American Dining: A Working Woman’s Moment
Premiere Gefen’s Dairy Restaurant, sponsored by The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, USA 1986-1989
Site-oriented restaurant installations with Performance Poet readings at cultural sponsor sites. Allyn wrote humorous stories, with assistance from Leslie Belt and Lori E. Seid, and recorded a sound collage of music about work, food and money. These played continuously on audio walkmans in transformed jukeboxes designed with Gregory Sholette. Accompanied by a set of 4 placemats designed with Adrienne Weiss. Facilitated by Allyn waitressing at each site. The element of time is essential to the unfolding of the experience as audience members engage and interact with the work.
National tour
Press Grill, sponsored by University Gallery of Fine Art, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH;
Market Café sponsored by 911 Arts, Seattle, WA;
Gay Nineties Restaurant sponsored by Art in Action, Rosendale, NY; Maine Arts Festival, Portland, MA.
Additional Exhibitions with Performance Poet readings
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA;
Eastern Washington University, Pullman, WA;
Franklin and Marshall College, PA;
Pyramid Arts Center, Rochester, NY;
1199 Bread and Roses Gallery, New York, NY;
PS1 Contemporary Arts Center, Long Island City, NY.
Caption-Top Photo American Dining: A Working Woman’s Moment installation of artist-designed jukeboxes and placemats by Allyn and The Waitresses, Market Café at Pike Place, Seattle, WA, Jan-Feb 1988. Pictured: Café waitress Llordes Velasquez with Jerri Allyn (right). Copyright: The Waitresses – Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin. Photographer: Blake Grinstein. Courtesy of: The Woman’s Building Image Bank at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Photo Documentation for other images Marty Heitner, Fran Resch