- show and costume ball at the John Walden Art Center. Tonight we have a variety of materials to show
- to you. We have ethnic costume, we have stage and Halloween costume, we have vintage pieces, and we
- have wearable art and craft pieces. The things that you'll see tonight represent contributors from throughout
- the region, and there's an immense amount of talent represented. I'd like to invite you all to stay
- after the show for our costume ball. And I see that many of you have arrived in costume and that's great
- fun. So without further ado, let's get started. The first piece tonight was created and is worn by Donna
- Jo Brizendine. Donna Jo is a weaver and textile artist who with her husband owns the Breezy Manor shop
- in Mooresville, Indiana.
- This piece is hand woven and hand dyed. It's raw silk and cotton. It's a three-piece ensemble.
- The next piece is a vintage ensemble. It comes from a material plane in Bloomington. It's an example
- of combining elements from several different periods into one unique ensemble. The gown is rayon satin
- with a rhinestone buckle and it dates from about 1935. The hat dates from 1965, 30 years later. It's
- rayon tapeta.
- Valerie carries a wrist bag of gold lorax that dates from the mid-1940s. The next ensemble we have
- by Charlotte. It's created by Suzanne Halverson. The tunic is hand-woven rayon chenille. The color is
- called iris, and Suzanne has woven it with jewel-tone accents. It has a V neckline, three-quarter length
- sleeves, pockets, and padded shoulders. The scarf, which Suzanne calls autumn pearl, is also hand-dyed
- chenille. It's overdyed from its original bright yellow color,
- and it's woven in a shadow weave with rayon black ribbon. The hat is pieced together from chenille fabrics
- and was designed by Bloomington designer and seamstress Lynn Michaelon. Suzanne Halverson has been weaving
- for 21 years. She maintains a studio in downtown Bloomington, sells through the By Hand Gallery. She's
- also the gallery director here at the John Waldron Center, as well as being the gift shop manager,
- She is the co-founder and creator of tonight's show. Next, you'll see various interpretations of the
- word jacket. Kate is modeling a piece by Anna Brown of Brown County. This Anna Brown calls the Santa
- Fe Jacket.
- Both of the pieces that Anna Brown is showing tonight are strip pieced and quilted together. The Santa
- Fe jacket employs what Anna Brown refers to as the seminal patchwork technique. Phyllis is wearing the
- fortune teller coat. Again, it's cotton broad cloth with a strip piece method.
- Anna Brown is an artist and clothing designer. Her work combines traditional techniques with contemporary
- styles. She finds the actual creation of her clothing to be the most satisfying part of the process
- and feels that in the end, her clothes speak for themselves. The next jacket is modeled by Rebecca and
- was created by Jonna Asher of Nashville. It's a ready-made sport coat
- with applied acrylic and textile paints. A companion piece to this is the musical or keyboard jacket.
- Again, a ready-made sport coat with applied paints. Ms. Asher started painting on jackets just this
- year. She's found them to be immensely popular, and she has a number of different motifs that she has
- available.
- We have two pieces by Charlene Marsh of Nashville. The first is hand-dyed cotton velveteen and china
- silk. The haphazard quilting stitches that you see are intentional. And this piece is reversible. The
- next piece by Charlene Marsh is a reversible cotton
- jacket. The pattern was created by a discharge or bleach out dye process, a sort of tie dye in reverse,
- and additional highlights were added by stitching through the fabric during the tying and bleaching
- out process. Charlene Marsh has been studying various aspects of fashion and textile arts for a number
- of years, and she now makes tapestries, one of which is currently in the gallery downstairs.
- This piece is modeled by David Ebbinghaus. It was created for David by Marilyn Ebbinghaus. It's a hand-woven
- linen tunic, created with an e-cut dye process. It's hand-dyed and hand-woven. Marilyn is a weaver here
- in Bloomington, and she's best known for her tapestry work. This piece was created for David.
- Next, Donna Jo Brizendine again models one of her own creations. This jacket is a modified waffle weave.
- And it's shot through with Lurex yarns. You can see a bit of the sparkle in there. It's lined with a fleece.
- Donna Jo's jackets or ensembles is unique. She uses natural fibers, natural yarns, and she hand weaves
- all of her pieces and hand dyes many of them.
- vintage ensembles. First we have Corinne. She's wearing an ensemble put together by Eileen Rice of Jasmine
- in Bloomington. She wears a machine-made Irish crochet lace blouse. It's cotton and it dates from about
- 1900. It's embellished with glass pearls and velvet trims.
- The skirt is wool broadcloth and dates from about 1915. The next piece is modeled by Valerie Peters.
- Valerie wears an ensemble again, a combination of a number of different periods. The coat is silk velvet,
- dates from about 1940.
- Underneath the coat, Valerie wears a polyester rayon velvet dress. And that dates from the 1970s. Karen
- Sherrington and Andrea Honst have accessorized this ensemble with three pieces from the 1950s,
- a velvet hat, a chrome basket bag, and a rhinestone necklace.
- jasmine. It consists of a pannais velvet cape, worn over a 1950s nylon chiffon dress. Phyllis carries
- a handbag, a contemporary piece that was created by Paula Worley of Bloomington. Paula began making
- purses for her own use and is now the owner of Reliquary Bags, a full-time artistic pursuit for which
- she creates unique and luxurious bags for all uses and occasions. Drawn to lush fabrics and inspired
- by the endless shapes and colors of flowers, Ms. Worley uses rich materials from many sources and employs
- a variety of needlework techniques.
- By the way, Paula Morley's bags are available in the gift shop here. The next piece is worn by Frances.
- This piece is one of our ethnic examples tonight. This comes from Ghana. It was tailored for Sophie
- Sieber of Bloomington when she lived in Ghana in the mid-1960s. It's a native cotton, native African cotton
- And the pattern is created by a resist dye technique. It was tailored to the styles that were popular
- in Ghana during the mid-1960s. Those styles are an adaptation of traditional Ghanaian dress combined
- with the missionary's desires for covering people when they got there in the mid-19th century. So actually,
- the blouse is the missionary influence. And the skirt, there would be one other piece
- with this if it was a traditional, and that would be a shawl or wrap piece. So the skirt and the shawl
- are traditional Ghanaian wear, the blouse is missionary influence. Next we have Sharon King. And, oh
- I'm sorry. We have Charlotte, sorry. Charlotte is wearing
- a Bedouin dress. Said to be a Bedouin wedding dress. It's made of various cotton woven fabrics with
- silver beads and coins. Along with her, David Ebbinghaus wears a piece of his own creation. It's titled
- Shaman Robe and Headpiece. This is a performance art and ritual piece.
- And it consists of a cotton robe embellished with shells and human hair, and a headpiece of bent sticks,
- shells, and a turtle shell. Mr. Ebbinghaus is a well-known Bloomington artist who does not limit himself
- to traditional media. His recent exhibit, Labyrinths and Oracles, was here in the John Maldonard Center.
- I also like to note that the camel coat
- which is the coat constructed of Camel Cigarette packages that's hanging out just outside of the room
- here as a creation of Mr. Ebbinghaus's
- modeling a piece of her own creation. The surface design is a batik process, completely designed and
- executed by Rudy. She's well on her way to being a textile artist.
- Ghanaian piece. This one is similar to the other one that you saw just a few minutes ago. Slightly different
- blouse style. Again, the blouse is the missionary influence. This piece is constructed with European
- cotton, a European cotton dimash that was imported to Ghana and then tailored in the traditional Ghanaian
- style. When we say traditional Ghanaian style,
- Remember that that was going on for about 100 years before this piece, the missionary influence had
- been going on for about 100 years before this piece was created. Each of the three pieces in the Ghanaian
- ensemble, the blouse, skirt, and wrap consist of exactly three yards of fabric.
- This piece is modeled by Phyllis. It was created by Elizabeth Elmer, a senior in fine arts at IU. It's
- cotton-broad cloth, constructed through the strip-piece method. This kimono-style jacket was inspired
- by African kinte cloth. And Miss Elmer says of this piece that,
- of the finished piece realize the simplicity of its construction. Next we have Rebecca Roberts modeling
- a piece of her own creation. The dress is polyester charmeuse, rayon chiffon wire, and it's been hand-dyed
- and hand-painted.
- Ms. Roberts graduated from IU with a bachelor's degree in fashion design through the individualized
- major program. And this particular piece was part of her senior project, her designer's line. Ms. Roberts
- describes the leaf dress in its nature influence as Eve gone baby doll. Next we have two pieces.
- Created by the models, this is Emily Purcell and Paul Kane. Paul's piece is a fool's costume. It consists
- of cotton boutique, ready-to-wear garments, and applied paint.
- Mr. Kane graduated from IU's master's program in painting in 1991. He's been painting on clothes for
- several years, and each piece evolves through use and renewal as his ideas develop. He's inspired by
- the fool, a key figure in tarot imagery. And if you notice the knee pads or the knee paint on this costume,
- they were inspired by architectural elements known as grotesques.
- vest was created with mixed fiber fabric pieces sewn over recut ready-made garment, then stitched. And
- over top of that, she's applied ink drawing. Emily is currently a junior in art history at IU.
- This is among her influences in her clothing pieces, quilts, Japanese art, and rock music. Emily has
- another piece out in the flashlight gallery here this evening.
- Next we have Sharon King. Sharon is modeling a gown constructed of rayon moray file with lace and other
- trims. This gown is inspired by 19th century fashions and combines aspects of several 19th century period
- styles. Ms. King has been a teacher.
- and a painter, and in addition to creating and collecting stage and ethnic costume, she runs the King
- Gallery and Studio in Gosport, Indiana. The kimono hanging on the wall just outside the door here is
- from Miss King's collection. Miss King says of the piece that she's wearing, and I quote, I know in
- another life I wore this gown and danced the night away. It is designed to catch the candlelight's flicker
- and hopefully my true love's eyes. Chris Sharon is Susan, and Susan is wearing a Tudor-style gown created
- by Emma Linda Perez. The gown is constructed of acetate satin, with lurex and acetate fabric, faux pearls
- and beads, painting,
- and other applied techniques. Miss Perez creates costumes and ensembles from existing materials and
- employing historical references. This piece incorporates aspects of late 16th century English, Spanish,
- and Italian dress and uses modern materials and construction techniques.
- Then we have a costume piece and an ethnic piece together. Carol wears a piece from the collection of
- Emma Linda Perez. This is a Mediterranean dancer's costume, actually a combination of Mediterranean
- cultural costume elements, many of which are adapted from historical and or traditional garments. This
- particular ensemble is constructed of contemporary fabrics
- and uses contemporary techniques. Rebecca wears another piece of her own creation. She calls this the
- Harlequin Tutu. It's acetate satin nylon tulle with beading and applique.
- currently working at the Indiana Repertory Theater in Indianapolis. This piece was created for a costume
- class at the Musical Arts Center here in Bloomington. It's a dance costume that was created for the
- character in the ballet, Harlequinade. The next two pieces
- are both creations of Gloria Fisher, Gloria and her husband Robert, model King Neptune, and School of
- Fish. These pieces are mixed media. They contain lorax, acetate, tinsel, nylon fiber, plastic gems,
- glitter, feathers, wires, sequins, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Ms. Fisher studied printmaking and
- painting in India, I'm sorry, in Indiana and Italy.
- and has exhibited throughout the United States, Spain, and Brazil. Her pieces currently grace collections
- across the United States. Including children's Halloween costume, Ms. Fisher has been designing costume
- for 25 years.
- She says that the older she gets, the more bizarre her costumes become. But she delights in the fun
- and fantasy of her creations. Finally tonight, we have Emily Stewart. She's showing us Mother's Dress.
- This piece is created from cotton, crayon, and acetate, satin, and twill. The skirt is 10 feet in diameter,
- excluding the ruffle.
- She teaches postural patterning, is an independent choreographer, and, in her spare time, is
- the undergraduate academic advisor for the School of Fine Arts. Mother's Dress, Laid to Rest, was a
- solo dance created by Ms. Stewart. It's intended to
- expressed the loss of our childhood fantasy worlds of dress up, make believe, and let's pretend. In
- this costume, a young girl parades in a much too big dress belonging to her mother. Throughout the dance,
- the skirt is manipulated into 15, or into various configurations, depicting aspects of the child's fantasy.
- to invite all the models to come out and let you get a look at their pieces one more time. And I would
- like to invite the artists who are not modeling their own pieces to come up and stand next to the model
- so everybody can get an idea.
- They did a wonderful job. I'd like to thank all of the artists and the people whose hard work contributed
- I hope you'll all stay and have a drink and enjoy the ball. We have a good band here tonight and I think
- we're gonna have a lot of fun. Thank you very much for coming.