OAM PGH
​A Community fashion project

 a community work of art. 

Media contact: Tereneh Idia 
tereneh (at) IdiaDega.com
 


OAM: Ohio Allegheny Monongahela Garment celebrates community and creativity in isolation 
70 neighbors donated over 100 pieces of fabric to build one garment that expresses our hopes for togetherness.  

Model: LaTrea Rembert 
 
PITTSBURGH, PA USA – July 27, 2022 
During the height of “lockdown” in the spring of 2020, Pittsburgh-based designer, Tereneh Idia of IdiaDega, kept bristling at the word “social distancing.” 
“I read that even the WHO (World Health Organization) regretted that term,” Tereneh remembers. “We weren’t socially distance if anything we were more socially connected, I was on my phone, on a video call or social media more than ever during those days. But we were physically distant. The goal of the OAM project was to build community through design, textiles and craft.”
Tereneh turned to social media to ask for people to send bits of fabric, it did not matter the size, shape. “People did not think I meant please send anything. But I really meant it.” 
70 people sent in over 100 pieces of fabric, every donation is part of the OAM: Ohio Allegheny Monongahela garment. The bodice and center of the dress represents the Ohio river and each sleeve are for the sister river, Monongahela and Ohio. “The hope,” Tereneh says, “was to feel creatively connected even though we were physically distant. I also did not want anyone to feel too intimated and not send something in. So while we have some amazing pieces from artists like Bekezela Mguni, Penny Mater, Elise Birnbaum, Barbara Weissberger, Andi Irwin, Leah Patgorski, Jennifer Nagle Myers, K DeMent, Patricia Apuzzo, Rachel Rearick, JoAnn Bates and Atiya Jones, there are also amazing pieces that people would just cut from an old shirt or more often than not a piece from a special item. 
Many people sent portions from clothing of a beloved family member. One person drew a smiley face on fabric from her late husband’s favorite pajamas. One woman sent in her sisters textile course work from the 1960s at Pratt in New York City. Sadly her sister passed away shortly after graduation. Those pieces are throughout the garment. Every piece tells a story. 

“I draped them liked Sam Gilliam did his paintings,’Tereneh said, the late artist who spent many years teaching at Carnegie Mellon University. “It is an homage to him as well as everyone we have lost and all of us who remain.” 

The first and fair question to ask is why did it take over two years to complete. “Well I did wait through the summer of 2020 to collect the fabric,” Tereneh said. “But the real reason was I just could not sew. I would literally sit in front of a sewing machine and start to cry. I didn’t sew from March 2020 until April 2022 when I started my residency at Contemporary Craft. But now it feels like even with COVID-19 raging on and more to come, sadly. We have to keep moving, safely and with care for each other. Maybe this garment will remind us of where we’ve been, what we’ve lost and what’s worth protecting.” 

We would like to thank Boom Concepts for their support.

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IdiaDega is a global eco design collaboration of women artisans from around the globe. Tereneh Idia is the founder and creative director, since 2014 Ms Idia has worked with OMWA: Olorgesailie Maasai Women Artisans of Kenya and 2016 began working with Beading Wolves of the Oneida Indian Nation. There work has been shown all over the world including Paris, New York City, Nairobi, Netherlands and Denmark. In Pittsburgh their work has been featured at Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, The Frick Pittsburgh, August Wilson African American Cultural Center and through The Residence a Casey Droege Cultural Production.  
Tereneh Idia won the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Emerging Artist Award, Nest <> Hermés Artisan Leader,  Pittsburgh Style Week’s Designer of the Year and is currently the artist-in-residence at Contemporary Craft through the Creative Development Awards from the Heinz Endowments with additional support from Dawn and Chris Fleischner of the Fleischner Family Foundation. Tereneh’s past residencies include the Brew House Association, Wildbiyo Zero Waste Arts Goa, India and upcoming residency with the Jospeh and Anni Albers Foundation’s Thread Senegal.

Sponsored by BOOM! Concepts

We are physically distant but creatively connected.

​Thank you,
Tereneh Idia

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the artists:
Abbie Adams
Almah Lavon Rice
Amanda Waltz
Amber Croppings
Andi Irwin 
Anne Hennessy
Atiya Jones
Barbara Haughney
Barbara Weissberger
Bekezela Mguni
Carla Lesh
Carol D'Orazio
Carson
Christy McGuire
David Pohl
Debbie Glick
Denele Biggs
Don Gochenour
Elise Birnbaum OATMEAL
Elysia Newman
Gabriela Droz
Ginger and Dana 
Helen Vidovich 
Ida 
Imani Jahaan Vintage 
Jacquline Patterson
Jami Rutherford 
Jennifer Nagle Myers
Jessa Gibboney
JoAnne Bates
Jon Engel
JS
K DeMent 
Kara 
Kathleen D'Orazio
Katie Corcoran 
Kelly Sanders and Family
Kendra Ross
Kilolo Luckett
Kirsten Ervin
Lauren Braun
Leah Patgorski 
Leanne Longwill
Lesley Ware 
Lorna Mosley
M Darnell
M. Lipkin
Manual Arts 
Marie Frey 
Maura Mullen
Michael Barnhouse 
N Sweet
Nina Barbuto
Olivia V
Patricia Apuzzo
Penny Mateer  
Quennel Qiamaichelo
Rachel Rearick 
Richard Parsakian 
Rochelle Sisco
Sara Longo
Sarah Simmons
Shimira Williams 
Susan Elliott
Suzanne Likavec
T Foley
Tangee Harris Pritchett
Tereneh Idia 
Zhiwan Chung

OAM Archives 

Submissions 

Above: some of the OAM submissions.

Below: OAM inspiration - making in community
Half Your Team dress an IdiaDega collaboration with the Olorgesailie Maasai Women Artisans of Kenya on display at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center
&
The Many As One Dress with Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse
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