Dirt Palace ephemera (MS.2024.002)

Biographical/Historical Note

The Dirt Palace is a feminist artist-run non-profit arts space and artist collective founded in 2000. It began as a self organized collective focused on supporting feminist artists by providing affordable studio space, facilities, shared resources, opportunities, a culture of cooperation, and by maintaining visibility in the community through a committed public arts presence and long term relationships. The space is located in a repurposed library building in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island and includes living spaces, a wood shop, a print shop, practice spaces, studio spaces and a zine library. The Dirt Palace's gallery space, known as The Storefront Window gallery, features work by residents and guest artists. Founding members who are still involved with Dirt Palace include Xander Marro and Pippi Zornoza. Other artists who have participated in residencies at Dirt Palace include J.R. Uretsky, Mickey Zacchilli, and Jungil Hong.

The collective has been identified as part of the new wave of radical feminist art spaces in A People's Art History of the United States, and as a part of the riot grrrl zine movement in Modern Women:Women Artists at the Modern Museum of Art. The Dirt Palace is a recipient of a seed grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. In 2010, Dirt Palace was featured in the Museum of Modern Art's book, Modern Women: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art. The collective was also featured in the 2014 exhibit by Creative Time and Independent Curators International, Living as Form (Nomadic version) at Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. In 2018, the Dirt Palace purchased the Kendrick-PrenticeTirocchi House, known as the Wedding Cake House at 514 Broadway, Providence, RI 02909. The Wedding Cake House was renovated and adapted to serve as an artist residency space and bed and breakfast to further support Dirt Palace's mission of providing opportunities to artists. In 2020, Dirt Palace in Partnership with Providence College Galleries and the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation created The Interlace Grant Fund.