David Bowie: Fashion Icon

~ You Know Who ~

~ Where? ~

~ Here!! ~

Yep, the only stop in the U.S. is in my backyard, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.  It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood too.

But the process was not unlike the airport.  Dated and timed tickets had to be purchased in advanced.  And must be picked up 1 hour prior to the time stamped.  You were not allowed to enter earlier, nor later, than your scheduled time.  When we arrived as instructed, there was no line anywhere and not too much of a crowd inside either.

I wore the accompanying headphones for the first time ever at a museum.  (I hate being told what to see).  But in this case I knew they'd just be piping in Bowie tunes, so yeah, let's do it.  Well...it didn't take long for me to "whisper" over the headphones to my true love that I was just not interested.  It was obvious he wasn't either.  We wandered around the perimeter of each darkened room, hearing blurps of Bowie tunes abruptly start and then fade off.  Then there were the usual curatorial pronouncements summarizing arbitrary concepts/phases/milestones of the artist's career in mile high typeset on each wall of each room.  These I always ignore.  (I don't like being told what/ how to think either).  yuck.

Seeing his costumes was sorta cool.  But without Bowie's moves and voguing, they really lose their glamor and look rather sad or silly.   They had his house keys there, I think that's what they were.  woo-hoo.  4 paintings of his, that was cool, but ony 4.  And a little book under Plexiglas that was opened to a page with his measurements written down for tailoring.  26 1/2 inch waist, oh my!

Perhaps the best part of the exhibition was at the end when you were emptied out into a big room which held the majority of his outfits and was surrounded on 3 walls, floor to ceiling, with speakers behind screens playing segments of him on stage.  It was like big you tube videos all playing at once, fading in and out, in the dark.   And one, no two, benches to sit on.  We stayed there until it repeated and made our way out.  To the cafe, of course.

If you've made it this far, do go on to see my Bowie ensemble in which I garnered 3 distinct compliments from people at the MCA.

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today...

that I was here, wearing this, oh. my. 

You're looking through the gallery window at my opening reception.

Can you guess which one is me?  Hint: the hair is the same even after 20 years, but all else has drastically changed.

Shelley, of Forest City Fashionista fame, recently posted about a book she's in that sounds like a must read/ have:  Women In Clothes.   The question she threw out made me immediately think of this particular dress.  (sigh)

with lace armlets, no less

"Tell us about something in your closet that you keep but never wear.  

What is it, why don't you wear it, and why do you keep it?"

 

monkey in the middle

It has, unfortunately, grown much too small for me over the years.  Nevertheless, I still have it.  And the unitard I wore under it too.  woo-hoo.  Perhaps it's because of the exciting things that transpired  due to the event.  Maybe I'll do a follow-up post about that another time...we'll see.

All I gotta say is enjoy it while you can.  It's amazing what 20 years will do to you down the road.

Cheers!

Coming and Going

~ Bedroom Suite with Boots, oil painting, 64x47", 1979, Otto ~

ahh yes, a different locale. 

 Wrap-around apron dress.

On the front porch with my true love as the man behind the camera.  No grainy mirror shots for you today.  But some things remain the same, as in ... tablecloths!

Steppin'.

Worn with a refashioned top from a self-made mini dress done from the early days of Project Minima.  Do notice the previously shown Antelope sandals, now with matching ankle socks.

Exiting through the front door.

With a peek of the tangerine gauze slip/skirt, refashioned from an old maxi dress, showing underneath.

I'll be posting details of the apron dress and it's pattern on my Clothes for Summer page soon now.  But now I'm  heading over to Patti's Not Dead Yet Style for the Visibles' get-together.  Not to be missed! 

Oh and what's with that painting at the top, you ask?  Well.  An old friend just called yesterday to say she's moving to a small place in St. Joseph South Haven (I stand corrected), Michigan and she had several of my old, large paintings.  Time to reclaim them and that's one of 'em.  I'm so glad she's kept them for me.  You see, I don't have any of my work prior to moving to Chicago (1980).  Unless they sold, they didn't survive.  I finished grad school in '77 so that's a lot of work.   My mom got rid of it all after I left Detroit.  yeah.  I do still have many of the items I depicted in that painting...

Hey, I'm retroactively joining Rhonda's Me Made Monday's.  Do check it out, especially all you SewSisters out there.

Renewed and Reconsidered

~ Mother Self-Portrait, Otto, prismacolor pencil on board, 1977 ~

Something's happening here with these tablecloth dresses.  I tried to stop making them after finishing the 6th one.  (You haven't seen the last two yet).  And I found it rather difficult.  In fact, it seemed like I was a bit despondent, or bereft.   I mean it's pretty weird that I made 6 in a row of the same pattern to begin with -  I've never made more than 2 of any one thing that I recall.  I tried looking through books, patterns, online sources, but couldn't get motivated toward anything else.  I was in a pickle or more like a jar full of pickles.

Here's what I think is going on.  My reaction to stopping was a bit overblown for the reality of the situation.  Therefore it was probably symbolic.  What were tablecloth dresses symbolic of?  I'll give you one guess.  My mother.  Yep, they reminded me of home, the 50's when I was born, and Mom used to wear them when I was young (house dresses that is), while the table wore the cloths.

Mom wearing house dress and that's me!

Sh*t, I even used to wear them during the feminist movement in art school.  Back when there were no women artists in any History of Art books and all the art instructors were men.  I wore my Mom's old pink bakery uniforms as painting smocks in my art classes.  

me as grad student in my studio with portrait paintings

I even painted myself wearing 'em

or hanging there as a still life. 

I did figurative narratives which were personal.  Remember the Personal is Political?  Pink was my favorite color and I had lots of pink house dresses to wear. 

mixed media on board of me as an asst. cook at summer art camp

Maybe that's why I felt so comfortable wearing my current tablecloth dresses, like comfort food, you know?  Plus you can be so creative within confined limitations.  Figuring what goes together, where to place the pattern, etc.  


Anyway, here's what I've been doing since I've made myself stop and reconsider what I'm doing and why.  As Jean of Dross into Gold talks about in her latest post, A Meditation, being more mindful of it all in the moment.

Some are still in process, some are complete.  See them after the break...

Out of the Blue...

There I was sitting at home hand-sewing a couture item for myself (to be mentioned in a future post), when...wham! bam! thank-you ma'am!...I received this email from a heavy metal band in Geneva, Switzerland. 
  

~ painting by Marieloes Reek ~

Yeah, this is a True Story.

They're called Promethee (that's Prometheus pronounced and spelled in French, ya'all).  They wanted to purchase one of my mandala drawings, Day 203 to be precise, for promotional use with their band.  Yep.  Mathieu, the bass player, said they had stumbled upon my Mandala-a-Day blog and really liked my work. Uh-huh.

It wasn't for sale, since it was contained in a sketch book as part of a series I did every day for a year. So after some back and forth correspondence in which I thanked them for not just ripping it off the web, I ended up sending them a higher resolution jpg of the image.   Mathieu asked me to also write their band name (PRMT) in my own script, separately, so they could include it underneath the mandala.  1,000 are going to be made as promotional give-aways when the band plays next.  hee hee hee

So dudes, here they are playing a little something, something...

Well alrighty then.

Meanwhile I'm a Calendar Girl

~ January 2014 ~

Yep, Susan finished her calendar with 12 pages of her watercolor paintings featuring yours truly in full ensemble.

January is titled Chicago Connection and places the infamous Yellow Traveling Skirt amongst Chicago landmarks such as (left to right) the Tower formerly called Sears, the Hancock Center, the Bean (see reflection of me in yellow skirt!), the Picasso, the face water fountain (with my younger face), the CTA el train, and Lake Michigan (which I am apparently walking on!)

Fabric & Frockery from Fabulous Friends, 2013

Without further ado, so you can oooo and ahhhh as I did, here's the fantastical lady things, found and made by my gal pals.  Ready? 

~ My new-to-me Opera Coat courtesy of V. ~

(Ah yes, pay no attention to that hulking artwork behind me.  It's called Samurai from my Kimono Series where I recycled my older artworks and remade them into Kimono forms.)

 lightened-up to see velvet collar and beading detail

modeled with S's refashioned vintage scarf and E's handmade fingerless gloves

E's handmade fingerless gloves + mirrored image

(Again, just ignore the ceramic sculpture below.  It's called Zen Bones and consists of a replica set of human vertebrae I made.  Part of a series on Reliquaries. The bones were placed in a snake-like form in a shallow wooden tray filled with fine black sand.  But then, the cats really, really liked it.  So the sand was quick to go.  And the cats still play with the bones now and then, so they're scattered about in whatever form they land.  yeah.)

Do I luv these or what?!

vintage velvet & gold embroidered handbag from S.

Is it not like everything goes together or what?!

and Le Piece de Resistance from S.

plus some stupendous sari fabric from V.

close up of me wearing vintage scarf refashion from S.

(Perhaps a bit camouflaged by the snake-skin print top I'm wearing and the fabric beads I've been making, oh and that Samurai painting over my shoulder...)

My Opera Coat and I are going on over to join Patti's Visibles.  See you there!

Mending on My Mind

I've been looking at things lately...

~ items from Sri Threads  ~

and wanting to do stuff like hand sewing and mending.

ChungHie Lee

J. Morgan Puett

May Chan

And constructing dresses in more creative ways...

Keysook Geum

Judith Ann Braun

Hinke Schreuders

or maybe it's about doing something more art than wearable...?  Like my work before sewing clothes.

The State of Project Minima: Year 3, 2nd Qtr.

Time flies.  And so do I, in circles, orbiting around my Mom's downward spiral, now in hospice.  sigh.

painting by Irene Ferguson

Everything is okay, as well as can be, all things considered.  yeah.  

I've been sewing this quarter anyway, although not picture-taking.  yet.  

And I've just heard I'm next in line for the Traveling Yellow Skirt!  

How cool is that?!  

Just what the doctor ordered to get me out of the blues 

and into sunshine yellow blogospheric fashion is serious sistah blissness.   

Can I get it together to do stats...?  I don't have anything posted that I made this quarter so it's not so easy to do...hmmm.   

Ed. note:  I've just posted all the items made in Fall Quarter on the Clothes for Fall page.

Bounce Back-Ability

Yes, I have it on actually.

It's called Bounce Back.

My newly created Dress-Ability.

And I'm showing this baby off at Patti's Visible Monday, even though it's late Tuesday night.  But I just finished it in the nick of time for all my deadlines.  whoo-hoo.

I wanted to embroider a title for each dress I make in this way to embody it's meaning to me at the time.  When Jan of Fort Smith Stylista made a comment about my bouncing back, I knew that was it. (Thanks Jan!)  So...the wearer will be fortified with the ability inscribed on the dress.  Dress-Ability.  Yeah, I could use that.

More details after the break...

That was Then, This is Now

painting by Marieloes Reek

I've just started sewing again!!!!!!!! Smile, smile, smile.  

Mom has settled into a new place in Chicago.  I've settled down again.  And I serendipitously was invited to show a new piece at my old gallery for their 40th anniversary.  A that was then and this is now type of thing.  Yea, baby.  That is so right on. 

I have two weeks to make it so.  More anon.  wheeeee.....

And can't wait to catch up with the good ole bloggerhood, missed you like crazy.  Thanks for the good vibes!

Mom Trip

There once was a girl named pao

Pao with Mom-made teddy bear,
self-made nightgown and 
pantaloons made from Mom's kitchen curtains

And she thought Mother's Day was a very good day

to celebrate Mom things,

ya know?

So let's get this MOM TRIP on the road!

Here's the picture book I made about me and her...

Just click here and scroll to bottom of page to see the book.
(For a real laugh, view/ hear the video of our road trip at the same site.)

Go ahead, I'll wait for you.  They'll be more after the break.

Fantasy Pao Now

Did you see it?!  Me as a tall and lithe catwalk model compliments of the ever creative Spy Girl.

fashion drawing of moi by Anne M. Bray

Yesiree,  I'm wearing yesterday's post of all refashioned items if you want to compare and contrast.  And I'm going to show off  Fantasy Pao at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style where you can see our host in digital catwalk form too.  Also joining the crowd at Monday Mingle.  Check out all the creativity happening here and there.

The Artist Not Wearing Banksy or Hirst

I've been toiling away in my studio for the past week or so on a little something something.  Ready?  Oh, but first, let me show you the latest Style Imitating Art inspiration...

Roller Rat by Banksy

Everyone's probably familiar with England's (in)famous street artist, Banksy.  But perhaps you were like me and unaware of this particular piece which has a hilarious back story.  Given a museum show in Bristol, Banksy had several rooms of his work, plus he put things amongst the museum's regular collection.

Lo and behold, the art world's darling, Damien Hirst, had one of his ridiculously expensive spot paintings housed there.  And that is what it looks like now after Banksy painted over it adding his trademark rat.  hee hee hee.

Okay, now you're ready to see what I've done after the break!

Something's Happening Here and I Don't Know What It is

I've found myself being mesmerized by some images, ideas, blogs lately and I want to share a bit of it with you.  Many of these 'enlightenments' have come to me in circuitous routes, but many have happened through art for housewives, which is a marvelous resource and I urge you to check it out on a regular basis.

feminist top from art for housewives

For instance just click here on Sri Threads and feast your eyes.  I practically tear up it's so breathtakingly, humanly, amazing.  ahhh.

Sakabukuro from Sri Threads

And then reading from Grace and Mending about her discipline of procuring found cloth to create profound pieces.  I can go on and on, but let me just show pictures.

from Grace and Mending

I have a slew of images to share just after the break...

Meet Up with Frau Fiber

Made possible by an art exhibition entitled Opening the Black Box: The Charge is Torture.   A call was put out by Frau Fiber (the founder of the original Sewing Rebellion) for local stitchers to join the Chicago Chapter of the Sewing Rebellion in a stitch-in at the Sullivan Galleries.   The task was an interactive one: to work on a prison bed-size quilt within the exhibition space, as a way to commemorate the cases of torture by the Chicago police.

As the host of the monthly gathering of the Sewing Rebellion in Chicago, it was my great pleasure to finally meet Frau Fiber (now living in L.A.) in person for the first time.  

Frau and I happy to see each other at the gallery!

See pic of the opening and quilt after the break...

Stepping Out

...of my True Love's painting in all florals.

and everything's made or refashioned by moi!

Okay, from the top:  made-from-scratch reversible vest and skirt, rehabbed transparent dress and shoes. Just click on bold items to get to post about them and see details.

I know it's a bit much, but I wanted to wear my newly painted oxfords and dressed myself from the feet up - one thing led to another - and voila.  I had to go to class.  Worse things could have happened...

Come see me and others at the Pleated Poppy.
And I'm participating in Ethical Fashion Bloggers Outfit Challenge - Brights.

Three's a Charm

It's that time of the month again Ladies...and luckily for us it happens twice a month:  Style Imitates Art!  So without further ado, may I present to you, today's work of inspiration:

Two Girls in Bed by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

To see what I did (heh, heh, heh) stay tuned after the jump...