Drop in at any time to chat with Beatrice and Elaine Alder about their show, Law of Salvage: Queer Stories of the South Coast, which will be on view until late April.

Hear directly from the artists about their inspiration and process over the last three months.

Throughout their residency, the artists have collaborated on textile, ceramic, written word, and printmaking to imagine and expand upon known queer history. Their pieces riff on traditional crafts–quilts and scrimshaw–and gendered divisions of labor to disrupt the binary and represent the unacknowledged queer laborers who built New Bedford.

Elaine (e/em/eir) designs and creates functional art that blurs the boundary between craft and fine arts, nature and artifice. Using sustainable and found materials, e practices a broad array of disciplines, from weaving, knitting, and quilting to botanical printing, photography, and collage. Motifs from the natural world–playful textures, and evocations of plant and animal forms–unite eir body of work. Driven by curiosity, tenderness, and hope for the future, Elaine uses diverse media to explore the relationships between humans and their ecosystem partners, including non-human animals, plants, and fungi.

Beatrice (they/she) is a writer and teacher, descended from Jewish immigrant garment workers and New Bedford whalers. Beatrice’s historical fiction and zines draw from archival sources, family folklore, and oral traditions to give voice to unacknowledged queer ancestors. By piecing together letters, images, and other fragments, Beatrice creates patchwork histories that show their seams and leave room for queer joy. Through storytelling, she hopes to bring silenced figures back into the fold of history–not as tragedies or flukes, but as the heroes of their own tales.

Little People’s College will be marching in the “Love Mother Earth” procession. Did you know, Earth & Heart are spelled with the same letters?! The children will display earth and heart banners and shirts as they march and encourage the 3 Rs. All LPC families and graduates are invited to join us!

Spring is here and the streets will be filled with music, hands-on activities and ways to appreciate the earth and our environment. The People Powered Procession is Massachusetts’ only Eco-float Procession with anything a person group can wear, roll or carry. Starts at the Library at 613 Pleasant Street. Gather at 5:00pm at the Library stage for announcements, a performance by New Bedford High School Show Chorus, New Bedford Food Tours crowing of the the Pastel de Nata Throwdown Champion, and more! Hosted by MC Tem Blessed. End back at the Library to enjoy pizza by Domino’s. Come out and enjoy the fun!

Parade participants include: UMASS Dartmouth Pep Band, SouthCoast Brass Band, Brewer Banners, Buzzards Bay Coalition and the Boys and Girls Club, Little People’s College, Allen’s Pond Audubon Sanctuary, Community Boating, Buttonwood Park Zoo, Vineyard Wind, New Bedford Food Tours, New Bedford High School Show Chorus, Betsy B. Winslow School, Our Sisters School, Way Cool Sunday School from the First Unitarian Church in New Bedford, and Mass Audubon with New Bedford Parks and Recreation.

Celebrate “Sustainable SouthCoast” by joining Pilgrim United Church of Christ and Mercy Meals & More to create your own Bird Feeder from recyclables and grow your own vegetables.  Supplies and refreshments provided.

Exhibit Opening: From the Hold: The Port in Photos (1880-1980)

Step back in time with our newest gallery exhibit “From the Hold: The Port in Photos (1880-1980)!” Produced in partnership with Spinner Publications, the exhibit features a over 40 images from Spinner’s vast archives. Images chronicle change over time in the ports of New Bedford and Fairhaven, from fish processing to vessels to the ways we celebrate America’s most valuable port. The Center is open free of charge on AHA! Night.

“From the Hold: The Port in Photos (1880-1980)” is sponsored by the Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, and Westport Cultural Councils, as well as the Massachusetts Cultural Council, BayCoast Bank, and a Community Impact Grant from Eversource.

Join us for a night celebrating textiles, art, and fashion with with artist Maxwell Emcays, DATMA, and Our Sisters’ School. 

Learn about DATMA’s Shelter 2023 public art season and get involved with Chicago-based artist Maxwell Emcays’ new community art installation — coming to downtown New Bedford in June 2023.

Explore textile through fashion with Our Sisters’ School students, who will be showcasing their up-cycled and repurposed fashion designs, and hosting hands-on activities with 3D-printing fabrics and exploring textile design in real time.

Contribute a piece of fabric (suggested donation: 12″ x 12″ or smaller) during the event — to be repurposed for Emcay’s summer installation!

Learn more at datma.org/events

The Drawing Room is open for late night shopping until 8pm and our special guests this month include our friends from the South Coast Almanac.  Their team is joined by illustrator Margo Connolly-Masson who designed the cover art as well as the artwork for the  Fall River versus New Bedford feature article of their Early Spring issue.  South Coast Almanac discovered Margo’s illustrative style in The Drawing Room over the winter and initiated a conversation with their Creative Director and Masson.  Stop by from 5:30-7:00 pm to see the work, celebrate Margo and the team, and receive a complimentary issue, hot off the presses!

Tis the season for locally grown fresh cut flower bouquets from our friends at Weatherlow Farms, fine wine and beer selections; and special guest, Matt Dowd from Homegrown Distribution will join us for a craft beer tasting and small batch mead.  Artful gifts created by the dozens of regional artists who showcase their work in our shop are available for your perusal.

Stop in and discover something beautiful.

We’re thrilled to host the South Coast Almanac celebration of this new issue.  Thursday, April 13th for AHA! Night; and don’t forget we’ll be open until 8pm for late night shopping!

Reuse and repurpose magazine paper at our Aha ART Table for this month’s Sustainable Southcoast theme.

Make a Fun and creative surreal paper collage character, hybrid animal or imaginative scene with only magazine images  and clippings.

Also view and shop our original paintings, prints, note cards and more in our  gallery. Lots to do, see and experience.