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Attention artists: We invite submissions from contemporary artists for exhibition in our Main Gallery in 2026 and 2027. 
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Backstitch

October 3 - November 9, 2025 | Opening Night / Art 'Round Town: October 3 / 5 - 8pm

Backstitch exhibit

Exhibit Statement

 

As Project Upcycle returns for a special All-Stars edition this fall—and 3S Artspace celebrates its 10th anniversary—curated in collaboration with Jennifer Moore (Recovergirl), we’re proud to present a companion exhibition titled Backstitch:

A backstitch strengthens by doubling back before moving forward. This exhibit reflects a shift in perspective, a breakthrough, or a reimagining of what's possible through work created by past Project Upcycle designers and judges.
Together, the work will explore the question: What does it mean to design a way forward?

Each work offers a glimpse into how designers are navigating the complexity of fashion today: working with constraints, challenging conventions, and building on what’s come before to imagine what might come next.

Project Upcycle, our annual sustainable fashion design challenge culminating in a Runway Event, has always been about resourcefulness, community, and pushing the limits of what secondhand and surplus materials can become. The Backstitch exhibition continues that conversation in a different register—quieter, slower, more reflective.

The exhibit sparks conversation and inspires curiosity, creating space for visitors to engage and to consider the role of design, not only as a practice of making, but as a way of thinking: about impact, about innovation, about how the things we create and consume shape the world we live in. It's a space for asking what else is possible, and what innovative design thinking might help bring into focus.

Featured designers:

Artist Bio

Ryan Rasmussen

Ryan Rasmussen is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work spans practices in sculpture, installation, kinetic and electronic works, haptic installations, sonic environments, collaboration, design, two-dimensional media, video and things that have mass or do not. Ryan has exhibited work nationally and internationally in such venues as Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar; CICA Museum of South Korea; Kyoto Cultural House, Kyoto, Japan; Art Space in the Bay area of CA; the Glass Curtain Gallery in Chicago, IL; the Nancy Fyfe Cardozier Gallery in Midland-Odessa, TX; and Clough Hansen in Memphis, TN. In 2022, Ryan’s work was featured in the Wrong Biennial. Ryan received his MFA from the University of Iowa and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Intermedia at Elon University. Ryan previously served as Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. 

Oye Ajewole • Jackiellen Bonney • Nathalia Castrillon • Holly Cooper • Ashley Cushon • Kelly Dempsy • Jared DeSimio • Marion Dillon • Olivia Dwyer • Kirsten Elfe • Emma Fritschel • Chrystina Gastelum • Henry Hawk • Jessamy Kilcollins •  Justin Landry • Hai-Wen Lin • Isabel Jane Marvel • Elias Matso •  Cali McDonald •  Raynor Pavloff + IZ • Mo Pepin •  Christian Restrepo • Drew Rosen •  Alexa Stark • Allysun West

JAM HEAD SQUARE
About Jennifer Moore:

Jennifer Moore is a creative collaborator working at the intersection of sustainability, storytelling, and design. She is the co-founder, with 3S Artspace, of Project Upcycle—a regional sustainable fashion competition that challenges emerging designers to create runway looks using secondhand, surplus, and deadstock materials. Since its launch, the event has grown into an always sold-out event spotlighting bold ideas in circular fashion and regional reuse.

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Figure 7 / Shaina Gates / 2021 / 6.5x6x2.5 / $400

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Figure 20 / Shaina Gates / 2021 / 10x9x3 / $500

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Figure 12 / Shaina Gates / 2021 / 5x5x3 / $400

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Figure 164 / Shaina Gates / 2022 / 9x8x2 / $500

Jennifer Moore is a creative collaborator working at the intersection of sustainability, storytelling, and design. She is the co-founder, with 3S Artspace, of Project Upcycle—a regional sustainable fashion competition that challenges emerging designers to create runway looks using secondhand, surplus, and deadstock materials. Since its launch, the event has grown into an always sold-out event spotlighting bold ideas in circular fashion and regional reuse.

In addition to leading Project Upcycle, Jennifer founded PortSwap, a city-backed clothing swap that drew over a thousand participants in 2025, and launched The Sewing Room, a shared textile makerspace in Kittery, Maine.

Her curatorial experience includes directing the Artist-Curated Book Display series at the Portsmouth Public Library, where she invited local artists to exhibit their work alongside selections from the library’s collection that inspired their creative practice. With Backstitch, she continues this approach—bringing together thoughtful design, public dialogue, and an invitation to reimagine what fashion can be.

Jennifer currently works in marketing at New Hampshire PBS and has shared her perspective on creative reuse at TEDxPortsmouth and Creative Mornings. Her editorial work includes founding and editing Style Queue magazine and producing content for local publications—highlighting makers, materials, and ideas that reflect a more sustainable approach to style and consumption.


Grant support provided by:

Horizon Foundation - grant - horiz
Little Bay Fund
NHCF New Hampshire Charitable Foundation-2
NHSCA 2025 new

3S Artspace is supported in part by grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts; New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and NHCF's Geoffrey E. Clark and Martha Fuller Clark Fund; Horizon Foundation; and Little Bay Fund. 

Generously supported by:

ListingTunnel.com

Thank you to our year-round Lead Sponsors:

AC Hotel Envio
The Brook
Kane  Tidemark combo logo
Katzman_Contemporary_Projects_2023
MacEdge
Raka
Portsmouth Sheraton Harborside Hotel (1)

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