I first met Serena Newmark when she posted a beautiful Hybrid Beard Mask (aka #luckhausmask) on Twitter, and we chatted about her pretty skull fabric! Later, Serena asked me if I’d give her an interview about my experiences as a mask pattern maker, and she turned out to be a PhD candidate at FU Berlin with a profound – and super interesting – knowledge about 19th century Prussian furniture in Texas! I feel honoured that Serena will present my Hybrid Mask in a workshop, »Clothing the Pandemic«, by ICOM International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume, Fashion and Textile, as part of her lecture about »The Creation of an Online Art and Design Reference Library: information seeking and sharing among mask makers«, which takes place online on June 23rd at 3:10 PM CET.

»Clothing the Pandemic’ Workshop aims to offer a place for sharing experience and knowledge. It will help to connect people and institutions (international curators and conservators, historians, museums, and the global public) at a time when we are all physically distant from one another. The workshop is seeking to understand how to document the Material Culture of the Pandemic; to develop Strategies and to face Challenges. It will unfold in 2 parts: Part I “Collecting, Researching, Documenting, Displaying” in Spring 2021, Part II “Conservation, Preservation” in Fall 2021.« 

The whole workshop sounds really exciting I think, at least to me as a mask pattern maker and costume historian! I guess the makers didn’t only help to protect themselves and others, but they even wrote history?! I just registered (it’s free :)) to take part, and I’m looking forward to it! Maybe other mask makers would like to join as well?

Serena’s session »will examine the international and spontaneous creation of an open-source, decentralized, online art and design reference library created by volunteers during the era of the Covid-19 pandemic. (…) Blurring the lines between librarian and patron, amateur and professional, stranger and community member, as well as between fashion and industrial design, the Covid-19 Online Art and Design Reference Library provides a welcoming reference presence, helps patrons refine their information needs and break through their information barriers, searches for answers, procures sources, provides references to alternative information sources, and welcomes users to return to ask additional questions or provide feedback. Brought into existence by thousands of individuals across the globe to help others create personal protective equipment and slow community transmission of the novel coronavirus, the Covid-19 Online Art and Design Reference Library utilizes traditionally hosted websites as well as spaces on social media to create forums where makers of protective face masks can learn, teach, and solve problems collectively, as well as exhibit their own work and provide and receive feedback, criticism, and praise on both the aesthetic aspects of their work as well as its medically protective effectiveness. The session will include individual case studies of a few notable patterns and mask creators.«

See full description of the project: http://costume.mini.icom.museum/clothing-the-pandemic/.

I first met Serena Newmark when she posted a beautiful Hybrid Beard Mask (aka #luckhausmask) on Twitter, and we chatted about her pretty skull fabric! Later, Serena asked me if I’d give her an interview about my experiences as a mask pattern maker, and she turned out to be a PhD candidate at FU Berlin with a profound – and super interesting – knowledge about 19th century Prussian furniture in Texas! I feel honoured that Serena will present my Hybrid Mask in a workshop, »Clothing the Pandemic«, by ICOM International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume, Fashion and Textile, as part of her lecture about »The Creation of an Online Art and Design Reference Library: information seeking and sharing among mask makers«, which takes place online on June 23rd at 3:10 PM CET.

»Clothing the Pandemic’ Workshop aims to offer a place for sharing experience and knowledge. It will help to connect people and institutions (international curators and conservators, historians, museums, and the global public) at a time when we are all physically distant from one another. The workshop is seeking to understand how to document the Material Culture of the Pandemic; to develop Strategies and to face Challenges. It will unfold in 2 parts: Part I “Collecting, Researching, Documenting, Displaying” in Spring 2021, Part II “Conservation, Preservation” in Fall 2021.« 

The whole workshop sounds really exciting I think, at least to me as a mask pattern maker and costume historian! I guess the makers didn’t only help to protect themselves and others, but they even wrote history?! I just registered (it’s free :)) to take part, and I’m looking forward to it! Maybe other mask makers would like to join as well?

Serena’s session »will examine the international and spontaneous creation of an open-source, decentralized, online art and design reference library created by volunteers during the era of the Covid-19 pandemic. (…) Blurring the lines between librarian and patron, amateur and professional, stranger and community member, as well as between fashion and industrial design, the Covid-19 Online Art and Design Reference Library provides a welcoming reference presence, helps patrons refine their information needs and break through their information barriers, searches for answers, procures sources, provides references to alternative information sources, and welcomes users to return to ask additional questions or provide feedback. Brought into existence by thousands of individuals across the globe to help others create personal protective equipment and slow community transmission of the novel coronavirus, the Covid-19 Online Art and Design Reference Library utilizes traditionally hosted websites as well as spaces on social media to create forums where makers of protective face masks can learn, teach, and solve problems collectively, as well as exhibit their own work and provide and receive feedback, criticism, and praise on both the aesthetic aspects of their work as well as its medically protective effectiveness. The session will include individual case studies of a few notable patterns and mask creators.«

See full description of the project: http://costume.mini.icom.museum/clothing-the-pandemic/.