Skip to main content

Franklin Furnace Interns of All Time Party

This November 29th, 2020, Franklin Furnace invited all its interns and volunteers since its 1976 founding to the event of the century! Interns across all different eras of the Furnace came to the Market restaurant, owned by friend of the Furnace Chin Chin and her partner, to partake in an audacious amount of food and drink. The plethora of dumplings, edamame, pickles, and kimchi was heartily devoured by our interns and the leftovers were greedily pillaged and hoarded into takeout boxes at the end of the night, a testament to the quality of the fare. We also drank delicious Amorotti wine all the way from Italy, donated by previous intern Gaetano Carboni who crushed the grapes with his own bare feet (it's organic and artisanal - www.pollinaria.org ). As to the festivities, current intern Destiny Daniel gave out free makeovers (Harley’s nose never looked so small and his eyelashes never so LUXURIOUS), and everyone was decked out in matching Martha hats, painstakingly crafted by summer interns Alyssa Rodriguez and Mari Sato who made their appearance at the event (artists, truly). As for other celebrity appearances, Martha "Redy Story" Wilson, our Founding Director Emerita, also came with Vince Bruns, her handsome fishmonger partner who she met while teaching classes about Franklin Furnace (ah… how love blossoms at the Furnace). During Harley’s fabulous toast he also bequeathed Chin Chin with a very special egg timer time capsule and put on a dashing top hat while thanking the interns for there service (and pleading for donations). At the end of the night everyone went  home with gift bags from Bob Lens' 1986 "Bags are Masks" exhibition, packed with goodies, and one lucky intern won a William Wegman original drawing (yet to be claimed - call us)! All in all a jolly good time!

Sophia Williamson

Fordham University
























Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Lesson on Ethics in the Archive

Recently, I’ve acquired a fascination for archives. Their immense capability of both preserving and dictating memories of people, places, and eras is captivating, and a careful balance to maintain. When I joined Franklin Furnace for their 2020 Summer Internship, I was excited to work with their collection of digital archives, looking forward to peering into a piece of art history. I was assigned the task of researching and revamping Franklin Furnace’s Wikipedia page. I was to go through the Franklin Furnace website and their event archives, and select information to input on the Wikipedia page. At times, the work felt tedious: switching between tabs, synthesizing information into my own words, and constantly organizing photographs and documents. However, during my research, I would stumble upon tidbits of information that made me pause and made it all worth it. I found artists who I had no idea worked with Franklin Furnace, artists who have extensive experience in the art world, and ar

SWEETS FOR THE SWEET

This collection of a decade of boxes of sweets was saved by Harley J. Spiller, Deputy Director of Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. It started when Franklin Furnace moved to its second headquarters at 45 John Street in Manhattan’s Fi-Di in 1999 (before the financial district was christened FiDi by eager realtors).  When later that year fellow staffer Tiffany Ludwig returned from vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina carrying a gift of a pound of salt water taffy for the office, the box seemed too cool to discard. Even though the candies were gone, Spiller, as is his wont, saved it.  It was, after all “Full of Sea Breeze and Sunshine.” Salt Water Taffy became a traditional gift for staff returning from vacation and Tiffany and Rachel B. Knowles, intern cum staffer, brought several more over the years, including White Marlin brand from Chincoteague (with its label pasted over the original location), one that memorializes NC lighthouses at Cape Lookout, Oak Island, Currituck, Bodie

Unearthing the Archives: "Extreme Women" by Iris Rose

Written by Clara Perlmutter Extreme Women by Iris Rose from Franklin Furnace on Vimeo . When I saw “Extreme Women” by Iris Rose on Franklin Furnace’s Vimeo, I was immediately drawn in by the title. In a way, I almost identified with the title. I have always been a pretty dramatic woman, and extreme is a synonym for dramatic, no? As I began watching the video, I found that the title was quite descriptive. However, the more I have come to understand the video, the less I have identified with the title. The writing on screen at the start of the video informed me that the video was comprised of clips of a performance, but the first time I watched the video, I missed the words that flashed in the bottom right corner for the first performance that told me who Rose was portraying. I was somewhat startled when piano music began playing, and a woman in all black began shouting. I didn’t understand what was going on until I heard the line, “God! Politics! The future of Germany!” and be