See also: 100 Colorado Creatives: Michelle Baldwin
The ideas for the fall/winterseries -- which this round will include "What Would Jason Do?," a celebration of Friday the 13th, and "Cosby Con 2013," a reoccurring Cosby sweater contest --percolate all year before the select few are chosen. "Some of it is random inspiration while walking through the city -- I'll just be processing ideas or a turn of phrase will pop into my head, and I'll want to make it into a reality," says Lynes. "But every year, I gather together past participants and the front-of-house staff at the museum for a brainstorming meeting where we talk through ideas and work until we get quite a few that make us laugh. Things what we think we can actually achieve, things we haven't seen before, things that seem unusual or in our zeitgeist, things we've been obsessed with for the past year."
For Lynes, those obsessions included Taylor Swift, which inspired the November 15 "Tailor Swift" session -- which involves, yes, Taylor Swift songs and apparel tailoring. The host himself will be singing songs from the pop star's repertoire, alongside Frieda Stalheim from Bare Bones and Ross Harada from Land Lines.
Meanwhile, Sadie Metter from Fancy Tiger Crafts will be the on-site tailor, hemming pants for the nominal fee of $5. (Simple hemming alterations only; the idea is to have fun and give everyone who comes a chance to get a pair of pants worked on.)
"The hardest part was finding people to perform the songs -- it was very important to me to get at least a few male singers to perform," says Lynes of the Taylor Swift party. "Her songs are very much subject matters men don't usually sing about -- at least not from their perspective -- so I wanted to subvert that a bit and play with it."
Another collaboration of note is the December 20 "XXXmas Craft Fair" with Michelle Baldwin, aka Vivienne Vavoom. After she approached Lynes last year, the two decided her DIY pasties project would be the right fit for Black Sheep Fridays. And on October 20, the Ladies Fancywork Society will also be getting crafty -- with crochet, craft beer and a discussion of witchcraft.
Black Sheep Fridays begin October 11 and run through December 20 at the MCA Cafe, on the rooftop of the museum. Entry is just $5 after 5 p.m. with drink specials and events running from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.; the galleries are also open until 9 p.m. For more information, visit the Black Sheep Fridays Facebook page.
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