Pointing a long wooden stick in front of him, Brett Owen guided a curious crowd through the forbidden boiler room of Kingston’s Lace Mill, turning a routine safety check from a bygone era into an information-filled performance.
On May 2, Owen, Kingston Lace Mill resident and actor, joined lace enthusiasts, artists, and community members at the opening of “Run of the Mill,” a multimedia installation highlighting the history of lace and the US Lace Curtain Mill, built in 1903, from its industrial roots to its redevelopment as a live/work space for artists in 2015. The 53,000-square-foot building currently houses 55 affordable apartments for artists. “Run of the Mill” closes on May 31.
Featuring curator Alisza Phillips deep-dive research, the exhibit combines historic lace, modern artistry, and interactive installations. “It was the building’s mysterious exposed boiler that sparked my interest,” Phillips says of her collaboration with Lace Mill Arts Council President James Martin on an exhibit marking the building’s 10-year renaissance.
An opening night burlesque performance, lacemaking demonstration, and boiler tour helped weave together the building’s living history and the wearable artform—often salvaged from attics and thrift shops—that has functioned as fashion, power, and currency since the mid-16th century.
Motivated by the Kingston Lace Mill’s absence in a recent Bard College exhibition, Phillips says she followed “artifactual” breadcrumbs—from railroads to cement—to uncover the building’s history. “Thanks to insights from historian Mike Piersa, of the National Museum of Industrial History, I was able to correct the local rumor that the machinery was for heating; it actually generated 200 pounds of steam pressure to power the lace looms, a massive industrial feat for that era,” she says.
The installation’s entrance is designed as a “showroom” featuring high-end Nottingham lace—curtains, tablecloths, and a decorated bed—amid the raw earth materials used to build the factory in 1903. “It also has a section depicting what else was happening in the US and the world at that progressive time,“ Phillips said.
Highlights of the exhibit include:
- The Boiler Room: A showstopper attraction with special, up-close access, featuring a vintage video of the industrial, Nottingham-based manufacturing process.
- History in Action: An immersive experience with an audio soundscape of working looms, displaying lace’s predecessors and relics like bobbins, sample books, and jacquard cards.The exhibit honors both inventors like John Levers (who created the Levers lace machine) and Joseph-Marie Jacquard (who invented the automated punch-card loom), and the overlooked women and children whose labor drove the industry.
- “Culture is a Lie”: Based on a 1903 W. E. B. Du Bois quote, this section stands opposite an altar wall of hand and machine lace from around the globe. It features an interactive stereoscope, contrasting the fantasy of fashion with the grim realities of cotton, coal, greed and exploitation.
- Past to Present: The exhibit concludes with a look at industrial decline, featuring photos from Matthew Christopher’s Abandoned America, juxtaposed with the building’s current rebirth as affordable artist housing and contemporary local design.
The collection was assembled through a mix of personal treasures, online hunting, and eager contributions from acquaintances—including pieces passed down for generations.
Searching online proved to be a deep, time-consuming rabbit hole, Phillips says, yielding everything from overlooked bargains to specialized items. A turning point was the purchase of a vintage Barbie dressed in lace. “There was no turning back. It solidified my mission. I became hooked,” she adds. Among the most notable acquisitions, she says, was a painting sourced from a descendant of a renowned lace industrialist in Calais, France, where the craft persists today.
Phillip’s research uncovered only a few exterior photos of the building, so she used images of contemporaneous lacemaking from factories like Scranton Lace Company, which eventually acquired the Kingston mill.
The exhibition seeks to reveal what is behind the curtain of the lace industry, drawing parallels between historical exploitation—such as the child labor challenged by Mother Jones in the early 20th century—and other industrial, environmental, and gender issues in manufacturing. It also highlights the work of Kingston-based nonprofit RUPCO, which oversaw the redevelopment of the building, as a model for using historic preservation and adaptive reuse to create affordable housing in abandoned spaces.
“I see the complexity, resiliency and strength of lace as a metaphor for community. Each thread is individual and part of a great design, like the fabric of society,” Phillips says.
Phillips describes her work as a “living project” that could easily expand, expressing hope that the exhibit will travel and possibly catalyze the revitalization of similar abandoned industrial buildings throughout the region and country.
The Lace Mill is located at 165 Cornell Street in Kingston. Gallery hours are on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 pm and by special arrangement. On Thursday, May 28, the gallery will be open from 5 to 9pm, and will feature a 7pm presentation by curator Alisza Phillips.
