April 13th Dinner - Individuals in Collaboration

 

Summary: The Berwick’s first dinner party in the “Meet Me at the Table”  series was held on Friday April 13th  and generously hosted in Jill Slosburg-Ackerman’s studio in Somerville.

 

We gathered a group of artists and arts administrators in order to begin the series from the artists’ perspective. This was a comfortable and natural place for the Berwick to begin , as our programs and founding members are artist focused.

However, one of the aims of this series is to learn and grow from our current position, and build towards meaningful collaborations and connections with wider existing communities in our local area.

 

This page hopes to bring you a little bit deeper into the structure and conversation of the first dinner, as well as our reflections moving forward.  

 
Please visit our forums on the right-side bar and curators' perspectives sections at the bottom of the page for more information.

 

Dinner Guests

The MMT team included:

Susan Sakash and Meg Rotzel as the conveners & moderators of the evening, co-curators of Meet Me at the Table             Jill Slosburg-Ackerman hostess, artist, Professor of 3-D art at MassArt     Nova Benway, MMT evaluator & evening assistant, Master's candidate, Arts Administration at Boston University
    Laurel DeMarco, Berwick intern, artist  

Collaborating on the creation and presentation of the evening's dining experience were:

Sarah King McKeon, artist
and Hannah Burr, artist

 

 

Guests included:

Ellen Driscoll , artist, Professor at RISD
Ellen has collaborated with the Fenway Alliance and City of Boston on 'Lumina' - a site specific LED light installation along Huntington Avenue - more details can be found on Ellen's website
Matthew Hincman , artist and creator of the Jamaica Pond Bench , Professor of sculpture, MassArt
Lauren Johnston, Program Assistant, NEFA
Matt Nash, producer of Big Red and Shiny, 1/2 of artist team Harvey Loves Harvey
Marissa Molinaro, artist

 

 

The dinner, created by Hannah Burr and Sarah King McKeon, was composed of 6 courses of passed platters requiring each diner to serve her neighbor. Each guest marked the courses, in turn, by clinking a glass, opening an envelope announcing the next course, and passing around a bowl that contained varied individual instructions.

 
Each chair at the table was outfitted with what looked like saddlebags, simply and elegantly sewn from canvas. Within these double pocketed bags were piles of unfinished wooden blocks, some gently sanded, others brilliantly colored. Guests received instructions throughout the dinner that read “Move a block every time someone smiles”, “Move a block on the table when you make eye contact” and “Place several blocks when you agree with someone”. One guest received an instruction that read “Place 13 blocks when the table comes to a consensus”, which was a momentous and clearly marked event! By the time we were into the second course the table started resembling a little city with towers of blocks that marked moments and gestures within conversation.

 

The artwork, pared with the discussion topic of public artwork, unfolded together. We learned the game of placing blocks while we got to know our fellow diners. The discovery of the game, our cohorts and the food brought the table together in convivial conversation about the objects and landscapes that we were all building together.

 

To read peoples' commentary on the dinner, as recorded in the "Go Public in Private!" guest book, please go here.