Necktie label

I recently added a label called 'neckties' and realized that I don't have a good image of the Necktie Ballgown on this blog. So here it is:



I constructed the Necktie Ballgown by draping, sculpting and stitching together approximately 60 men's neckties into this kimono-like dress and then wore this extremely heavy costume (about 10 pounds) during the performance below.






I recorded this performance at Gaviota Beach near Santa Barbara, CA a few months after completing my MFA at CalArts. The action was a personal commentary on femininity and professionalization and was the second in a less specific ongoing series of Landscape Actions. The piece is called Climbing Rocks in Necktie Ballgown.

Necktie Purses statement

This statement is relevant to the Necktie Ballgown as well.

These purses are sculpted from men's neckties through a process of weaving and draping. The construction does not follow a set plan, but is open-ended and intuitive, a method that allows each piece to evolve through draping, pinning, and stitching over a soft form.

I love working with 1970s neckties because of their bold patterns, brilliant colors, and sturdy polyester. These vintage ties have a particularly playful and showy, almost peacock, quality. What makes them compelling as masculine tropes is what lends them so well to be transformed into feminized objects.

More Necktie Purses

Below are two more purses I just finished. These will be included in a show this month at Hanson Gallery in Knoxville, TN. I'll post more details once the show opens. But until then, a little preview:

From necktie purses 2

with lining fabric:

From necktie purses 2

From necktie purses 2

From necktie purses 2

again with lining fabric:

From necktie purses 2

and a detail of the quilting:

From necktie purses 2

More Neckties

I've been getting a lot of traffic from two sites who've linked to my Necktie Ballgown. The site pages from Craft Test Dummies and Hobby Schneiderin (in German), have links to other people doing things with neckties as well.

Not too long ago, Erin from Dress a Day also pictured a necktie dress in progress from Cynthia, another of her readers.

Below is a purse I made a few years ago from 70's era ties similar to the ones I used in the Ballgown:




Again, there's something very compelling to me about transforming this masculine trope into femininized forms.

Also, I quite enjoy the sculptural process that I tend to use while working with ties. Maybe because the ties already have finished edges, I feel freed up to treat them as distinct elements that I then can drape and/or weave together over a form (such as a dressform for the Ballgown or a fabric form for the purses). The construction becomes much more intuitive if I allow it to evolve through the materials rather than lock myself into a plan with fussy seams and corners.

Quilt Coincidences

I went to my first meeting of the Smoky Mountain Quilters this weekend. ...lots of talented quilters... and a few odd coincidences.

The first coincidence was that I was invited to the meeting by one of the quiltwriters for this beautiful book on Gee's Bend Quilts right after I'd been studying it for a client who wanted me to create a similar (though still very different) string quilt from family clothing.

The second bit of coincidence was that the studio space beside me was almost rented a few days later by another artist who won an award for this piece in the last SMQ's show. This sheer quilt was a part of a recent exhibit at Ewing Gallery on the UT, Knoxville campus.

And third coincidence is that the Smoky Mountain Quilters were the group that sponsored the fiber award I received a few weeks ago at the Oak Ridge Open Show. The award was decided by the juror (and not SMQ) and was for this piece:

Los Angeles Aerial #3: Psychogeography of the crazy quilt (in the fashion of Jackson Pollock)

Not the best pic. As soon as the work comes down in early November, I'll have the piece professionally photographed.