Younger generations of people who may be familiar with generative art but may not be aware of Samia Halaby's works, will easily spot in her exuberantly vibrant brushes of colour and abstract landscapes a strong connection with computer art.
Born in 1936 in Jerusalem, Palestinian artist and active political campaigner Halaby has taught at institutions in the USA, Palestine and Jordan and now lives and works in New York.
In the '80s Halaby became a pioneer carrying out experiments that merged art with technology. She indeed wrote programs to create digital moving paintings and also incorporated sounds in them through an Amiga (she first used Logo, then Basic and later on started programming in C on an Atari Amiga).
The computer assumed a central role in her kinetic paintings, though Halaby didn't use it as a pencil or a brush to imitate painting, but as the medium. Halaby's computer program joined sound and graphic commands, which she used to produce kinetic paintings by playing the keyboard.
She often played live performances using the program accompanied by two musicians known as the Kinetic Painting Group. This open collective of artists allowed her to work with a variety of musicians, dancers, poets, and story tellers, and create multi-media performances.
In the '90s she started working on an interactive program to create live performances with the electronic musicians at Philadelphia's SCAN (Small Computers in The Arts Network), where she also showed her programmed electronic paintings.
After a series of audio-visual presentations between the '80s and the early '90s, Halaby took her ideas further and, during an event at the Brooklyn Museum in 1994, she projected kinetic computer art on a film screen.
A substantial influence on contemporary Arab art, Halaby may be classified among the many artists who combine painting with new digital mediums, but she is also among the very few ones who have been questioning the position of the artist in relation to new media, the connection between sound and vision and between the rhythm of kinetic paintings and the rhythm of music.
Ayyam Gallery London will be presenting an exhibition of Halaby's works in October. Entitled "Samia Halaby - New Paintings", the event will look at Halaby's passion for Renaissance, Impressionism, traditional Arabic arts and Islamic architecture through her more recent works.
Some of her new paintings feature bursts of colours that look as they had been created using Processing, even though some of the themes tackled in the works included in this exhibition look at memories and crafts and do not therefore seem to have any immediate connection with technology.
New work "Clouds and Trees" (2013) is rooted indeed in her memories of the distinctive clouds and landscape of Indiana, which she admired as a student at Indiana University in the early 1960s, while "Takheel I" and "Takheel 2" (both 2013) were titled after a friend highlighted the fact that she had unconsciously used the colours and formal qualities of embroidery made in the mountain villages of Palestine (a style referred to as 'Takheel'). As she explained in a press release, "When I see something beautiful, I always stop and memorise it…I watch things change relative to each other in shape, size, and colour and these memories become the subject of my paintings."
The exhibition features only one work that has been shown previously, "Homage to Leonardo" (2012), inspired by the artist's first encounter with Leonardo da Vinci’s "The Last Supper" in 1964. In this case Halaby reimagined the space of da Vinci’s work in a kaleidoscope of vivid colours, using bold brush marks to symbolise movement and light.
Halaby has a unique language that speaks to people of different ages and from the most disparate backgrounds. Her vocabulary is made not of words but of colours that form strong visual effects, ethereal flowers, dark nocturnal landscapes and thick lines in varying sizes and shapes.
No doubt even younger visitors to this exhibition who favour generative art to traditional paintings, will be mesmerised by her large canvases featuring formations of colours, experimentals brushes, strong contrasts of light and darkness, and dynamic nuances that also hint at the exploration of the shades and textures found in nature reinterpreted in an abstract key.
As Halaby states in the press release for the Ayyam Gallery exhibition: "Abstraction is not about the artist or his or her individualism, but rather about the far more difficult and thus more satisfying ambition to invent a visual language capable of containing exchangeable knowledge. Of course, the uniqueness of painting is that this shared knowledge is a visual one."
"Samia Halaby - New Paintings", Ayyam Gallery London, 143 New Bond Street, 1st Floor, W1S 2TP London, UK, 9 October - 30 November 2013
Image credits
All images courtesy of Samia Halaby and Ayyam Gallery
Egypt has prominently been on the news since 2011 when the revolution erupted in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The street clashes at the beginning of July 2013 after President Morsi was deposed brought the country back on the global news. But, if you think that as a fashion fan this is none of your business and you don't really care about politics on a national or international level, well, you'd better start rethinking your position.
We do live in a globalised world so changes of governments and political revolutions taking place all over the planet have an impact on our lives as well, sometimes in unexpected ways. A while back a friend of mine complained for example about the rise in price of a basic cotton T-shirt bought at a High Street retailer. The label on that T-shirt indicated it was made in Egypt, and the unstable political situation over there explained, at least partially, one of the reasons for the price increase.
As consumers we should maybe trying to be more aware of such connections and to this purpose and to celebrate the best 100% cotton fibre in the world - Egyptian cotton - Italian yarn manufacturer Filmar released a book about The Cotton Museum of Cairo, located inside the Agricultural Museum in Ad Doqi, Giza.
Founded in 1958, the Italian company opened in 2009 the Filmar Nile Textile, a factory producing cotton of the purest quality, located at around 50 km from Alexandria.
Filmar launched the book with a small exhibition in July during the Florence-based Pitti Filati event, but it has recently made the book available on a dedicated website as well.
The volume and the site feature quite beautiful archival images in black and white about cotton planting, harvesting and manufacturing, and the accompanying texts explain the history of Egyptian cotton in an accessible way.
Egypt is indeed a leading producer in the production of long staple (Giza 86, Giza 89, Giza 90) and extra long staple (Giza 45, the "queen" of Egyptian cotton; Giza 70, Giza 87 and Giza 88) cotton.
Cotton is a shrub of the family Malvaceae native to the Indian subcontinent and the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and the Americas, and was imported to Europe by the Arabs. The plants in the wild can reach a height of more than 1.50 m and have a long life. The wild species of cotton produce seeds covered only with reddish hairs, cultivated plants produce longer, clear, spinnable fibres.
There are nearly a thousand varieties of cotton cultivated. The main species include Gossypium herbaceum (cotton of the Levant), Gossypium hirsutum (Upland cotton), Gossypium arboreum and Gossypium barbadense (Sea Island Cotton).
Planted in late March, cotton develops in July and August and is harvested by hand in September in five consecutive stages.
The Cotton Museum of Cairo includes manuscripts and legislative decrees on cotton, paintings about its cultivation, antique embroidered fabrics and samples of Syrian and Coptic textiles dating from the 12th and the 14th centuries and collections of hand-needled embroidery of cotton on leather; models of looms, irrigation systems, carding and weaving machines; diagrams and charts indicating the varieties of Egyptian cotton catalogued between 1818 and 1949; illustrations about the structure of the cotton seed and the importance of hybridisation, samples of all botanical varieties in the world - from the extinct to the most recent.
Models and illuminated tables illustrate the cultivation methods and the spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing processes that allow to obtain long and thin fibers of the best Egyptian cotton from freshly picked fibres in flocks.
Some sections of the museum look at the more legendary aspects of cotton that explain the fibre as the product of a plant that is half vegetable, half animal (according to the legend, the cotton wads are cute tiny sheep, attached to a plant through their umbilical cord), others also analyse more technical aspects like the transport system and the Cotton Exchange of Alexandria, where the first sale of cotton was recorded in 1865.
The volume and the website also show pictures of the rooms inside the Cotton Museum and by looking at some of the images you get the feeling you're stepping into the past: the symbolic heart of the Cotton Museum is indeed what looks like an extraordinary room documenting all the varieties of cultivated cotton. On the walls there are photographs of the botanists behind the varieties of cotton kept in glass cabinets and cases, while a valuable antique chest holds seeds, fibres and flowers divided in drawers as if the museum curators who classified them tried to find the genetic code of cotton.
The very finest cottons are kept in symbolic transparent glass pyramids and seeds of different varieties are preserved in antique glass vases that resemble Fabergé eggs, while cotton capsules lay on fluffy cotton as if they were asleep on comfortable beds.
Though visiting the museum virtually may not be as exciting and interesting as walking for real through its rooms, this new online resource is still useful to discover the history of Egyptian cotton and the more technical aspects regarding one of the most popular fibres employed for the best versatile garments in our wardrobes.
African-American artist John Outterbridge is known for his works that incorporate found objects. He considers the items he includes in his sculptures and installations not just as a cheap alternative to more traditional materials, but as “pieces of the language of life”, elements that can directly connect a work of art to the lives of real people while hinting at other themes.
His "Deja Vu-Do" (1979-1992) - currently on display at the 55th International Venice Art Biennale - features for example a doll like figure with its head trapped under a cage flanked by an American flag, suggesting themes such as confinement, repression and struggle against discrimination and segregation.
Outterbridge's works call to mind the assemblages and innovative combinations of materials of another American artist, Robert Rauschenberg, famous for his "Combines" in which he brought together disparate elements and materials.
Assemblages are disparate and discontinuous linkages of elements and fragments that at times also feature bits and pieces of magazines and newspapers, domestic items and random objects. Rather than incorporating three-dimensional objects into their fabrics, Morar and Avalos applied the assemblage concept to the surfaces of the textiles employed for menswear garments characterised by boxy shapes.
Rauschenberg's intention was to combine art and life while involving painting in both; Morar and Avalos combined art and fashion, using fabrics as canvases and interpreting their menswear garments as wearable "pieces of the language of life".
Can you please introduce yourself to our readers? Ryan Morar: I was born in Santa Monica, on November 10, 1990. I moved to West Los Angeles in May 1997. I studied high school at Alexander Hamilton High with a focus on music as I had started playing violin back in 1998, and I played in the school’s orchestra. I had a minor in Fine Art at Hamilton High where I had taken classes in Animation as well as Fine Art Sketching and AP Art. I have always been interested in fashion since I was a child and would sketch clothes and costumes from films or spend hours drawing in sketchbooks at home. I first got really interested in the Fashion Industry when my sister came back from a trip to New York with some fashion magazines and “Louis Vuitton” purses from Canal Street in the early 2000s. I am currently based back home in Los Angeles, but I have plans on moving to New York in the near future. Melissa Avalos: I was born in Houston, Texas and grew up partially in Houston and in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. When I wasn't in school I would be visiting my grandma and the rest of my family in Mexico. I graduated high school in Houston and knew as my high school years came to an end that I would be doing something fashion-related. Initially, though, I wanted to become an anesthesiologist - go figure. In deciding what college to attend it was between Parsons and Academy of Art. At the age of 18 I brought two huge suitcases and was navigating my way through check-ins at the dorm I was assigned to. Looking back, I was a very brave 18 year old to just pick up and leave to a city I had never been to nor had any family or friends in. I had enrolled in the fashion department, as a womenswear designer at the beginning and mid-way through the program I wasn’t really feeling the collections I was producing, so I switched majors into Textile Design. That I haven't regretted since!
What's the most important thing you learnt from your years at AAU? Ryan Morar: I don’t think I can pinpoint just one thing, but the sewing and construction skills plus the drawing and illustration were the most important things. Melissa Avalos: Improvisation and not being afraid of it. For example, I have a particular peer of mine that works in a very strategic manner. He plans everything out from designing to production. I don't work that way. I can have a drawing/shape that I really like and I will shoot it to the screen and from there I will play with direction/layering/spacing and so on, when I go in to print. Once I print the first layer of the drawing I can then step back and see what works best. From there I let it just take its course and eventually end up with a print. It's a lot more "free-style" or organic if you can call it like that and I really stand proud of the work that I have produced in this manner.
Who has been the greatest influence on your career choices? Ryan Morar: My sister and my mother have been the greatest influences on my career choices. Since I was initially looking into Universities, they have always been pushing me and been extremely supportive. Melissa Avalos: My mother has been a driving force and source of inspiration to me ever since I could comprehend her hardworking nature. Being a first generation Mexican American there are some valuable things I have experienced from growing up with a parent who worked long hours to provide for her family. I truly believe I got her work ethic and the end goal for me is just to take care of my mother for all the years she dedicated to making my life better. I wouldn’t change anything about my childhood and family, those things are what have made me into the young adult that I am now.
Can you tell us more about your creative process? Ryan Morar: My creative process usually begins with a feeling I get from music I’m currently listening to at the time. This feeling usually evokes a movement and I can get ideas for overall silhouettes and the hang of garments and such. Colors come to me by usually picking a shade I haven’t used yet and picking harmonious nuances that go with it. I then go to source materials where I’m usually drawn to interesting textures and patterns. The sourcing usually goes hand-in-hand with sketching for me. Melissa Avalos: I really enjoy the beginning process of being inspired, really taking a look at the shapes in what is that I am inspired by at the moment, getting settled into my workspace, playing some good music in the background and then just starting to draw with whatever medium feels right. I try keeping my eyes open to everyday things, environments and people I come into contact with. From checking out the newest exhibition at the SF MOMA to liking the arrangement of polka dots on my shampoo bottle. For some reason I gravitate towards shapes and the negative space they create, from there my mind goes on a tangent.
How did you feel at showcasing your collection at the Academy of the Arts fashion show? Ryan Morar: I felt really great showing my collection in the Fashion Show, I’m glad I got to showcase my unique style and bring something new to the world of Menswear. Melissa Avalos: The day of the fashion show I was excited and just really wanted to see the hard work come down the runway. I was able to sneak into the backstage area and see the models in the close before it hit the runway, which was awesome! Also I am very grateful for the opportunity that was given to me to participate in the fashion show. Thanks to Rhona MacKenzie, the head of the Textile Design program at AAU, and to Fashion Director Simon Ungless!
What inspired your graduate collection? Ryan Morar: I drew inspiration from the discordant sounds from one of Sonic Youth’s first albums entitled "Confusion Is Next". I felt the moods and feelings from this album related to the raw aesthetic of Robert Rauschenberg’s mixed media art, "Combines". I’ve always been a fan of Rauschenberg’s "Combines" and the idea behind them where the meaning of each of the objects in each piece transform their individual meaning when they’re put in context to make a new object. Thus, I used this concept to transform the garments - shirting fabrics used as pants, coating fabric used for T-shirt and thus making T-shirt a coat, and so on.
What kind of materials did you employ for your collection? Ryan Morar: I mostly used boiled wools that I had treated myself. I used reclaimed vintage knit fabrics for undershirts. Other materials I used were canvas, wool mohair, cotton lawn fabric (very lightweight fabric), and wool jersey. Melissa Avalos: As the textile designer for Ryan Morar’s collection I only used one silk screen throughout the collection. The rest of the prints were hand-painted onto the fabric. In some of the prints I used my hands to apply the pigment directly onto the fabric along with layering the pigments to create different blends of color. I also used squeegees to move around the pigment due to the large size of the fabric yardage and making sure that the pigment would dry in one stop. I moved rather quickly to get the effects I needed. Finally my favorite print from the collection was also the most tedious and time-consuming for me. It is a herringbone print that was created into a pair of trousers, the first large piece of fabric I pinned down took me five days to hand paint. On top of that I was using what we call a T-pin, that is a T-shaped piece of metal that is no more than one inch long. My hands, back and legs were so tense at the end of the five days I was relieved when I finished it.
In your opinion, is it difficult to innovate menswear? Ryan Morar: I think it can be more difficult to innovate menswear, but not impossible. Menswear isn’t deemed innovative by just complicated seaming of garments, rather I believe it’s innovative by new ways of fabric application and manipulation, as well as new ways of layering garments. The cuts of garments are a slower moving process than womenswear because it takes a while for the majority of men to respond to modern silhouettes.
Can you tell us more about the art inspirations behind your collection? Ryan Morar: I gave Melissa the Robert Rauschenberg inspiration and she was mainly inspired by the loose and raw paint application to his pieces along with selected colors she saw in them. She then washed the fabrics after printing the textiles to loosen them up, and I power sanded the fabrics to give them an even more raw, and vintage feeling. Melissa Avalos: Rauschenberg's paintings were a mixture of found objects he would come across and then later incorporate them into his paintings. In the paintings you could find photographic imagery, an article of clothing mixing in with trash and 2D/3D objects. I must admit I was a bit puzzled at first about this inspiration, but then things worked out.
Did you find any stages of your collaboration difficult or challenging? Ryan Morar: I found working with Melissa very pleasant. It was easy for me to tell her my inspirations and for me to listen to her input and eventually finding a way to meet in the middle. I was quite pleased with the textiles she produced. Melissa Avalos: When reviewing Ryan’s process book and seeing the paintings we were going to use as inspiration, I initially didn’t know where to begin. I was caught off guard because of the way in which the paintings were composed; I had never really used any material similar in fashion as a source of reference for previous projects. In my process book that can be seen on my website the initial direction I was going in was in a way very restricted. After producing many swatches that were supposed to be then reviewed by directors I hated all the prints. After meeting with my director what really stuck was her saying, "you just need to go crazy with it" and then left me to be. This happened a couple of days before I was suppose to have my final meeting in which the final prints were to be selected! I had to produce a lot of new prints in a very short period of time and they had to be good, but I must say that when I am put under pressure I work better! I remember sitting in the printing lab in the evening while it was completely empty and just started to paint directly onto the fabric so the new direction definitely had a "fine art" approach it. At that point then I realized I was in the flow of printing and really translating what I had envisioned. Eventually the meeting went well and I was happy about the prints that were picked and showcased at the fashion show.
What are your future plans? Ryan Morar: My current plans are to move back home to Los Angeles and eventually move to New York or Europe. I’ve been looking for internships and jobs, but, in the meantime, I’m planning on developing my line primarily online and seeing where it takes me. Melissa Avalos: Right now I am enjoying the free time that has opened since school has ended. But, at the same time, I am applying for internships and full-time positions. I am really gunning for an opportunity within an organization where I can contribute my perspective while learning and growing whether it is in San Francisco or somewhere else. I have been in San Francisco for some time now and I think I am ready to move on to a new city and explore. In the meantime, while keeping my day job that pays my rent, I am still continuously drawing and producing work along with planning travels to Japan and Europe.
Images of Ryan Morar and Melissa Avalos's collection in this post by Randy Brooke/WireImage
Nature offers a variety of structural configurations that, throughout the decades, also influenced the work of many architects, mathematicians, biologists and physicists. These natural structures are characterised by a wide range of diversity and differentiation. For quite a few years now Japanese artist Aki Inomata has been experimenting with the possibility of generating forms that respond to natural needs with some human intervention thrown in.
Born in 1983 in Tokyo where she was awarded in 2008 an MFA in Inter Media Art from the University of the Arts and where she still lives and works, Inomata focuses on projects that combine issues such as adaptation, change and use of natural resources, with new architectural criteria for the discovery of innovative spatial possibilities.
In her project "Girl, Girl, Girl..." (2012) she cut into bits and pieces a series of womenswear garments and then gave them to female bagworms that built fashionable protective cases with them. In this way she created a parallel story between women wearing nice clothes and make up and bagworms styling their own protective cases.
After the Great Eastern Japan earthquake, inspired by the ancient Hindu notion of the world supported on the back of a giant elephant itself standing on a large turtle, she designed a 3D printed miniature version of a village in Gunma Prefecture that prospered by raising silkworms since the Meiji Period. The village can be applied on the back of a turtle like a prosthetic shield-like structure.
For another ongoing project she moved from issues of identity, nationality, migration and transformation: after hearing that the land of the former French Embassy in Japan that had been French until 2009 was to become Japanese for the following fifty years, and then be returned to France once again, inspired by the story of hermit crabs changing gastropod shell after shell until they find one of suitable size, she designed a series of 3D printed shells imitating the architecture of various cities and famous capitals.
"I'm interested in architecture," Inomata told Irenebrination. "But my works show the unexpected appearance of creatures around us also from a humorous point of view. Through these works I attempted to compare the rules in our society or our culture - such as languages, borders or clothes - to those of other creatures. I guess it would be useful for us to look at our society and at ourselves from a different angle. I started to 'cooperate with creatures,' because nowadays, even in our highly advanced culture and civilization, the system or rules in society is still too complicated to understand how it works and for most of us it remains a mysterious black box that causes suffocation, or even hopelessness."
Technology-wise Inomata used a CT scan to capture highly-detailed images of the natural shell, and then designed the city herself, coming up habitable prototypes of mini shell-cities that still fit the hermit crab's exoskeleton. "I started using 3D printing in 2009," she explains, "it is an amazing technique since it allows me to make the shell form, even though I can't curve the inner spiral of the shell and that's tricky."
The images of migrating hermit crabs inhabiting her see-through shells decorated with the skyline of cities from countries as different and diverse as the USA, The Netherlands, France and Morocco, hint at the possibilities of quickly crossing various national borders and therefore changing identity, appearance and location.
Inomata recreated roughly thirty different skylines: "I like all of them," she states, "but I especially like the Manhattan skyline since it is probably one of the most famous and recognisable by people all over the world, so I couldn't really exclude it from this series. The shell I designed with the Manhattan skyline suggests the viewer that my work is not fantasy, but belongs to the real world."
Aki Inomata's work has been showcased in galleries in Tokyo, Osaka and Shanghai, and she's currently part of the "Life to Life" Ogaki Biennale 2013 (until 6th September), "I have never had an exhibition in Europe, so I'd like to hold one soon!" she concludes.
All images and videos in this post courtesy of Aki Inomata.
The recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 55th International Art Exhibition Marisa Merz is better known as a key figure of postwar Italian art associated with the Arte Povera movement. Her interests also include everyday materials and crafts often associated with femininity, such as weaving and knitting.
Early work feature sinuous, organic forms turned into dynamic sculptures and structures and created from industrial materials such as twisted or knitted sheets of metal or aluminum moulded into spirals that hung from the ceiling like jellifish.
One of her recurring motifs is the depiction of female heads as busts of clay and wax or in paintings and drawings, incorporating a wide range of materials such as copper mesh, gold leaf, cardboard and tape. In some cases such as her work Untitled (2004; first image in this post) the head is created through swirling arabesque motifs.
Thick painted lines and graphic arabesque motifs characterise the womenswear collection created by designer Claudia Simoes and textile designer Alicia Karynn Teixeira, graduates of the School of Fashion at San Francisco's Academy of Art University.
Showcased in May during the school's fashion show, the collection, a combination of Western and Eastern influences with some Abstract Expressionism added in, featured wearable garments characterised by a rhythmic alternation of bold strokes and abstracts and stylised patterns screenprinted on cotton, linen and leather.
Can you introduce yourself to our readers? Claudia Simoes: I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to Portland, Oregon, at the age of one and was raised there all my life. I grew up outside of Portland in smaller towns such as Tigard, and Lake Oswego, where I attended middle school through high school. I decided on the Academy of Art University because of the reputation the fashion school had in particular plus it was closer to home. My brother and I were raised by a Colombian mother and Brazilian father as first generation Americans. I currently live in Portland. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. I started taking pre-college classes in fashion design at the Academy of Art when I was 16, and started my Bachelor’s degree in Textile Design right after graduating from high school. For now, I am still based in San Francisco.
What's the most important thing you learnt from your years at AAU? Claudia Simoes: I think the most important thing I learnt is that with a certain level of confidence, hard work and dedication, success is possible. Since I started at AAU and saw my first fashion show, it became my goal to make it into the show in my final year as well. Each semester I did my best and pushed myself in different ways until I reached my goal! Alicia Karynn Teixeira: The Academy lets you know right away that you will get what you put in. That's the most important thing I learnt there. The resources exist for you to make your dreams a reality, and at AAU you learn that your career is in your hands.
Who has been the greatest influence on your career choices? Claudia Simoes: I'm not sure exactly. I had a great art teacher in high school that encouraged me to try all different mediums of art, which I enjoyed, and that led me to pursue art as a career. But, at that point in time, I wasn't sure what direction in art I would pursue. Around the same time, I had a very sweet neighbour who was a seamstress and who agreed to teach me to sew. She had me do some test sewing on scrap fabric and saw that I was quite good at handling the sewing machine which really encouraged me to keep sewing, plus I really enjoyed it. At the same time, my older brother was deciding that his love for footwear could serve as inspiration for a career in footwear design at London College of Fashion, which then inspired me to pursue fashion design. It really is a culmination of the three of them. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: Rhona MacKenzie, the head of the Textile Design program at AAU has been the greatest influence on my career choices. I have learned so much from her these last four years.
Can you tell us more about your creative process? Claudia Simoes: It can really be sparked by anything, whether it be an era, a culture, a mood, shape, or a completely abstract idea. At that point in time when I find the right inspiration, I continue researching as many visuals as I can, which can continue on for the duration of the creative process while I begin to sketch out as many ideas that come as I am researching. Some people like to drape first, but for me, since I am much more of a visual person, it is easier for me to resolve it out in sketches and in images then try it in 3D and make it work. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I always start a print collection off with research, collecting images and learning about my inspiration. Usually during researching a broad inspiration I get fixated onto something which becomes the core of the project. Once I create a mood and feeling about what I am going to make, I just start drawing and painting in a really sporadic manner. I like experimenting and just trying to make new things. It’s sort of a brainstorming process. Once I have enough images, I start designing the collection with printing in mind. I think about how I want to apply the design, and what kind of repeat I will do if it is a repeat, what size and what colors. Then I make it.
How did you feel at showcasing your collection at the Academy of the Arts fashion show? Claudia Simoes: It was a pretty unforgettable feeling. When I first saw my name on the screen introducing my collection, my heart was beating fast, my stomach was jittery as if I were the one about to walk down the runway in front of thousands of people. You work so hard on each of those pieces for months and months so they feel as though they were your baby, in a way, but they're only on the runway for a few short minutes. Still, it feels very satisfying knowing all the work I put into it payed off and I'm pleased with the outcome of my collection and the response that I've received. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: It was the best experience of my life so far. I loved it. I want to create runway collections for the rest of my life!
What inspired your graduate collection? Claudia Simoes: My collection was initially inspired by the juxtaposition of Western and Eastern cultures and how they inspire one another. In particular I focused on Japanese and American cultures. I was inspired by Japanese Ikat dyed, kasuri fabrics I found from the 1960s. The colors were indigo and white, very simple but very graphic, which is what I wanted. At that point in time I looked at Japanese pattern-making for the silhouette inspiration which became a little too obvious. This is why I looked at Western silhouettes of the 1960s. The kasuri fabrics that I found were taken to new heights when I teamed up with Alicia Teixeira, Textile Designer, who took that inspiration and evolved it with Abstract Expressionism into the prints that were seen in the show. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I incorporated Abstract Expressionism with the feeling of classic ikats, and classic woven fabric to create a contradiction between my abstract prints and Claudia’s structured silhouettes.
Some of the textiles seemed inspired by art, can you tell us more about the making of the textiles? Alicia Karynn Teixeira: For this collection I was inspired by the spirit of Abstract Expressionism. I love painting, and that usually works its way into my textiles especially for this collection.
Did you find any stages of your collaboration difficult or challenging? Claudia Simoes: The most challenging aspect of my collaboration was time management because Alicia engineered most of the prints specifically for the garments. She used my pattern to draw the print in the scale that made sense for each piece. This takes a lot of time, especially when there are multiple colours in one print, etc. This way of printing is tricky because I had to wait for each pattern piece to be printed individually before I could cut and sew. As opposed to a repeat print which can be printed on yardage of fabric to be cut in any way to fit the patterns. Other than that, our collaboration worked beautifully. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: I had to engineer nine of the garments, so I had to learn how to assemble patterns and construct a paper form of each garment then draw the design onto the pattern pieces in order to make my transparencies. That was difficult at first and I learned a lot, but collaborating with Claudia was a great experience. We worked really well together.
What kind of materials did you employ for your collection? Claudia Simoes: We printed on cotton, linen/cotton blend, and leather. All the gold in the collection is gold leather, we didn't print the gold, just the pattern for the skirt and a pair of pants. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: We used almost all cotton fabrics, they are pretty heavyweight and very convenient to print on. We also used gold leather. I screen printed all the fabrics with pigment.
What are your future plans? Claudia Simoes: I've been enjoying my time off from school since the fashion show. I have a few more classes to take this summer while I look for a job. I hope to work for a company that can get me established in the industry while I gain experience and one day, eventually, have my own fashion business, hopefully with my brother making shoes also. Alicia Karynn Teixeira: Right now, I am staying in California and pursuing a career in women’s ready to wear.
Images of Claudia Simoes and Alicia Karynn Teixeira's collection in this post by Randy Brooke/WireImage
Quite a few prominent architects have designed in recent years shops and retail spaces for famous fashion houses and brands. The creation and re-creation of spaces where consumers feel at ease and therefore are more keen on buying and spending has indeed turned into a key issue for many fashion houses who previously relied mainly on the power of their products, on their quality or on the allure of their logos considered as status symbols. Yet there are cases in which such spaces proved hostile to consumers, managing to alienate rather than attract them. So let's briefly look at spaces from the unconventional positions of two interesting figures, Gianfranco Baruchello and Ugo La Pietra.
Baruchello was born in 1924 in Livorno, Italy, and started producing found-object assemblages in his mid-30s, quickly becoming part of an international community of avant-garde artists, writers and philosophers. Between 1976 and 1986 Baruchello produced one of his most ambitious works, "La Grande Biblioteca" - a model of a gigantic library (currently on display in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini at the 55th International Venice Art Biennale together with his work "A chi di ragione (Part A and C)", 1967), represented inside a series of wood boxes covered with glass mounted in a metal frame. This artwork represents the imaginary spaces of a huge library, a sort of world suspended between Joseph Cornell's boxes and Jorge Luis Borges' Library of Babel.
Italian architect, artist, designer and theoretician Ugo La Pietra already appeared in a previous post on this site in connection with the futuristic retail spaces he designed for fashion boutiques.
In 1983 La Pietra wrote about the memory object or the memory environment. In his opinion they could be perceived as negative when they were passively accepted for fashion or trend reasons or for specific conventions that prevented people from understanding the genuine relationship between the objects and their use. Finished and closed environments like the ones seen in furniture adverts or in sets for TV soap operas, are defined spaces that follow precise rules and regulations and are therefore considered as negative spaces.
According to La Pietra a space achieves a positive value instead when it is built with the same spirit with which an altar dedicated to the memory of someone is erected in a temple - by juxtposing objects and images to create new rituals.
La Pietra suggested that in this way we could create spaces capable of evoking locations, activities or real people, little stages or theatres in which we could be set designers, part of the audience or even actors, protagonists of our own spaces and stories.
Would it be useful to combine the lesson of an avant-garde artist and a futuristic theoretician and designer and create ideal and better environments not just for fashion retail spaces, but also for research purposes and museum spaces?
Many people choose to go on holiday in August, but that's certainly not the case with the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum in Getaria, Spain.
The museum is indeed launching a theoretical and pratical workshop throughout the month of August (11/08 – 25/08; for adults) entitled "Embroidery and Adornments" and dedicated to all those people interested in learning more about these textile techniques.
Participants will get the chance to rediscover how Cristóbal Balenciaga used embroidery to great effect on some of his evening creations.
There is actually a historical connection between the Second World War and the use of embroidery: the sumptuary laws on style during the German occupation in Paris had an impact on the use of embroidery.
As decreed in 1942, in order to keep the smaller artisans in work, each fashion collection had to include at east one model containing or entirely composed of lace.
Embrodiery was to be used on 10% of all models and two of them had to consist entirely of embroidery. This is the actual reason why Balenciaga employed more lace and embroidery in his designs around that period of time (and not as it is incorrectly thought because of a Goya influence). In this way almost all the couture workforce was kept in their jobs.
One interesting point is that Balenciaga's designs were structurally modernist in their shapes and forms, which means they also had to be characterised by equally subtle, modern and innovative embroideries.
Balenciaga mainly employed among the embroiderers the House of Lesage, followed by Lisbeth and Rébé and participants to the workshop at the museum will learn about the wide range of styles and motifs that the couturier used and will then create their own elaborate designs with decorative beads.
For further information about the workshop, you can send an email to the address: [email protected]
"Mary, Queen of Scots" is not your conventional historical exhibition based on portraits and documents, but also features textiles and jewellery, furniture, drawings and maps to illustrate Mary’s story, and the wider world in which she lived, elements that will help visitors to get a different point of view about the dramatic story of Mary Stuart and the intriguining period of Scottish history in which she lived.
Born in 1542, Mary was queen regnant of Scotland from December 1542 to July 1567 and queen consort of France from July 1559 to December 1560. She was convicted of treason and, after 19 years as a prisoner of her cousin Elizabeth I of England, she was decapitated in 1587.
The National Museum of Scotland exhibition is divided into nine sections and tries to shed new light on this historical figure through roughly 200 objects drawn from the collections of the National Museum of Scotland, with loans from major public collections in Scotland, England and France, and also from private collections. The first section centres around the Blairs Memorial Portrait of Mary, commissioned by Elizabeth Curle, one of Mary’s closest companions during the final years of her English captivity. It represents Mary in preparation for her Catholic martyrdom on the executioner’s block.
Another section looks at costumes and jewellery and also includes drawings by Jasper Conran for a production of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda. Unfortunately, very little survives regarding the costumes, so our best knowledge of what Mary wore comes from her portraits and from wardrobe books.
A romantic heroine with a tragic fate, according to the French tradition Mary was a woman of culture, beauty and taste. Historians say that, even as a child, Mary had a keen interest in clothes and also loved fancy dress. When she grew up, she always dressed herself elegantly and with good taste, opting for rich simplicity rather than for ostentatious styles.
For a long time as a young woman she dressed in mourning attire for her mother, father-in-law and husband, and historical sources say she was dressed in black when she arrived in Scotland. She finally cast off her mourning when she married Darnley in 1565.
In France she was known as "la reine blanche" (the white queen), for her glowing complection and passion for white dresses. Her wardrobe books reveal she owned many outfits: dresses of camlet (similar to mohair), damask or serge stiffened around the neck with buckram and mounted with lace and ribbons; loose dresses and riding skirts and cloaks made of Florentine serge edged with black velvet or fur. She accessorised her garments with hats and caps of black velvet and taffetas.
While in Scotland she resumed her childish love of fancy dress by adopting Highland mantles, that is loose and embroidered cloaks, and every now and then dressed as a man and wandered the streets incognito.
An inventory made at Holyrood in 1562 includes over 130 entries, among them gowns of cloth of gold, cloth of silver, velvet, satin and silk, cloaks and mantles. Dresses went from her favourite white to black and crimson velvet and orange damask embroidered in silver. The embroidery was actually so rich and detailed that it was often passed from dress to dress and listed separately among the jewellery.
Jewels were another important feature of Mary's attire: they were employed for decorative purposes, but also considered as financial assets, as they could be used as presents or be sold to raise cash to pay armies or debts. The inventory of jewels made in 1562 features 180 entries and includes a cross of gold set with diamonds, rings, necklaces and earrings, and a variety of gems and stones such as rubies, pearls, cornelian, turquoise, and diamonds.
Among the exquisite examples of the finest pieces of jewellery associated with Mary on display at the museum, there are also the gold necklace, locket and pendant, collectively known as the "Penicuik jewels" and dating from the late 16th century, preserved by the Clerks of Penicuik as relics of Mary.
Towards the end of her life, during her time as Elizabeth’s prisoner, Mary embroidered the motto "In my end is my beginning". Her words proved true: her son James VI of Scots became James I of England on the death of Elizabeth in 1603, so that every reigning British monarch since then has been descended from Mary, rather than from Elizabeth, who died childless. This exhibition proves that, more than 400 years after her death, Mary’s words truly turned into a prophetic epitaph.
Mary, Queen of Scots is at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, until 17th November 2013
This is a quick post dedicated to the Russian speakers of Irenebrination: the August issue of Ural-based magazine WTF (What's The Fashion?) - a publication for design, architecture and fashion fans - is just out.
I contributed to the magazine with a piece about the history of drawing, printing and patterning in art and fashion from the Renaissance to our times and the possibilities that new digital media may offer fashion.
Irenebrination readers who do not speak Russian can still enjoy the layout (see embedded magazine from Issuu at the end of this post) that also features some rare pictures of Germana Marucelli's optical designs. With many thanks to Dmitrii Bezuglov at WTF for inviting me to contribute to this issue.
Let's continue the science and architectural thread that started yesterday with a brief post on Rudolf Steiner. The Austrian philosopher, social reformer, esotericist, and architect designed indeed 17 buildings, among them the First and Second Goetheanums in Dornach, Switzerland. The construction problems and issues regarding them are quite intriguing, but we will have all the time to explore them in a future post since Kunsthal Rotterdam will celebrate Steiner with a dedicated exhibition opening in 2014. The event will look at Steiner as historical figure and as a major player in modern aesthetics.
Steiner's Goetheanums are somehow connected with his unique blackboard drawings. The First Goetheanum was designed in 1912, the same year in which Steiner founded Anthroposophy. The building became a meeting place and the organisation's home: Steiner developed at the Goetheanum many of his ideas and also held there a lot of his lectures.
In 1919 a colleague suggested to cover in thick black paper the blackboards Steiner used during his lectures so that his drawings wouldn't get lost. In this way over 1,100 images Steiner made during his lectures were saved.
These unique pieces - currently on display in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini at the 55th International Venice Art Biennale - were therefore not intended as artworks but as illustrations and visual aids.
Yet, in more recent years, critics reinterpreted them, analysing the relationships between graphic gestures (from arrows and circles to spirals, brackets and lines), looking at the importance of colours and considering the blackboard drawings as cosmic pictures. According to Steiner, colour was indeed linked with the forces of the cosmos and in his lecture "From Space Perspective to Colour Perspective" he described what we experience through colour as the unihindered movement of the soul in the cosmos.
These pedagogic aids employed for decades at the Goetheanums that proved influential for artists such as Joseph Beuys, have turned more recently into perfect examples of "thought-pictures", a sort of artistic and formative way of thinking, capable of reconciling and reuniting art and science.