Rachel Clark's Exhibit, Part 2, and more

This is part 2 of Rachel Clark's artwear show held at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove, CA. Please look back to the last post to see Part 1. No matter how carefully I arrange the pages and the photographs, and check and double check in their Preview format, I can depend on things shifting when I finally publish the blog. I probably need to learn more HTML to control spacing. In the meantime, I'll repeat the image where the name got cut off and then continue with more of the show. Thank you again to Jean Dunn for taking these photos and to Rachel Clark for putting together the exhibit.





But first, some Bits & Pieces of Artwear News
* Go to this site for an excellent look in sewing with men's ties. I like seeing them on the bias. Looks like draping is a bit of a problem with all the seams adding stiffness, but still think it's a stunning look--the best I've ever seen made from ties. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22348562

* Katherine Tilton is Marcy Tilton's sister. Now she too is writing for Threads magazine and creating Vogue patterns. She's also having a show in Minnesota and takes those tours to Paris with Marcy. Read all about it:
http://www.katherinetilton.com/index.php?cid=445&

* I used to buy Selvedge magazine, waiting to get some real nitty gritty sewing details. I discovered the articles were rather shallow, and what was really interesting to me was all the advertising. It's great to find so many inspiring websites, however, I don't need to be paying $20-25 per issue to see the same ads. I still get their marketing emails and thought the site they mentioned would interest you too: http://www.burdastyle.com/

* Rachel Clark put some great photos from The Eye Of The Beholder, Alaska Fiber Festival Fashion Show 2010, up on Facebook. The ladies really went all out with fantasy ideas. These garments remind me more of the WOW show in New Zealand than the old Bernina Fashion Show. Bravo ladies! Unfortunately I discovered that the url I saved doesn't work and you have to sign in as a member. If you're on Facebook you might be able to look around for Rachel's post. In the meantime there is another set of photos online: http://picasaweb.google.com/roxanestoner/#

And now, back to the show from Pacific Grove, CA!






Can you see that this says Midnight in Moscow by Karen Boutte?


































Some folks made a quilt to match the garment; I'm assuming that's Vicky's quilt in the photo. If not, I'll let you know with my next posting.


Please let me know if I missed anyone or mislabelled any photos. Now I have a real sense of what's involved in posting so many photos. Please note that everyone maintains their own copyright so please don't be tempted to duplicate their work.

I look forward to hearing about the techniques used in these garments. If you want to tell me more, please send me an email (find it in profile or via Google). If you've been to a show and have garment photos to share, please give me a shout and I'll put them up if I can--I do need to get permission from the organizer of the exhibit. Thanks Rachel! Till next time, stay well. Rosalie

Getting a Lift from Artwear

I am still kind of ditzy and foggy, working to accept that I have to create a new lifestyle, and trying to figure out what it should be. In the meantime, Art You Wear awaits. First, a few announcements, and then I have a flock of photos from Rachel Clark's last exhibit. I wanted to keep the show whole, but that's a lot of photos--too much for some computers. I'll break it down into several sets, one set every day or two, so come on back after you're seen today's update.

Bits & Pieces

Style 2010 is the fabulous art-to-wear sale and show taking place this year at the Palo Alto Art Center (Palo Alto, CA) on April 24th. For more information, please go to: www.paacf.org/style. This note courtesy of Diane Master, Empress of Style! I will try to remember to put up photos from last year's show. It's always wonderful!

The next Vionnet Class will be an in-depth intensive for textile artists at the Textile Art Center In Minneapolis, as part of the Surface Design Association meeting there in early June, 2010. It will be hands-on draping and focus on using art fabrics in the Vionnet Way. News courtesy of The Center for Pattern Design www.centerforpatterndesign.org

Next November Sandra Ericson of The Center for Pattern Design will present Vionnet, the Art of the Cut (including lots from the recent Paris show) at the De Young Museum, San Francisco, in their Saturday morning lecture series sponsored by the Textile Arts Council. More on this later when I edit the fall version of their newsletter.

Speaking of the Textile Arts Council at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, more interesting programs are on schedule: April 17, 10 am--Judith Content moderates a panel of textile artists who have successfully maintained a fiber business over many years. They will answer questions about finding inspiration, how to manage in poor economic times, etc. One of the panelists is Charlotte Bird who some years ago wrote a book about quilted garments, Sew A Work of Art: Inside and Out. I just bought myself a copy so I'm eager to meet and hear her. It's funny, when the book came out I thought the jackets uninspiring, and now she has exactly the information that I want. Check her out on Amazon and Google. The May 22 program is fiber art artist Sha Sha Higby talking about her travels and sources of inspiration. I will announce more details in another update.

SAIC: Fashion 2010, Friday, May 7
Nick Cave, professor and chair of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Fashion Design Department, announced that SAIC's 76th annual fashion show is coming up. For the first time, the fashion show takes place in the critically acclaimed Renzo Piano-designed Griffin Court of the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing, marking the return of SAIC's annual fashion show to the Art Institute of Chicago for the first time in 15 years. Fashion and art lovers from across the nation will have the opportunity to enjoy a spectacular runway show featuring cutting-edge garments by the next generation of up-and-coming designers who have themed their designs around Piano's stunning architecture. News courtesy of the Center for Pattern Design.

New e-Zine from Quilts Inc.
I'm quoting Kerry Bresenhan, President: "We decided to create an electronic magazine that would celebrate not only the great friendships and bonds forged today among quilters worldwide, but feature fun, fast-paced articles, guest columns, quirky facts, and information that you won’t find anywhere else—all at the click of a mouse! We also wanted to design it in a way that reflects the editorial content—with a lot of zippy colors and graphics that aren’t locked-in to a set format or style. We want the freedom to be, well, free! I hope you enjoy the first issue, as well as the upcoming quarterly editions." To get your copy, send an email to: friendsatfestival@quilts.com.

I look forward to future issues. Right now Kerry has no plans for more wearable art fashion shows like the Bernina Show. She asked anyone with ideas for what we should do next, to send them to her. This e-zine as it stands in the first issue, feels mostly like a marketing tool. But let's see what future issues bring, and in the meantime I'm wracking my brains on how to get more wearable art back into the picture.

Ethnic Techniques in Contemporary Clothes

Do you remember me describing Rachel Clark's artwear challenge last spring? I was working on a vest derived from Polish techniques and traditions. I showed you the imperfect embroidery I did. I never did get much farther than selecting the black fabrics, piecing the skirt, and planning the flower design for the bodice. It was something for which I needed chunks of time and my husband was becoming more needy by the day. I will finish it one day because my whole cultural background is tied up in it. I've done all this research, I want to show a result. Besides, it's sitting where I look at it every day and I'm starting to get sick of it. Which means I'll do a lot more to it.

In the meantime, others finished their garments and the show went up at the Back Porch Fabrics store in Pacific Grove www.backporchfabrics.com. I was in no condition to go to the show so I asked Jean Dunn if she would share her photos with us. I thank Jean for this major effort and present them to you here. I hope I kept the right names with the correct garments. I tried to do closeups but many of them became too blurred. But that's also ok because it means you'll want to see the real thing. Rachel is looking for more avenues to put up the exhibit so let her or me know if you have ideas to share. I'm hoping she will be able to get them into PIQF this year or next.

I got comments from Jack Brockette and Jean Dunn when I was talking to them. If others offer me more, I'll write them up in another update. Meanwhile, enjoy what you see. The goal was to use one technique from a culture, in a jacket or long vest, that would be recognizable as coming from that culture. We don't have real closeups so I can't be sure of the techniques, but it's fun to see what people made. Forgive me if the sizes of the photos are wonky. I can see I need more study of how to use Photoshop.






















































The Kurta is among the most basic of garments in India. Jean Dunn created texture on the Kurta fabric by rubbing gold Shiva Paintstiks® over a Rubbing Plate®. The blocks were then machine pieced. The resulting yardage was machine quilted to the lining before constructing the Kurta. Rosemary Eichorn’s machine technique was the inspiration for constructing the shisha mirrors and attaching them to the garment.






Pojagi is a form of Korean patchwork. When in the hands of Jack Brockette, it is hand dyed silk organza with 1/8" French seams. " It was so much fun to work with all the different reds. I even found some small scraps from old Fairfield garments. What fun that was! Another technique is to use the new wash-away stabilizer that sticks to the fabric--it is clear and works great for embroidery on silk. Do a piece and hold the steam iron just above the silk; the wash-away shrinks. Makes very interesting designs in the silk. Go to the "Copper Shade Tree Gallery" web site http://www.coppershadetree.com/the_art_in_fiber.php and look at the fiber show. Twenty-fourTexas Art Quilters with work that was made just for the show. Everyone made a 12 x 12 piece stretched canvas with fiber 10 x 10 on top. They published a book of the pieces.

Don't forget to come back for more of Rachel Clark's exhibit. Till then, stay well! Rosalie

Making Art Wear and Rachel Clark's Lecture

Here's a new concept for making art wear that just came to me. I like to have several projects going on at the same time. If I start months in advance with foundations at the ready, what are the chances that I'll finish more than one project early? It's worth a try because maybe the variety will stimulate me more, so that I won't procrastinate. My plan is to cut out the foundations for several patterns at once and then play with a variety of techniques. Right now I have two sweatshirts on the table, but I want to make a collage jacket, have to make the Polish vest for Rachel, and I want a Koos jacket--and I have at least half a dozen patterns I want to try out. So why not put those $1/yd fabrics to work? One of them will be the base of those silks I dyed. I have a new idea for the Polish vest so I need a foundation after all. And the collage and Koos jackets should be just plain fun, fun, fun! That should keep me going to the studio all summer.

The six dirndl skirts are finished. They aren't art wear, but could be the start of an ensemble. I didn't take photos because they were so simple. Each was made from 1.5 yards of cotton. I made a casing for grosgrain ribbon at the top, and just turned a hem on the bottom. I figured costumes on stage wouldn't need a hand-stitched hem. I think I was right, the parents of the actors were happy to see the kids "dressed up for a change." Since we were aiming for a 50s look, I went to my stash for plaids, polka dots, and pale florals.

My reward came on Saturday. I had planned to drive to Sacramento to see Rachel Clark's trunk show for the Network for Wearable Art http://artnjavablog.artnjava.com/2008/09/25/california-wearable-art-groups.aspx. I know several people there, so was looking forward to seeing them too. First I'd forgotten how around here you can depend on road-work to be tying up some two-lane highway or another. I appreciate the effort since we are so dependent on these roads to get us on and off the mountains, but when you're in a hurry, you have to wonder why these people seem to be working round the clock. Fortunately the scenery is always worth admiring. I finally zipped along the 2 hour route through almond trees and rice growing in flooded fields, only to get lost once I was inside Sacramento. I missed the turnoff and travelled miles beyond it. I got to JRFlamingo www.jrflamingofabrics.com with half an hour left in Rachel's lecture. So I'm not able to show you all that Rachel showed them, nor tell you about the meeting. But here's a taste--and even that short taste was wonderful and enlightening.

What surprised me were things I somehow hadn't noticed before or maybe forgot. Listening to Rachel, I realized how very much I must have learned from her over the years because I do things the same way she does, namely, on a fabric foundation. Then because she always surprises me with her whimsical designs, I hadn't paid attention to the fact that so many of her designs use traditional blocks. She tried a new curved approach in the pinkish-beige coat. She used the old nine-patch in the blue coat. I don't remember the number of shades of blue she used, but do know that she had to make well over 500 blocks to create the fabric. I came in just as Rachel was describing how she organizes her blocks on the various shapes of her coats. Some require sections akin to triangular gussets. I don't know the details, but what a great reason to take yet another of Rachel's classes. The second blue garment is a cape that has no opening except in front. It was made from not only various blues but also various fabrics including silk, wool, cotton, and more. Another fact about Rachel's work is that she prefers to do handwork, more embroidery than quilting actually. She doesn't do much machine quilting. Just listening to her made my fingers itch to get at my fabric--that's my favorite kind of inspiration. I see that Rachel is reworking her website again so keep checking back to see what's new: www.rdkc.com

The Network for Wearable Art sometimes meets at JRFlamingo, a fabric store in Sacramento, CA. It's a little jewel that carries all the good "stuff"--contemporary fabrics, batiks, silk doupioni pieces, fabric dyes and paints, Angelina and other of the latest surface design supplies, and more. On July 6-9, Susan Khalje, contributing editor to Threads magazine, will teach a Haute Couture class during which you may work on the project of your choice. The cost is $600 if paid by June 1st and $645 if paid after. This is special because normally Susan likes everyone to work on the same project. The store has a big room so you'll be able to spread out to work. Please go to the website for contact information.

Look at These Sites
www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/drinkmix.shtml
Paula Burch has the best information on fabric dyeing. Her instructions for egg dyes and Kool-aid are also excellent. Now as I'm finishing my experiment, she cautions that these dyes will fade in about a year. Drat! So I guess I won't be using them in a great jacket--or I'll do more to the fabric first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ec1E3ZHdSU Cincinnati Art Museum: Where Would You Wear that? Thoughts from a collector on Issey Miyake and his Japanese contemporaries in design.

www.marymcbridearts.homestead.com Fiber art in Florida--workshops and a retreat

Mother Nature in May
What a beautiful morning it has been! Yes, the weather is great, the heatwave has been tamed by the fog on the coast, and the skies are blue. I have spent the morning with nature. I was feeding the cat upstairs when I saw mom deer and her two fawns. I put a bird feeder filled with water out for the birds and now the deer are bringing their fawns to drink. I had to laugh as the fawns climbed into the water. As I watched, a second mom with twins came by. Eventually they all got together in our backyard--the little ones curious, the moms cautious and competitive.

I hadn't wanted to cut the tall grasses in our yard because I thought we were depriving the deer of food. As it turns out, they're feeding only on the cut side--shows you how little I know. The little ones love to jump and play and leap through the tall grasses, running at breakneck speed in a circle, then come back to the cut area (and mom). I love watching them flick their tails and kick up with their hind legs, so frisky and full of fun. Something else I found out: the fawns have a special call of their own, a kind of reedy call, something between a kitten's mew and the squeak of an oboe reed.
And while all this gamboling was going on, I heard a new bird song. A fair sized brown/beige bird with a crest. A thrush perhaps? I'll have to go find the books. Now that's what I call a great May morning and all just beyond the stoop to my studio!