Join us for Samizdat Sundays—hands‑on textile workshops inspired by the spirit of creative resistance and DIY culture found in samizdat traditions. Each week offers a different project, connecting archival stories of subversion with contemporary making.

We encourage participants to bring an item each week—a T‑shirt, a pair of jeans, or any textile you’re ready to transform, repair, or experiment with.

Each session is free, open to all skill levels, and guided by artists who delight in subversion and play. Come for one or come for all—together we’ll stitch, alter, repair, and imagine new forms of expression.

SCHEDULE

FINISH IT! CLINIC

March 29, 2026

Today we will finish up projects we’re working on, whether they’re projects begun in Samizdat Sundays, or other projects that have been lingering in your studio or drawer waiting to be finished. All of our materials will be available to you, but you’re also invited to bring your own materials, if your project requires them. If this is your first time coming to the workshop, you are welcome to work on a past Samizdat Sunday project. Perhaps you’ll make a series of mail art collage postcards, or perhaps you’ll sew a secret pocket or message into your favorite shirt. Let’s finish (or begin!) things together in the beautiful classroom at the Wende.

MINI MOON BAG

April 5, 2026

To kick off a month of space exploration-related projects, we will make mini moon bags modeled after the small pouches seen in the Wende’s Soviet Hippie Collection. Included in the collection is a tailor’s book, with clippings, drawings, and written ideas for clothing modifications and accessories, including small pouch-like bags. Your bag might hang around your neck, or attach to your belt, or be a separate little bag that is held in your purse. Or perhaps your bag is not a bag at all, but rather a pocket attached to an existing garment that can be opened (or not). We use discarded materials for Samizdat Sundays that are added to and taken away from each week. If you have something special in mind, please bring it! Otherwise, be open to the surprises found in our stash of materials.

After our workshop, check out the Nawruz (Spring) Festival happening around the museum grounds beginning at 1 pm. There will be music, dance, crafts, poetry, and family activities to welcome spring and the Persian New Year.

LETTERS TO OUTER SPACE

April 12, 2026

The has a wonderful collection of artifacts related to the mid-century explorations of outer space. The arms race of the Cold War extended to the skies, as the Soviet Union and the United States raced each other to the moon. Many astronauts have commented on the profound experience of traveling to outer space and seeing our planet floating beside them. The celestial sphere we inhabit has long fascinated and entranced, across cultures and across time.

Today, we will write a “letter” to outer space. This letter might be made of vintage magazines of the moon landing era, or it might be made of fabric, or perhaps it will be made of other materials. The idea for a “letter” came after I found a space-era magazine and a stack of oddly large letter envelopes. The envelopes are the proportion of a regular letter envelope but they’re extra large, just like our universe! You’re invited to fill these envelopes with your dreams and messages to outer space.

LETTERS TO PLANET EARTH

April 19, 2026

As we did last week, we will once again make “letters,” but this time for our home, Earth. Your letter does not have to be on paper. It does not have to include words. A letter is a correspondence and messages come in many forms. Perhaps your letter is a direction for an action, like Yoko Ono’s “MAILING PIECE II” from her seminal book, Grapefruit: “Send the sound of one hundred suns rising at once,” or perhaps your “letter” is an image or a texture that evokes a feeling.

FINISH IT! CLINIC

April 26, 2026

Today we will finish up projects we’re working on, whether they’re projects begun in Samizdat Sundays, or other projects that have been lingering in our studios or drawer swaiting to be finished. All of our materials will be available to you, but you’re also invited to bring your own materials, if your project requires them. If this is your first time coming to the workshop, you are welcome to work on a past Samizdat Sunday project. Perhaps you’ll write a letter to outer space, or perhaps you’ll sew a secret pocket or message into your favorite shirt. Let’s finish (or begin!) things together in the beautiful classroom at the Wende.

RSVPs for this free program do not guarantee admission. Limited seating is available on a first come, first served basis.

An ADA-accessible entrance to the Glorya Kaufman Community Center is available through the garden gate from the parking lot.