Newcomer Sewing Crew launches a new product in collaboration with Madderhouse & Lucky Jackson
A Quintuple Collaboration You Can Bring to Dinner
The Newcomer Sewing Crew (NSC) is thrilled to announce an upcoming product launch during the First Friday Peterborough art crawl on December 4th. It is a limited edition item designed by Lucky Jackson, hand-printed at Madderhouse Textile Studios, constructed by the Crew, and sold at Watson and Lou.
Late this summer, as part of her artist residency at Madderhouse, Jennifer Maynard (of Lucky Jackson) expressed interest in working with the Newcomer Sewing Crew on a design project. Upon their first meeting as a group in August, a lively collaboration process began between Jennifer and the Crew. Through socially distanced and online discussions, Crew members shared images of landscape, design, and dress from their respective cultures, but what they were most enthusiastic about sharing was their love of cooking and food.
Appropriately, the collaboration has produced a very special dinner napkin in Lucky Jackson’s characteristic colour palette that commemorates this most communal and binding act – coming together to share a meal. A variety of fruit, nut, and flower flavours signifying the Crew members’ homelands are represented in Jennifer’s signature line drawings.
“The napkins are truly collaborative works of art…one of the most engaging ways we can express and experience culture is through food. I had so much fun working on this design with the input from all the wonderful ladies in the Crew [and] I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a small part of working with the NSC. The artist’s life tends to be solitary and collaborations always produce the most wonderful results!” says Jennifer
And so, while we have taken this opportunity to express our own identities, we are forming our identity as a group and as members of larger communities as well.
The Newcomer Sewing Crew is an up and coming collective of artists and sewists who believe in second chances. The Crew is invested in providing opportunities for newcomer women to learn new skills, receive fair compensation for their work, and engage with local arts and business communities to expand their networks and enhance their sense of belonging. They work best when partnering with community members who are invested in their story and their mission. The NSC prides itself on working with strong female artists and women-led businesses in Peterborough. Grateful for the female mentors that helped them early on in their journey, Crew members are excited to collaborate with local artists while maintaining and building on their strengths and existing partnerships in our community.