Urban Threads Salons
Harlem Needle Arts, Inc.
featuring Nacinimod Deodee,
Lesley Ware, and Aliyah Blackmore
Urban Threads Salons (UTS) are curated experiences for artists to move the culture of textile art forward through dialogue and maker engagement.
Inspired by the infamous Harlem Renaissance gatherings, Harlem Needle Arts connects artists and the public to talk across generations, artistic disciplines, professions and economic backgrounds to preserves and grow fiber, textile, design and needle arts in the African Diaspora.
The series provides space for emerging and established artists to build on, complete bodies/series of work and connect with the public through salon visits and mini workshops. UTS allows artists to advance their work by sharing with the public and dispelling myths about the scope of textile making.
(Pictured above, left to right: Nacinimod Deodee, Lesley Ware, Aliyah Blackman)
The salons will feature the following:
Nacinimod Deodee, crochet artist
Talking Heads: Creative magnetism through the art of crochet
Dates: May 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 11
Hours: 11 – 4 pm Monday – Friday | Saturday 12- 8 pm
Lesley Ware, Designer, weaver and author
Family Fashion History: Weaving the tapestry of my father’s Kentucky roots.
Dates: May 6, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18
Hours: 5 – 9 pm Monday – Friday | Saturday 2:30 – 6:30 pm
Aliyah Blackmore, Writer, visualist and DJ
Spaces of Recovery: Visualizing Crop Over and Resistance
A collection of film vignettes and a photo essay that examines Bajan Crop Over
Dates: May 19, 20, 22
Hours: 2 – 8 pm
Harlem Needle Art, Virtual Gallery of 14 years of exhibits
The Rhythmic Art of Thread curated by Michelle Bishop
May 13 and 21
Hours: 11-8
The artists will have the opportunity to publicly showcase the daily progress of their work on their respective design boards and projected images which will be visible to passersby and invited guests.
About the Artists
Nacinimod Deodee
Multi-faceted is not a term that is used loosely when describing the artistic prowess of the Dominican born artist know to the world as Nacinimod Deodee. His formative years were spent in the Caribbean nestled by culture and tradition. In 1994, Nacinimod, along with his two brothers and mother, made their way to Brooklyn, New York. There he became immersed in the artistic and cultural scene, carving out a niche for himself with his eye-catching crochet hats.
It is impossible not to recognize the genius when looking at his work. Creativity is his sharpest tool and he seamlessly adapts his skill set across many mediums. From crochet to jewelry design, from poetry to theater, from leather smith to wood worker, and the list goes on. All the hats are interchangeable when creativity is the main thread.
The House of Nassat is the flagship company founded by Nacinimod as a home for all his creative forms. It has many rooms, and each one represents a different artistic mode. Clothing, Jewelry, Accessories, and most importantly, Creativity. He keeps on pushing the envelope. You have to be brave to sail uncharted waters. Through the company slogan “Be Brave, Be Fearless,” Nacinimod vows to continue to reinvigorate the art scene with his hands and boldly go where no one has gone before. For more about Nacinimod, visit him on Instagram.
Lesley Ware
Lesley Ware is an author, educator and fashion personality who has written three books, Sew Fab: Sewing and Style for Young Fashionistas, My Fab Fashion Style File, and How to Be a Fashion Designer with publishers Laurence King and DK Books of London. Lesley’s fashion education curricula are featured programs at The Parsons School of Design, The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pioneer Works, Museum of the City of New York and other institutions in New York. Currently writing her fourth book and designing her second capsule collection inspired by silhouettes from the 17th century, Lesley is drawing inspiration from her family’s fashion history.
For more about Lesley, visit https://www.lesleyware.com/
Aliyah Blackmore
Aliyah Blackmore is an Afro-Caribbean DJ, documentary photographer and filmmaker, and writer/researcher based in Harlem, New York.
She is currently working on a photo and film project that explores history and identity in Barbados through the frameworks of resistance and cultural traditions.
Through her art making and research, Aliyah is interested in engaging with the multi-dimensional threads, narratives and histories, that run through Caribbean and Black Diasporic experiences to understand how, historically and in the present, “our forms of cultural production foster spaces of resistance and recovery for our bodies.”
For more about Aliyah, visit aliyahblackmore.com
About Harlem Needle Arts
Curating experiences of the African Diaspora since 2007, Harlem Needle Arts (HNA) is a cultural art institute at the forefront of revolutionizing, preserving and expanding the narrative of fiber, textile, design, and needle arts through exhibitions, education, project learning, lectures, film, technical support, economic development and tools to enhance quality of life through art. Transforming the myths of the art forms, our teaching artists are trend setters integrating the use of thread to produce content across platforms that include quilting, felting, knitting, crochet, batik, adire, botanical print, weaving, spinning, embroidery, collage, illustration, beading and fiber fusion.
HNA’s artistic vision of needle arts enhances identity, and promotes dexterity and pride in one’s ability to create through rhythmic art forms fusing history and art therapy.
For more about HNA, visit them online at https://harlemneedlearts.org/
