
 And Veronica, what brings you to the Chazen today?
 
 Veronica  09:19
 I think I'm really interested in the exhibition, re:mancipation, because I heard of it from a friend of mine who is starting education, art education, here, and she said this exhibition will be amazing. So like I followed the email, email lists from the Chazen Museum and heard of this event.
 
 Gianofer Fields  09:42
 Okay, it's one thing to think the exhibition is amazing, but you're sitting here making a cape.
 
 Veronica  09:49
 Yeah, so I think that is like an amazing thing about making art like that. You can put some ideas in it. You can be an activist where you making something that you really like.
 
 Gianofer Fields  10:00
 So then talk to me about your prompt was, what does freedom mean to me? So what tell me what freedom means to you?
 
 Veronica  10:07
 I think being free is to do whatever you want, and at the same time get respect from others.
 
 Gianofer Fields  10:17
 So then how are you going to represent that on your cape?
 
 Veronica  10:20
 So now I'm doing, so I pick the color of re-, sorry, blue and white. So when I see this color, I imagine sea, and I imagine waves, so I'm doing a wave here alone. So like, I believe that swimming in the water like no matter, you are human, were like a fish, then you are free.
 
 Gianofer Fields  10:44
 You've been listening to meet me at the Chazen. Our guest Wildcat Ebony Brown is an artist and member of the Wide Awakes movement. She, along with Lenore Routté, led members of the community in a cape-making workshop inspired by the re:mancipation project at UW–Madison's Chazen Museum of Art. Meet Me at the Chazen is production of the Chazen Museum of Art on the campus of UW–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin.
 
For more information about the museum, its collections, and exhibitions, visit chazen.wisc.edu. I'm your host, Gianofer Fields. Thank you for listening.