Braiding Circle with Verónica Pèrez

Photo Credit: Jessica Webb

This class is eligible for access rates.

In this hands-on experience, begin with a visit to the galleries for a discussion on the artist’s sculpture installation, followed by a hands-on, collective braiding circle in the library.

Braiding Circles is a community workshop. This collaborative approach with communities enables a deeper understanding of socio-political issues, fostering empathy and mutual understanding. The workshops empower communities, reinforcing their resilience and forging interdependent relationships for collective progress. 

This workshop involves creating braids from textiles and synthetic hair provided by the artist, while discussing identity, specifically from a BIPOC perspective. The resulting braids are used to construct monumental sculptures that symbolize the collective voices of the community, such as the one featured in The Farnsworth’s current exhibition Maine in America: A Force within American Art. We will get to visit this work together and discuss its impacts, as well as the construction and community impact it has.

Verónica A. Pèrez (she/they) is an artist exploring erasure, identity, and interdependency through personal work and community-driven braiding circles workshops.

Pérez earned a BFA from Moore College of Art & Design (2014) and an MFA from Maine College of Art (2016). They received the Ellis-Beauregard Visual Arts Fellowship (2020) and fellowships at Indigo Arts Alliance (2021) and the Lunder Institute at Colby College (2022). Their solo exhibitions include voices, whispering (CMCA, 2022) and shadow / echo / memory (USM Art Gallery, 2023). In 2023, they won the St. Botolph Emerging Artist Award and the Amelia Peabody Award. Named a 2024 Maine Arts Commission Artist Fellow, they work at Indigo Arts Alliance and are a co-organizer of Tender Table. She will have upcoming exhibitions this summer at Sidlehouse, Taconic Gallery in Waterville, and Fort Allen Park with TempoArts. 

Pérez lives in Westbrook, Maine, with their partner and child.

Cost: $55; $50 for members, children under 16 $30, plus $6 for materials. Access rates available. To ensure the program can run as planned, a minimum of 12 participants is required. Admission is included in the registration.