Dressing Up, part 2

Once I started putting together my first post about using the dress as a format for art, I realized that there was far more amazing art in this category than I had first imagined, and that I couldn't possibly confine the subject to just one post. Maybe it's my inability to make decisions, but there were so many fantastic artists; how could I leave anyone out?  In reality, of course, I'm sure there are many who aren't represented here, as I can't know about them all- which is good, since I have to stop somewhere, right?

Jennifer Collier

 Tea-bag Dress

 Map Dress

Jennifer Collier is an artist from the UK who makes art from paper, in the form of dresses and other clothing items. Her artist statement:
"My practice focuses on creating work from paper; by bonding, waxing, trapping and stitching I produce unusual paper ‘fabrics’, which are used to explore the ‘remaking’ of household objects. The papers are treated as if cloth, with the main technique employed being stitch; a contemporary twist on traditional textiles. The papers themselves serve as both the inspiration and the media for my work, with the narrative of the books and papers suggesting the forms. I tend to find items then investigate a way in which they can be reused and transformed; giving new life to things that would otherwise go unloved or be thrown away."

Letter Dress

Diane Savona

By presenting the actual articles of clothing as fossils, Diane Savona puts them in a new context, creating works of great beauty that are imbued with meaning. 

Overgrown Fossil

Fossil Garment #4

Fossil Garment #6

I think She explains it best herself:

Marit Helen Akslen

 Akslen was born in Alesund, Norway, and graduated in 2000 from the National College of Art and Design in Bergen, where she majored in textile arts.

"Through my work I seek to express something about social layers, power, and the abuse of power, and I have found it purposeful to use clothing or parts of clothing as my artistic material. Employing e.g. collars, pockets, and cuffs, men's white shirts have been central in many of my works. I have reassembled these fragments into other contexts in which they can effect new meaning", she explains. "In addition it has been of importance to me to treat these topics with some focus on gender."

White Dress


















                     Grey Dress

I'm not able to see these close enough to figure out how they're made; if anyone knows, I'm really curious to find out.

Leonie Oakes

 I'm particularly fascinated by the work of Leonie Oakes, whose work combines two of my favorite media- bookbinding and printmaking.  Dresses as books - makes perfect sense to me; in fact I think it's pure genius!

 She Liked to Dream

 She Softly Whispered...

 "Her practice includes a diverse range of bookbinding techniques from traditional binding to innovative and contemporary book techniques..."

 Life isn't about Finding Yourself...

"The central theme of her current work considers the notion that the book can be used visually as a vehicle to express the self and the female body. Oakes has considered the notion that traumatic experience can manifest internally and physically emerge like a hidden text unfolding. Leonie explains that she creates books as sculpture, as wearable objects, as props, as images and all as vehicles for the stories we all hold. The work reveals a fragmented and broken text, giving glimpses of the past rather than a full disclosure of the actual story."  (wickedhalo.com)

from "Weaver of Dreams" series

Elisabeth Lecourt

 “La Chasse aux Papillons”, map of Cambridge

 “Le Voyage dans les Entrailles”, Voyage of Sir Francis Drake
Atlantic Ocean map, rep. 1585

 

“Pop Corn Edelweiss Pop”, Rivers and mountains of the world,
rep. 1849 with gold leaves

According to her website, "Sensitivity and vulnerability are the main subjects in the work of the artist Elisabeth Lecourt.... the feminine figure is seen like the spine of her house, like an essential component of this particular world. But the woman like structure to medular can be a contradiction, because although funge like the strong part that maintains the building, is also vulnerable and touching. The vulnerability of the human being, the fragility of the bodies exposed by Lecourt proposes a painful beauty as well, as much by the emotional thing of the topic like by its own necessity to understand our body and what there is within us."

Peter Clark

Peter Clark is an English collage artist who makes paper garments that are quirky and fun. He uses "old stamps, maps, love letters, labels, buttons, sewing patterns, and more that he has collected, to create his somewhat three dimensional collages. He starts by drawing the outline in felt tip and then carefully selects from his paper and fabric stash for the right materials, as well as colors, to define tonal effects and other features in his art objects."(artist statement, Rebecca Hossack Gallery)

 Too, Too Wonderful

 Thousand Island Dressing

 

 Spot Coat

 P.S. I love you

Dressing Up

Lately, I've spent more time on Pinterest than is likely to be healthy; it's difficult to drag myself away from so much fascinating art of every kind and description.  As I wade through this veritable sea of art, I've noticed a surprising number of artists using the dress as a format for their work.  This is intriguing to me, partly because it seems like such an obviously good idea that I can't believe I didn't think of it. As one who made paper dolls as a child, and clothed stick-people in dresses of flowers, it would seem to be a natural progression.  Though I did embroider designs on my jeans and other items of clothing back in the day (yes, I'm that old), I never made that leap, even after the advent of paper dresses in the '60's. I do remember them- sort of.

Dress made of paper. Print of red, black and white Campbell's Soup can labels, inspired by the art of Andy Warhol. The Campbell's company used their paper dresses as a marketing technique. With the exchange of $ 1.00 and two soup labels, a woman would receive a dress by mail. c. 1967

I think my mom bought one of these when I was a little kid; I'm sure it must have been strictly out of curiosity, because I know she never wore it.  I wonder if it came in a can?

"The Wisconsin-based Scott Paper Company decided to sell paper dresses to promote their new, more colorful paper products.... other companies knew a good fad when they saw it and for the next 2 years many companies started to sell paper dresses, mostly as an advertising gimmick, some political campaigns even gave away dresses with slogans and images of their candidates....  Wippette Sportswear started selling Le Canned Dress late in 1966 and sold 100,000 in November and December."

If you want to learn more, the above pictures and information come from the article "1960's clothing fads paper dresses and dress in a can".



The dresses I'm talking about here, though, don't come in a can, but they may be made of paper.  They are works of art, and with one exception, are not meant to be worn. They are beautiful, mysterious, and layered with depth and meaning; I thought I'd share a few here.

                   Self-Portrait, 2008 wire, paper and photographic images

                  W: 46cm H: 54cm L: 46cm                            by Lynn Dennison

Her profile on the Gallery K website says, in part, that Lynn's works "...fuse personal reminiscence, emotion and memories. Her work, whether it is painting or paper sculpture, explores the connected themes of gender, inheritance and above all the meaning of being female."


I think that's a good summation of the appeal of art in the form of a dress- there is an emotional pull that is undeniable, and undeniably female.  The dress itself symbolizes the female body in both shape and connotation (think of how we designate the gender difference of restrooms, for example.)

 By Susan Stockwell: Money Dress, 2010  Made from paper money from all over the world, stitched together. Based on the style of dress worn in the 1870's by British Female Explorers, honouring their place and role in history. Material: paper money notes, cotton thread, frame Provenance: London, UK

 

"Susan Stockwell's Highland Dress (2009) is an empty life-sized female dress composed of ordinance survey maps of the Scottish Highlands glued together. Stockwell delivers a visual blow to English colonization and occupation of Scotland over 300 years. Using military maps to create a woman's dress sends a double message of war and politics being dominated by men in Western history...."  From review of "Mapping: Memory and Motion in Contemporary Art" at Katonah Museum of Art Journal of Multicultural Education- Vol. 12 no. 2.

Acquaintance of Kelp Forests  Kelp, Driftwood, Vintage Silk & Lace 56 x 41 x 41 by Christina Chalmers

 A Magical Life, steel mesh, plaster, oil and mixed media, 56x30x30  by Christina Chalmers

Christina Chalmers states, “In archetypal symbolism, clothing represents persona, a kind of camouflage which lets others know only what we wish them to know about us and nothing more. We are often "clothed" in our own private illusions of ourselves…power, money, success, pleasure, but there is really no substance to this "clothing"; it only cloaks what is deep inside and invisible...
the creative, unique and mysterious inner self. This work is about that with which we clothe ourselves and the "human divinity" or true self which lies hidden beneath." from Artist Statement, Selby Fleetwood Gallery

Christine Elfman   Storydress I   series of 12 images of dress made of torn story books
2003

"Storydress II" is a series of photographs of a life-size paper mache and plaster sculpture. The dress is made of paper mache stories that I recorded of my great-grandmother’s autobiographical
reminiscences." ~Christine Elfman 

Lesley Dill's work is about giving "physical presence to the written word. She draws upon a unique vocabulary of visual metaphors, enhancing our interpretation of verbal communication. With intuition she informs and expands our understanding of ourselves, as she amplifies the deeper meaning of the spoken language through her exquisite works of art."  - www.lesleydill.net

 

"Hinged Poem Dress" by Lesley Dill

She seeks to "explore the symbolic and visual potential of language. She often layers fragments of poetry over the human form, as in Faith (2010), a bronze figure emblazoned with a line from Kafka's Metamorphosis, emphasizing her belief in the transformative, visceral power of language. As Dill explains,'Language is the touchstone, the pivot point of all my work.'" Artspace artist bio

"Poem Hair Dress" by Lesley Dill

 Bea Szenfeld - Miss Garland. A kind of “partycamuflageuniform” where the silhouette of the cocktail dress reminds you of a Mexican piñata. The tissue paper chains that the dress is draped with have got patterns cut with laser beams. Material: 42 m paper chains and 138 pins.

 Icelandic singer, Bjork, wearing a Bea Szenfield dress to an award presentation.

 "Take.From.Away."

"Storytelling and humanity form the basis of Louise Richardson’s work. Garments and sculptures made from a diverse selection of materials give a glimpse of untold tales. ‘Butterfly Dress’ is brimming with an intense sense of animation, conveying the magical attraction of butterflies." from April 2009 press release

 "Butterfly Dress"

"Charm"  mixed media and shed snakeskin

“I am currently looking at the idea of memory and identity, bringing universal messages to the viewer through the portrayal of objects in my own memory.” Louise Richardson

 Melinda Le Guay's dresses aren't made of paper, but I just couldn't leave them out.  They're knitted out of wire.

 

"Covert" by Melinda Le Guay

 

"Her intricately detailed wire dresses displayed tensions between their materials and the final object, creating an alluring beauty, which juxtaposed the dresses prickly surface. They also conveyed minutiae, through the repetitious act of knitting used to create the pieces." - Brenda May Gallery

"Ruby"

Artist Melinda Le Guay says, "My work currently hinges on the physical and psychological susceptibility of the young female - when issues to do with identity sometimes culminate in self-harm, or body image disorders. A time when self-protection and retreat dominate thinking and negotiation in the world."

"Ravaged"-enamelled copper wire, thread, dyed gauze, thorn, dyed synthetic flowers, pin, paper




But wait - there's more!  Stay tuned for part 2.