Questions and Artgasms

for the last few weeks I have been thinking about jewelry, fashion, wearable art and textile arts... asking myself questions about product and productivity. why and what i want to make, and how. for what audience? in what capacity would it be available to them? am i addressing the needs of a community, or am i dispensing my point of view for the purpose of its relevance to be reflected back to me? how do i imbue a feeling into a manipulated fiber, metal, or other object? if i do, how literal or conceptual do i want to make it? would it still be wearable? how much time would i devote to half-baked projects? how will i go about my own creative evolution?

perhaps these are questions that are questions only in the sense that their answers remain unknown until they make themselves known. perhaps they are not questions for me to verbalize, to let roll around in my brain, let alone on my tongue; and far be it for me to pose them to another living soul! and yet. they nag. surely it's less work to allow myself to be carried away in the swell, and be washed upon the shore when the sea of contemplations has had its merry way with me. but my instinct is to struggle!

whether these lingering ideas are bringing me closer to or further from creating is a point of debate. being a fabricatin', product-oriented individual i rarely give much time to sheer pontificating. and if i could help it now, i would - it would at least lessen, to a degree, a bit of my own anxiety as a designer/artist/fabricator/creative spirit - to quell the bitty beast inside of me that screeches about hungry-like, as it seems fed only insomuch as my eyes can feast on some finished project born of my own two hands.

this could be seen as the long, overworked, explanatory prose that gives voice to the fact that i'm not posting pictures of things i'm making right now, since i've made it clear that i'm not making anything (!). it also provides a segue to the artgasm i had this week at California College of the Arts' (CCA) textile exhibit. the exhibit that has compelled me not only to embrace and go deeper with my own thoughts about art for arts sake and the significance and purpose of "product," but also to research some textiles programs that i could apply to in the future. yes, i thought it was that good.



when: Thursday
where: Oliver Art Center, California College of the Arts Oakland Campus
who: students, faculty and staff of the CCA Textiles Program
what: an interesting and inspiring look into the textiles program at CCA. when i walked in the first thing i saw was a full-sized buck head made of sticks (acting as a frame for the model) and pulled-taught material. it was uncanny how realistic it was. the hand-embroidered wall hanging of jim jones and his special purple cup resonated with me not only as a possible modern-day kitsch consumer item, but also as reference to our reverence for those thinly veiled, self-proclaimed demi gods who are eye-catching in their flamboyance but ultimately little more than a bit of concentrated handiwork.
in contrast, a circle skirt of found white fabric machine stitched all around, and hand-embroidered around the waist had a strange historical quality to it. it reminded me of recovered materials from the turn of the century - like a child's sunday skirt - well cared for in its time, but yellowed and limp from the relentlessness of dust and the pressure of time.
finally, another piece that i absolutely loved was a series of three-dimensional hearts by Anne Wolf which channeled her hopes, fears and frustrations over multiple miscarriages and her baby's heart problems. these hearts made in different ways out of her old denim jeans were some realistic, some puzzle-like, yet each exuded a sense of loving, careful craft. each well-thought hope, dream, and love for her babies and their heartbeats stitched neatly - almost painstakingly - into and through the denim.

fashion blogs! the good, the bad, and the rest will have to wait

when i think of fashion blogs i think of fun, entertaining picture book-like blogs that express creativity and arouse visual interest and inspiration in the reader/viewer. they can be personal, industry-focused or just plain pictures (like one of my favorites, the sartorialist).

what i like about the sartorialist is that it's simple - minimal commentary, great shots of people sporting unique looks - the images really speak for themselves. the quality and taste level of the images shown on the site are enough to let the audience know that we are respected as viewers. i have to emphasize that these photos are simple, delicate, tasteful, and yet have their own stories to share. these stories are brief but articulate, like a well-written haiku, or words spoken by a sage.

there are blogs, on the other hand, like fashion indie, who resort to scandalizing displays of tastelessness "just because it's friday." in the "just because it's friday" post i saw today i was appalled at the play on those inspirational/motivational posters. you know, the ones that show a picture, a large word (like "teamwork") and a small blurb at the bottom elucidating the significance of said large word. all right. pretty uninspired template to begin with. but not half as bad as the images and messages contained within. three out of eight of these frames contain purely size-ist jokes: boring, normative, and just plain cruel. the other five frames are supposed to be funny because the text frames the image subjects as stupider than we (the viewers) supposedly are. all in all, not what i would expect from a fashion blog. i say, if you're gonna post something like that, don't bother posting. it's purely insulting.

which brings me to my next point, the book i'm reading called fashion as communication by a brit named malcolm barnard. i haven't gotten too deep into it yet, though the author has thus far discussed fashion as a form of communication, cultural reproduction, and (if you're one to take a conflict theorist stance) of course then follows the ways in which fashion is used to reproduce dynamics of power and privilege. i knew that some day my love for fashion and design and my invariably sociological mind would find a happy marriage - and apparently these are the days!

more to come regarding sociology, fashion, and shifting oppressive paradigms!

Incidental Accessory

so I've been commissioned to make a backdrop for a USnaps.com photobooth. i was testing out my grommet setter - you know, for setting metal rings into fabric, vinyl, etc etc - on some scrap fabric to see whether the fabric was thick enough to hold a grommet. done and done. but then i had this five foot long piece of scrap fabric with grommets at either end of it. and you know, scrap fabric is always kind of tricky because apart from putting it aside to make yarn, a quilt, or patch up old clothes, it seems to be just a space-wasting nuisance to me. oh, but not this particular piece. i got to fooling around with it and made little old me a new necklace. wonk!

Personal Interjection Plus

the last few weeks have kept me pretty busy, what between physical and emotional cleansing, designing some new skirts, doing homework, piecing together work, and of course my ever-evolving social calendar. add to that tap dance class and i have barely had the chance to make time for being depressed.

so i haven't been producing as much as i'd like to. looks like i'll have to wait till the next round of Mission Indie Mart to be a vendor and make some buck for my wares. but something worth mentioning here: i'll be working at the Aunt Lute publishing table at the Radical Women Conference this weekend. we'll be selling Aunt Lute books to the amazing folk who grace the conference. i'm more than a little excited to be surrounded by a sea of female revolutionaries...the energy will much resemble that of the Bay Area Girl's Rock Camp benefit: empowering and inspiring with electricity in the air.

oh yes, and one more thing: the fashion event i am styling this thursday. it's called Planet X. Not only will i be responsible for doing the last check to make sure the models are perfect and sending them out on the runway, but i will also be actually dressing and styling the male models, since the design company rep won't be there to choose their outfits. shweet. total big deal for me. just the adrenaline rush i've been looking for.

and since i can't leave you without an image...here's a great piece of handiwork i saw the other day. barbie bondage!