Ten years in the making
by Selina Renfrow
Photo by Selina Renfrew. Ashleigh Amber Moore and Lowell Smith’s ArtaWEARness submission, entitled Submerge, was one of many that showed at the ACAD event Feb. 26 and 27.
With a decade firmly under its belt, the Alberta College of Art and Design’s annual ArtaWEARness showcase shows no sign of slowing down its momentum.
For this year’s event, the ACAD Students’ Association held the wearable art fashion show for two nights at the end of February. With 16 senior art students involved, audiences on both nights were treated to a visual smorgasbord of fabric, glass, metal, flesh, feathers and paint, combined with music and performance.
Megan Jones, a fourth-year jewelry and metals student, won Saturday night’s best performance
award. Jones and her models rehearsed for six weeks to build up the intimacy and connection that was on display as the models flowed down the runway.
“I told my models that they are meant to be a couple, they are meant to want to chase after each other but at the same time not be able to have each other,” Jones said after the show.
“It’s a visual story of the dialogue
that goes on inside my mind,” Jones explained of the concept. “The fight back and forth between positive thoughts and negative thoughts…the interaction
that you saw between them was push and pull.”
With no formal instruction in sewing, Jones drew on her skills learned in jewelry making and design to construct the flowing gowns and the antler, fur and flower harnesses worn by her models.
Wearable art instructor Dee Fontans explained how the senior
students were able to make the switch from one medium to another when creating their wearable art pieces.
“The wearable art really blurs the lines between disciplines because
each artist understands that the body is going to be their canvas and their inspiration,” Fontans said. “They are going to take from what they know and what their passion is and they are just going to transform it.”
Awards were handed out both nights, with Yvonne Kustec and Jessica Seward winning best craftsmanship, Nickie Burditt and Megan Jones winning best performance and Katie Kimber and Vanessa Riego winning best “spirit” of ArtaWEARness. For more photos visit TheReflector.ca.
