In the 1920s, more people in Kingston worked in sewing industries than in any other job – and many of those employed were Jewish and Italian immigrants and their descendants. Join us to explore the history of the garment industries in Kingston and New York City, and celebrate the Italian and Jewish stories featured in Sewing in Kingston.
Plus! Join us for buffet dinner following the event at Graziano’s Downcafe Cafe at 7pm to benefit the Reher Center. To learn and purchase tickets for dinner, click here.
About the Film
The Garment Center is the heart and soul of Midtown Manhattan and the backbone of the fashion industry. It was the gateway for many immigrants to the American Dream. Now, it’s in danger of disappearing. Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags, a feature HBO documentary, explores the rise and fall of New York's fabled schmatta (rag) trade as a microcosm for the economic shocks that have changed our lives.
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Supporters
Thank you to the Ulster County Italian American Foundation for their support of Schmatta Talk: Italian & Jewish Stories of Sewing in Kingston through a 2022 Community Grant.
Sewing in Kingston is made possible thanks to significant support from the Coby Foundation. Associated public programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Humanities New York.
Many thanks to Sewing in Kingston Presenting Sponsors: Ulster County Tourism, Shawangunk Valley Conservancy/Bienstock Family, and an Anonymous Donor.
Additional Sewing in Kingston supporters include our Pleat Sponsor: Ditto! Design!, and Stitch Sponsors: Barbara & Joe Cohen, Basch and Keegan, Central Hudson Gas & Electric, CoWork Kingston, Herzog’s Home & Paint Centers, Jill Ammerata, Miller & Khan, Rick Friedman, and RUPCO.
Learn the history and techniques behind traditional Oaxacan embroidery in this beginner workshop led by Kingston artist Concepción Duran. Create a work of art you can take home inspired by the indigenous cultures of Oaxaca.
This workshop will be taught in Spanish and English, with simultaneous interpretation available. No prior sewing experience needed! All materials will be provided for this workshop.
This workshop will be held at the Greenhouse at the Good Work Institute, located at 65 St. James Street in Kingston.
About the Artist
Concepción Duran is a master of traditional Oaxacan embroidery and a member of Kingston’s diverse community of Latino/a/x immigrants. Embroidery is a key part of Concepción’s family traditions; she learned her sewing skills and many of her designs from her mother, who learned from Concepción’s grandmother. Today, Concepción continues this legacy by teaching her daughters to embroider. Concepción and her mother Antonia, who still lives in Oaxaca, often collaborate on projects, with Antonia sewing blouses and huipil that Concepción embroiders with traditional floral and animal motifs inspired by her Zapotec and Mixtec roots.
Embroidered huipil courtesy of Concepción Duran
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This workshop is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
Thank you to our supporter Good Work Institute for hosting our Sewing in Kingston artist workshops this fall.
Interpretation is made possible through the support of the Hudson Valley Foundation for Youth Health.
Create a wool catnip mouse with Kingston designer Connie Snyder that’s perfect for the cat lover in your life–or fill it with lavender for a sachet. Use recycled fabrics in this beginning sewing workshop that celebrates sustainable design.
Registration is required for this workshop. No prior sewing experience needed! All materials will be provided. Mice can be hand sewn, or if you have a portable sewing machine you’d like to bring, we’ll teach you that way too!
This workshop will be held at the Greenhouse at the Good Work Institute, located at 65 St. James Street in Kingston.
About the Artist
Connie Snyder is a graphic designer and sewer whose roots connect to Kingston’s legacy of garment and textile work. Connie learned to sew at home at age 10 from her godmother. She also has sewing in her blood, with grandmothers who worked in Kingston garment factories in the mid-20th century, at a time when thousands of young immigrant and working-class women found stability and opportunity within the industry. Connie’s designs are inspired by her love of creating and upcycling, and her desire to give new life to garments that hold memories and stories. Connie’s work can be found at lilachilldesigns.com.
Image courtesy of Lilac Hill Designs.
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This workshop is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
Thank you to our supporter Good Work Institute for hosting our Sewing in Kingston artist workshops this fall.
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This workshop is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
Thank you to our supporter Good Work Institute for hosting our Sewing in Kingston artist workshops this fall.
On Sunday, September 25th, Jordanian artist and weaver Ishraq Zraikat performed “Nomadic Weaving,” a visual arts public performance that introduced the people of Ulster County to Bedouin weaving. Visitors joined Ishraq at the Reher Center courtyard as she constructed her loom from scratch using locally found materials, warped it with wool yarn, and weaved a small textile from start to finish before a live audience.
About Bedouin Weaving
Bedouin weaving is an ancient shelter-building technology. A Bedouin home or tent is woven from goat's hair and sheep's wool using a simple flat floor loom made of found objects like tree branches and rocks. The Bedouin floor loom is a mobile and free-spirited tool that is easily set up and dismantled to accommodate the nomadic lifestyle of the Bedouins. They were constantly on the go and could not carry too much with them so they adapted their weaving tools and techniques accordingly. The performance is a celebration of the fluid nature of Bedouin Weaving: it can be done anywhere, anytime, and amongst other social activities. It is an homage to the ingenuity of the Bedouin people, especially the women, who found ways to weave intricate textiles with limited resources in an arid environment.
About the Artist
Ishraq is a Jordanian textile artist, weaver, and wool researcher. She attained an undergraduate degree in Architecture from Virginia Tech before pursuing her graduate study in Textile and Material Design from NABA-Milan. Her research-based practice bridges various design disciplines through a fundamental appreciation and craft of fiber/ textile media. Her work strives to unveil the sophistication of traditional handcraft – not through historicism – but as part of an affective economy which continues to be driven by everyday necessity, human innovation, and our eternal pursuit for beauty. An interdisciplinary practice built upon such critical reflections of process and material technology; and palimpsest of a journey through architecture, fashion and textile design. Ishraq specializes in sustainable practices of processing wool from animal to finished product, and is currently involved in textile related initiatives in the Hudson Valley where she maintains residence, and in her native Jordan. In 2018 she became a certified wool grader from the American Sheep Industry.
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This workshop is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
Braiding Bread & Traditions Opening
Monday, Sept 12 | 5:45-6:15 PM
Outside of the Reher Center
Join us to raise a glass in honor of our newest windows exhibition, Braiding Bread & Traditions. The exhibit features mouthwatering photographs by renowned local photographer Aaron Rezny spotlighting local Rondout Rolls by Rosie General, Filipino Ensaymada by Lamissa Events LLC., and Guatemalan Pan Dulce by Super Pan Panadería Hispana.
Photo courtesy of Aaron Rezny.
Sustainable Fashion Day at the Reher Center
Sat, Aug 20th | 1-5PM | Free
Looking for a wardrobe refresh? Visit the Reher Center for our Saturday, August 20th Sustainable Fashion Day and bring principles of recycling and reusing home to your closet!
Join us for a free afternoon of activities inspired by our hit new exhibition Sewing in Kingston – take part in guided exhibition tours, give your wardrobe some love with our mending and styling workshops, and participate in the circular economy by bringing items for our clothing donation drive and closet swap.
Featured Activities:
- Bring clean, gently-worn clothing to our donation drive and closet swap
- Mending workshop with Anna Svoboda-Stel of the Germantown Laundromat
- Learn 100 ways to style a t-shirt with Sydney Maresca
- Work with Andrea DelCid to hand-stitch our Reher community tablecloth using recycled fabric
Participants in our Sustainable Fashion Day will enjoy free admission to our newest exhibition, Sewing In Kingston!
Help us keep clothing out of landfills by bringing clean, gently-worn clothing to our donation drive and closet swap. Donated clothing will go to Beyond The 4 Walls Outreach Program, which equips vulnerable Kingston families and children with the resources they need at no charge. Most requested items include t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers.
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Image Credit: Jacket, Tyvek, 2018. Courtesy of Marian Schoettle. Mau (Marian Schoettle) works out of Kingston's Shirt Factory and practices what she calls "idea-based clothing design." Many of her pieces are made of Tyvek, the same materials used in packing and house wrap.
Sustainable Fashion Day is made possible thanks to a sponsorship from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.
Sewing in Kingston is made possible thanks to significant support from the Coby Foundation. Associated public programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Humanities New York. Many thanks to our presenting sponsors Ulster County Tourism, Shawangunk Valley Conservancy/Bienstock Family, and an Anonymous Donor.
Voices from Behind the Machine: Discussing Women’s Experiences in Sewing Industries
Wed, July 20th | 5-6:30PM
Free | Register Here
From working in Kingston’s shirt factories and running tailor shops to creating garments for loved ones, women of the Hudson Valley – many of them immigrants – have long used sewing, knitting, and textile arts to support their families, start their own businesses, and pass on their cultural traditions.
Join us for a lively discussion panel that will trace the history of women’s contributions to the business of sewing, design, and manufacturing, and highlight their contemporary experiences within these industries. Moderated by Sewing in Kingston co-curator Sarah Gordon, this panel will feature scholars, artisans, and entrepreneurs on the invaluable contributions of women past and present.
Registration required. Click here to register for this event.
Our panelists include Anna Pulvermakher of Loopy Mango in Rhinebeck; Starla Bollé, a recent graduate of the Ulster BOCES Fashion Design & Merchandising Program; Sarah-Maria Vischer-James of Community Manufacturing Solutions in Kingston; and historian Dr. Hasia Diner of New York University.
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Image Credit: Headshots provided by Anna Pulvermakher, Starla Bollé, Hasia Diner, and Sarah-Maria Vischer-James (pictured clockwise from top left).
Sewing in Kingston is made possible thanks to significant support from the Coby Foundation. Associated public programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Humanities New York. Many thanks to our presenting sponsors Ulster County Tourism, Shawangunk Valley Conservancy/Bienstock Family, and an Anonymous Donor.
Exhibition Tour: Tracing Women’s Stories in Sewing in Kingston
2pm on Sat, July 16th
$12 Suggested Donation | Purchase Tickets Here
A limited number of tickets will be available for walk-up purchase.
Join us for an hour-long guided tour of Sewing in Kingston, our wildly popular new exhibit, as we explore the stories and honor the contributions of Kingston women within our city’s sewing industries.
Whether as factory workers or artisans, organizers or entrepreneurs, women have been the backbone of sewing work within Kingston. In this guided tour, you’ll learn about women’s impact on the city’s garment industry, hear about artists and expert seamstresses, and discover the diversity of cultural sewing traditions practiced and shared by Kingston women.
Spots are limited, so click here to purchase your ticket now!
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Image Credit: Mabel Fuller and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt meeting during WWII to discuss ILGWU war relief effort (detail), c. 1943. Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Sewing in Kingston is made possible thanks to significant support from the Coby Foundation. Associated public programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Humanities New York. Many thanks to our presenting sponsors Ulster County Tourism, Shawangunk Valley Conservancy/Bienstock Family, and an Anonymous Donor.
Family Tour of Sewing in Kingston
Sun, June 26th | 2-3PM | Free
Get ready to explore and express your creativity in this free family tour of Sewing in Kingston!
Featuring colorful garments, intriguing artifacts, and community stories, our latest and much-discussed exhibition Sewing in Kingston showcases how past and present Kingston residents have used sewing to earn a living, express themselves, and share their culture.
Together, we'll go on a guided scavenger hunt through our gallery using our bilingual English and Spanish family guidebook, and end by sketching a t-shirt design inspired by your cultural identity!
This tour is open to all but geared toward kids ages 5 to 12 and their guardians.
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Sewing in Kingston is made possible thanks to significant support from the Coby Foundation. Associated public programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Humanities New York. Many thanks to our presenting sponsors Ulster County Tourism, Shawangunk Valley Conservancy/Bienstock Family, and an Anonymous Donor.
Opening Day: Sewing in Kingston
Saturday, May 7th | 11:30AM-5PM |Free
Join us on Saturday, May 7, to celebrate the opening of our new year-long exhibition Sewing in Kingston! Enjoy guided tours and family-friendly arts activities that bring to life the history of Kingston’s garment industry, the power and imagination of makers past and present, and the importance of immigrant communities, women, and families for understanding sewing in Kingston.
With thanks to the Hudson Valley Foundation for Youth Health, adult and family gallery tours on May 7th will be available in English and Spanish.
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Sewing in Kingston is an exhibition and public program series at the Reher Center that explores how Kingstonians from many backgrounds have used sewing to earn a living, to express creativity, and share their culture. Join us to learn about the ups and downs of Kingston’s garment industry, the persistence of small businesses, the imagination of artists, and the power of family. The exhibit will highlight the role of immigrants and women and connect local experiences to broader historical, cultural, and economic stories.
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Sewing in Kingston is made possible thanks to significant support from the Coby Foundation. Associated public programs are made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Humanities New York. Many thanks to our presenting sponsor Ulster County Tourism.
Opening day is made possible by a sponsorship from the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, with Spanish-language tours made possible through the support of the Hudson Valley Foundation for Youth Health.
In Conversation with Dinaw Mengestu: Small and Immigrant Business Owners on Community
Saturday, April 30th | 5-6:30PM
Free | Register Here
Join us for a reading at the Reher Center by award-winning novelist Dinaw Mengestu, whose work explores the complexities of immigrant experiences in America. Following the reading, Mengestu will join small and immigrant business owners in a panel discussion moderated by Kwame Holmes, Director of the Kingston Housing Lab.
Registration required. Click here to register for this event.
Can't join us in person for this event? Watch the livestream starting at 5pm EST on the Reher Center Facebook page. Thank you to Radio Kingston for their help in streaming this talk!
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Dinaw Mengestu, a recipient of the 2012 MacArthur Foundation Award, was born in Ethiopia and raised in Illinois. His fiction and journalism have been published in The New Yorker, Granta, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. Mengestu was chosen for the 5 under 35 Award by the National Book Foundation and was named on The New Yorker’s “20 under 40” list in 2010. He is also the recipient of a Lannan Fiction Fellowship, The Guardian First Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among other awards. He is the author of three novels: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2008), How to Read the Air (2010), and All Our Names (2014). His work has been translated into more than fifteen languages. He is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of the Humanities at Bard College.
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The Big Read Hudson Valley: Spanning the Hudson River with Words is a dynamic, community-wide reading program offering reading groups, performances, workshops, and events in Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Kingston.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
El proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperación con Arts Midwest.
Kingston Immigrant Oral History Project & the Ávila Ensemble at the Reher Center
Saturday, April 30th | 2-4PM | Free
Enjoy an afternoon of music, community, and light refreshments at the Reher Center, featuring the Ávila Ensemble of the Hudson Valley and the Kingston Immigrant Oral History Project, a collaboration of the Reher Center and Kingston Library.
2-4pm: Learn more about the Kingston Immigrant Oral History Project and sign up to add your story to this collection of immigrant experiences of 20th and 21st-century Kingston. Register for a recording time and learn about local organizations supporting the needs of Kingston communities.
3pm: Enjoy a performance by the Ávila Ensemble of the Hudson Valley, a quartet of four Venezuelan students from the renowned Bard College Conservatory who specialize in the folk and classical music traditions of Venezuela.
Explore interviews from the Kingston Immigrant Oral History project here.
Interested in adding your story to the collection? Contact the Kingston Library at (845) 331-0507 or email circulation@kingstonlibrary.org
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The Big Read Hudson Valley: Spanning the Hudson River with Words is a dynamic, community-wide reading program offering reading groups, performances, workshops, and events in Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Kingston.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
El proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperación con Arts Midwest.
Kingston Immigrant Oral History Project is supported with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated to the New York State Library by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS; imls.gov) and administered by Southeastern NY Library Resources Council.
The House on Mango Street Comes to Your Street!
Saturday, April 9th | 2-5PM | Free
Explore the Sandra Cisneros' classic The House on Mango Street in this series of bilingual street performances that activate Midtown Kingston. Your guides, local actors and students from the Center for Creative Education (CCE), will bring The House on Mango Street to life through word and dance right here on Henry Street. Meet at the Kingston Library to make your own Mango Street craft that you will carry with you as we parade through the neighborhood.
Back at the library, we will kick off the Kingston Immigrant Oral History Project with a launch party featuring local Latinx foods. This project invites immigrant Kingstonians to share and contribute their personal story to a collection that will be accessible at the Kingston Library and Reher Center and will create an historic record that centers immigrant voices.
Schedule:
2 PM: Crafting at Kingston Library
3 PM: Depart library for street theater
4 PM: Immigrant Oral History Project launch and food
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The Big Read Hudson Valley: Spanning the Hudson River with Words is a dynamic, community-wide reading program offering reading groups, performances, workshops, and events in Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Kingston.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
El proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperación con Arts Midwest.
Kingston Immigrant Oral History Project is supported with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated to the New York State Library by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS; imls.gov) and administered by Southeastern NY Library Resources Council.
An Afghan Culture & History Primer: Helping the Hudson Valley to Welcome Refugees
How can each of us be better neighbors to newly-arrived Afghan community members?
Over the past few months, several dozen Afghan refugees have settled in the Hudson Valley. On Sunday, February 27, Sina Baha and Khadija Ghanizada offered a virtual presentation on Afghan culture and history, and discussed some of the challenges Afghan newcomers face in the Hudson Valley in an event geared toward assisting Hudson Valley neighbors in welcoming our newest neighbors.
This event was sponsored by the Reher Center and the Afghan Circle of the Hudson Valley, a group currently working in support of a refugee agency to help resettle a family in Ulster County.
Click here to watch a recording of this event.
To learn more about the Afghan Circle of the Hudson Valley and their ongoing work, visit afghancirclehudsonvalley.org
