Join us for a final crafts jam in the Crafts Abyss! Rhonda Weppler will conclude her residency at MAD with a bead-focused workshop led with her co-host, artist Trevor Mahovsky. Learn about the history of beads and discover how to make a woven cuff bracelet that bends the rules of classic loom beadwork.

All previous Crafts Abyss projects will also make guest appearances, including fabric cubes, paper peep shows, pom-poms, and model houses. Download free instructions for the projects and jam along during this fun farewell.

Inspired by deep dives down the rabbit hole into online craft tutorials, Weppler and Mahovsky evoke elements of DIY and ASMR videos to create the surreal and meditative world of Crafts Abyss, a video series that explores the fuzzy boundaries of the World Wide Web.

OPTIONAL MATERIALS:

• Thin covered elastic cord (approx. 1 mm wide; black works well)
• Strong craft thread or heavy beading thread (black to match elastic cord)
• Large glass seed beads with large holes
• Sewing needle (must easily fit through the glass seed beads)
• Assorted beads in a range of sizes
• Cardboard from a cereal or cracker box
• Scissors
• Tape (packing tape works well)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Rhonda Weppler makes sculptural still lifes using the centuries-old technique of repoussé, in which a malleable metal is shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in low relief. Embossing aluminum, brass, and copper foils on objects, Weppler creates residual shells that serve as commentary on the ephemerality of all things. Weppler presented an exhibition in collaboration with the MFA Boston’s Community Arts Initiative, and has exhibited extensively across Canada with her frequent collaborator, Trevor Mahovsky. Weppler received an MFA from the University of British Columbia and a BA from the University of Toronto.

Trevor Mahovsky is a Calgary born, Toronto-based artist, with an MFA from the University of British Columbia. He has worked collaboratively with Rhonda Weppler since 2004; much of their work looks to reach outside of gallery settings. He has also written on art for journals such as Artforum.

Crafts Abyss
Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky
Digital video, 2020

Crafts Abyss, co-hosted by artists Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, is an artwork taking the form of a series of meditative DIY and ASMR influenced videos, in which the artists demonstrate the creation of copies of handmade craft objects they have sourced on the internet. The videos include links to downloadable files so that anyone can make their own clones of these craft objects, all of which have been manipulated by the artists to become a hybrid digital craft object that serves a new functional–if strange–purpose.