Michael Cepress explores "wearable art" with CQA

Michael Cepress's monogram/logo paisley tie

"When does a garment become a work of art?"

Seattle designer Michael Cepress explored that question with CQA members on June 8, in an illustrated talk that ranged from the funky fashions of the '60s and '70s to the trends that will be coming down fashion-show runways in the upcoming seasons.

Michael Cepress at June 8 CQA meeting

Holder of a BFA from the University of Wisconsin and an MFA in textiles and fiber arts from the University of Washington, Cepress has been a major figure in the certificate program in fiber arts at the UW, where he also teaches in the undergraduate art program. Cepress has particular interest in "counter-culture" and says a class he teaches could be labeled "Hippy Fashion 101." He cites as one inspiration the book Native Funk & Flash by Alexandra Jacopetti Hart, first issued in the '70s and now being reissued. In his work with young people, Cepress says he's found a growing appreciation for and interest in reviving and maintaining the creation of exquisite products with classic materials, for longevity. Many of our larger metropolitan areas are now offering fully equipped "make it" workshops for those interested in creating things by hand.

Hand-dyed tutus by Cepress

Early in his career, Cepress was involved with theater costume design in New York, working with famed designer Robert Wilson. He's created designs for dance productions and enjoys activating the designs where possible. One example was a dyed silk skirt totalling 40 yards of fabric that, when pulled out by other dancers, completely covered the stage. Another was a constructed "poofy hoop skirt" stuffed with plastic grocery-store bags that dancers "de-poofed" by slowly removing one bag after another.

He's been a tailor with the Seattle Opera, and notes that "Theatrical costume shops are one of the few places where quality handwork still exists. The costumers use old-fashioned techniques, slow-moving handwork, enjoying the process."

(Parenthetically: Asked if there is a line between "costume" and "ready to wear," Cepress answered "Do you care? Your intention is the main thing: Is this your regular look? Are you being authentically yourself?")

It was at an event for the trade that he found himself talking with a Greek collector of "paper dresses," one-of-a-kind patterns for garments that later appeared on famous people. The collector sent one of these priceless patterns to Cepress, saying "Make something new out of it."

Cepress created this "paper collar" from a unique paper pattern

The resulting "paper collar" set Cepress on a period of dramatic collars and collared garments, each exhibiting his interest in the sculptural and artistic parts of fashion.

Multiple collars mark some of Cepress's men's fashions

He enjoys the opportunity, when it arises, to connect his personal story with a garment that can be worn by someone else--and where possible, will write out that story and provide it to the customer. An example is a white vest with pale blue printing on the front, constructed entirely from antique cotton rice sacks that were found in the attic of his grandmother's home. "History is a huge component in  how I see textiles," said Cepress.

Cepress's inspiration wall in his studio

And tradition plays a large part in Cepress's design and garment creation business. He employs a master tailor, a master dressmaker, three interns/assistants and five sewers on contract. One of his prized possessions is a 1939 Singer buttonhole machine that he rescued from an uncertain future; it creates excellent corded buttonholes for a traditional finish.

A 1939 Singer buttonhole machine

Traditional buttonholes made on the Singer machine

Until recently, Cepress worked exclusively with men's fashions, using primarily high-quality woolens that he purchases from jobbers--in the smaller amounts available to them--rather than from manufacturers, so he can be assured the fabrics are exclusively his. He completely ignores the "color forecasting" that tends to set color schemes each season for the large-scale clothing concerns..."I'm not interested in a big corporate system," he says, "I don't want to look like everyone else."

Cepress treated his CQA audience to a look at some of the big-name designers' upcoming fashion lines, adding that these collections have the benefit of ensuring work for the craftsmen and -women who are trained to do the fine handwork these garments require.

Dolce & Gabbana's fashions will be encrusted with gold threads (top photo) or interlaced with exquisite florals (above). Another designer is using ombre hand-dyed materials, and yet another is producing shibori-dyed silks.

 The "1974 funk" jewelry designer (left image) was hired to create a similar jewelry piece for the  designer of the new  shibori-dyed silk costume in image on the right.

Prada's new designs

Prada is using hand-screen-printed cloth and lavish brocade patterns that are digitally printed. Basso & Brooke are creating with "painterly" fabrics, and another designer will be featuring "acid-bath embroidery," where the foundation fabric is dissolved, leaving machine-embroidery "lace."

Basso & Brooke's "painterly" fabrics

In an offhand remark, Cepress said "I don't understand Seattle's hesitance around looking nice...we have to show people that it can be done easily..." And later this month, Cepress will have the opportunity to do just that. On June 21, at the Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill, he will be introducing his own collection of both men's and women's fashions to retailers and customers in a truly festive presentation.  This launch was funded by a Kickstarter campaign that started in February and raised $52,000 in three weeks!

While he wanted to hold images of his upcoming collection until the formal launch date, he did "tease" the  CQA members with photos of some of the exquisite materials and finishing techniques that he is using, as pictured below:

 

For more information on Michael Cepress designs, see http://www.michaelcepress.com/home/.

Bucknam receives two honors

CQA member Bonnie Bucknam's work has been honored twice in recent weeks:

A detail image of Bucknam's quilt "Cavern" is featured on the cover of the Spring 2013 issue of SAQA Journal, with a view of the full quilt shown in the "SAQA member gallery Earth" on page 17 of the Journal. (The full  name of the group is Studio Art Quilt Associates.)

A detail of Bucknam's "Cavern" appears on the Journal cover

Full view of "Cavern" is included inside the Journal

Bucknam's "Tangle" has been purchased by the Tuch + Technik Textilmuseum in Neumuenster, Germany as part of the museum's permanent collection. The museum was the last stop on the Color Improvisations exhibit itinerary. That exhibit has now been dismantled and the unsold quilts returned to the artists. Happily, "Tangle" has found a new, permanent home abroad!
 

Full view of  Bucknam's "Tangle"

Detail view of Bucknam's "Tangle"

(All photos by Mark Frey)

Barbara Lee Smith Shares Her "Journey"

Barbara Lee Smith at CQA meeting

Barbara Lee Smith’s love affair with land, sea and sky is reflected masterfully in her sweeping, impressionistic landscapes that first envelop, then easily draw the viewer into the scene for greater contemplation. The Gig Harbor, WA artist shared both her passion for place and her creative techniques with CQA members at the group’s May 11 meeting.

CQA members view image of "Wind" (48" x 25")

In her talk, titled “Sources: A Journey of Life and Art,” Smith described how she plans for the maximum creative accomplishment to be achieved even before embarking on one of her journeys, whether it’s to be a first trip to Umbria, or two weeks at an artists’ colony near Chicago…or even a walk from her house to her adjacent studio. “It’s the internal expectations that build up in you as you plan that matter,” she says.

Arriving at a destination, Smith takes lots of photographs to help her remember the essence of the place once she’s back home in her studio. She urges all travelers, “At the very least look carefully around you—at what’s in front of you, to the left, the right, above and behind you. Allow yourself to get uncomfortably close to the scene…let yourself get purposefully lost in your surroundings.” She advises to “be quiet…observe, listen to sounds, especially the musicality of foreign languages—you don’t need to know what’s being said.” And of course she writes down her thoughts and ideas continually, to capture what it is about a place that speaks to her.

"Old Growth" (18" x 35") as displayed at the meeting

Not all of her work depicts the foreign or the exotic, however. One series is based on her daily observations of the construction of the Second Narrows Bridge in Tacoma, while others celebrate her lifelong affinity for water—rivers, surf, lakes and ponds. She grew up near the Atlantic Ocean in Cape May, NJ, and now relishes being near the “very different” Pacific.

"The River" triptych (92" x 50")

A small seascape, as displayed at the meeting

Back in her studio, Smith will draw on her photos, observations and notes and begin a piece by using the “mind-mapping” technique, then may move on to a rough diagram full of notes. Once she begins creating the piece itself, she works entirely with Lutradur® as her “canvas,” a material she purchases “by the carloads.” She will apply acrylic paints and silk pigments to what can turn out to be many layers of this non-woven, polyester material that is something of a cross between cloth and paper. Often she will print a portion of an appropriate map on a piece of Lutradur® and add it to the work in a collage technique. She uses Wonder-Under® to adhere the layers to each other.

A portion of Smith's "mind map" for a new piece

A portion of Smith's annotated sketch in developing a new piece

Many of Smith’s pieces are quite large—you could say they measure in feet more than in inches—and some can take up an entire wall, inviting the viewer to feel a part of a near-life-size experience. A multi-part piece exhibited at Bellevue Arts Museum’s “High Fiber Diet” in February of this year measured 7 feet high by 15 feet wide. “That one took me two and a half months, full time, to complete,” says Smith.

"Oyster Light," a 5-part piece measuring 15' wide by 7' high, as seen in Smith's studio. The piece was later displayed at the Bellevue Arts Museum's "High Fiber Diet" exhibition

Often the size is determined by what she can reasonably get through her sewing machine: “All those layers make the piece pretty stiff.” A number of her larger works comprise 2, 3 or more separate elements, sometimes of different sizes, hung together as a single piece. An example of this is a multi-part work titled “Salt, Sand, Stone” that resulted from her visit to the Great Salt Lake to view the spiral jetty. This work includes a number of 12-inch squares and even smaller units, combined with a cluster of long, vertical strips.

A small unit from Smith's "Salt, Sand, Stone" piece

Working on a table measuring 4 x 12 feet, she sprays paint, daubs with foam brushes and scrapes with a credit card on large pieces of the Lutradur®--“I love the chaotic aspect!”—then stands back to study the piece. At that point she will cut out portions that she will use, discard others that “aren’t working,” etc., and begin to create her layers. A number of her pieces include a “lacy” rendering for wave-top foam. She achieves this by lightly melting the edges of the Lutradur® with a large heat gun. Once satisfied with the piece as a whole, Smith will use a soldering iron to melt the edges, thus sealing all the layers. And then comes the stitching…

View of Smith's studio

View of Smith's studio

Smith “quilts” her pieces entirely from the back side, with standard sewing thread in the needle (size 100, 110 or even larger) and rayon thread in the bobbin, using a “retrofitted Bernina” sewing machine that lacks feed dogs so she can maneuver the piece easily in all directions. She creates a “drawing” as she stitches in random, curving lines that, rather appropriately, share much of the appearance of the contour lines used on topographic maps.

Mounting her pieces for wall display is in itself a unique process. She adheres small Velcro® patches near corners on the backs of the pieces to line up with matching patches on custom-made frames, similar to stretcher bars, which are made to be slightly smaller than the finished artwork. Thus the piece “floats” slightly off the wall, adding to the somewhat ethereal appearance of the work.

Smith’s work has been exhibited in numerous venues both in the US and internationally, and many of her pieces are in private collections. Locally, Smith will be participating in an exhibit with 25 women artists on Bainbridge Island in November, with more information on this event to be available later on her website: www.barbaraleesmith.com.

Rio Patchwork Design Show 2013...in photos

(All photos by Helen Remick)

Seventeen CQA quilters participated in the Rio Patchwork Design 2013 exhibition, April 25 to 27, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each quilter was represented by three quilts, offering viewers an opportunity to study each artist's style and how her work fits into a series.Two CQA members--Helen Remick and Marianne Burr--attended this year's show as guests of the show's producers, having been selected as "viewer favorites" by attendees at the 2012 edition of the exhibit. Both Helen and Marianne presented illustrated talks about their creative journeys and some of their working methods to enthusiastic (and paying!) audiences as part of the three-day exhibition.

Visitors to the Rio show enter the CQA area

Left to right, Burr's three quilts

One of Brewer's small pieces. Notice wall color.

Left to right, Remick's three pieces

Three pieces by Marylee Drake

Two of  Ruth Vincent's pieces

Above, several of Brewer's small pieces were hung in frames, back-to-back

Here, Marianne talks about her impressions of the 2013 event:

"Helen Remick and I have just returned from Rio de Janeiro where we were fortunate enough to see one of the world's best exhibitions of art quilts. The founder of Patchwork Design, Zeca Madeiros, is so passionate about this work that he refers to it as 'Art' without the qualifier.

"I have been to Visions, Quilt National, and Quilt Japan, and this exhibition in Rio is as professionally presented as any of them. It includes our CQA work as well as work of an African artist and some very fine pieces from the best Brazilian art quilters.What a thrill to see our work displayed as it would be in a fine museum!

"The crowds were very interested and many people spent considerable time studying the artistry we shared with them. Art quilting is new in Brazil and many quilters are interested in learning all they can about the medium."

Helen Remick provided some photos of the exhibit, seen here, and comments, "Notice the wonderful use of color on some walls, and how it enhances the quilts." She adds that "Bonny Brewer entered a series of small quilts, some of which Zeca chose to hang in sets of two, back-to-back down a long gallery. It was difficult to photograph, but very effective."

Part of the exhibition was a vendor area that, in previous years, offered mostly materials for the traditional quilts that have been "standard" in Brazil, but Helen reports that this year there was one vendor offering hand-dyed fabric of the sort that's popular with art quilters in North America.

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The CQA quilts exhibited in the Rio show also were shown several weeks earlier in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a second show mounted by the same producers. CQA artist Sonia Grasvik attended the Sao Paulo event, again as a guest of the show producers, as she was selected as a "viewer favorite" from the 2012 exhibit. To view all the CQA quilts in the exhibitions, go to the Exhibitions Gallery section of the CQA website, http://www.contemporaryquiltart.com.

pHive Having pHun!

By Roberta Andresen

Photos by Deb Rychert

If you ever want to have a good time, be sure to get involved in a project with CQA member Deb Rychert.  Deb heard about the possibility for an outdoor sculpture at CQA's upcoming "Salsa!" exhibit at Mighty Tieton, near Yakima WA, and asked if some of us were interested.  The resounding answer was, “Yes.”  Deb, Barbara O’Steen, Sonia Grasvik, Carla Stehr and I met at Deb’s house.  We wanted to make a sculpture that could wrap around one or more of the trees outside the gallery.

Our initial supplies included recycled produce bags, yards of  nylon, a heavy mesh, and an exhibit catalog on textile sculptures. We started by looking at the catalog and picking out some favorites.  As we looked at the materials we thought we could use the heavy mesh as our support, and sew long narrow pointed tubes from the nylon that could be tied to the mesh.  The other materials were talking to us--we just didn’t know quite what they were saying.  A delightful lunch and lots of good conversation sent us on our way to do more thinking and gathering of supplies.    

A few days later we reconvened. The nylon tubes were tied on as were some of the produce bags that had been rolled into doughnut shapes.  It was starting to take shape.  Time for another break and then we got together again.  Now we had added surveying "whiskers," colored plastic cups that had been cut and heated to flare into flower-like forms, and bright pipe cleaners. Twist ties anchored our forms to the mesh and it became fuller and fuller.

Sonia mentioned that she crocheted around rocks and was immediately put into action.  Some rocks from a neighbor and fluorescent nylon cord were all she needed.  The finishing touch was being created.

As we worked we frequently took our creation outside, wrapped it around a tree in Deb’s yard, and critiqued our growing masterpiece.  Some tulips got trampled in the process, but what fun we were having!

Now for a name...With all our interest in recycling, the sea-form look, and Carla’s interest in the ocean, we thought about how the pH of waters are changing and the fun we'd had creating together.  And so we came to the idea of using words that started with “F” but substituting “pH”  for the “F” in words.  Our final selection was pH-antabulous, pH-ibrous pH-lotsam.  We just had pHun and did not take ourselves too seriously.  We hope that viewers, whether in Yakima or on Deb’s street, have as much pHun  looking at it as we did creating.  

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CQA's "Salsa!" exhibit, comprising more than 30 art quilts, six pieces of decorated "art cloth" and five 3D pieces, will run from May 25 through July 14 at the Gallery at Mighty Tieton, with an opening artists' reception from 12-5 on May 25. Part of the exhibit, "Salsa in the Sun," will present various artworks placed outdoors around the town. Tieton is a small agricultural-based town near Yakima, WA, the heart of which--"Mighty Tieton"--has been converted into an incubator for artisan businesses. The gallery space is a huge, refurbished former fruit warehouse. (For more information on the venue, driving directions, etc., go to http://www.mightytieton.com)

 

 

Joy Rome shows the joys of color!

Many of us hope to achieve a balance in our lives between time spent dealing with the necessities and time for expressing our creativity. Seattle-area painter Joy Rome, speaker at the CQA April 2013 meeting, has successfully managed to do just that. For three days a week she maintains her busy psychotherapy practice. Then on the other four days, she paints—and the colors flow from her brushes with an evident elation that matches her name.

Painter Joy  Rome at CQA's April 13 meeting

Originally from New York, Rome worked in advertising on the East Coast before moving to the West Coast and movie-business assignments in California. She had some experience working with fiber early on, as her first commissioned piece was a “clamshell” design art quilt for a therapist’s office in Los Angeles. But it was a weaving course at San Diego State that set her on her path as a colorist. The weaving instructor took Rome on as an apprentice tasked with dressing looms and mixing dyes, which provided her a bone-deep knowledge of pigments and colors.

Rome soon struck out on her own and created weavings—“fiber constructs”—for residences and large hotels, etc. She would show potential designs to clients in the form of “maquettes,” or small versions of the works where she blended colored pencils to represent the subtlety of color achievable through the use of multiple threads per bobbin that is the hallmark of her Aubusson-tapestry style weavings. Some of her pieces contained bits of her own Japanese-style handmade paper.

"Maquettes"--small pieces done in colored pencils-- Rome produced for tapestry clients' approval before creating large "fiber constructs."

Life changes resulted in Rome selling her looms and leaving California for Seattle, and a hiatus in her creative pursuits as she returned to school for training in psychotherapy. But soon the love of color and fabrics once again took hold and she started making quilts, this time dyeing and painting her own materials to achieve desired colors. Rome says that mixing dyes for the weaving yarns was all formula-based, but she found painting was so liberating in its color creation: “Color is my vehicle into what I want to talk about,” she says.

Many of her art quilts are collages, combining fabrics, her handmade papers, often some found objects and painted surfaces, and are framed. Some are all fabric, but entirely painted. Frequently she incorporates a female figure in these pieces, sometimes via the basic elements of the piece, sometimes in the quilting stitches.

CQA member Marcia Mellinger holding one of Rome's framed collages

Closeup of a Rome piece with female nude as part of quilting lines

A Rome art quilt done in paint on fabric

Small, unfinished quilted piece by Rome, with seated nude (in stitching) at right

Rome returns to her tapestry weaving roots in this collaged piece

Rome’s more recent works are abstract paintings in fairly large sizes (36”x48” is typical) and brilliant in color. “The fun of abstract art is that it invites the viewer to participate in the painting,” says Rome. “It asks you to not just be a passive viewer…turn it in different directions and the impression changes for each viewer.” She adds that “Abstract artists frequently have trouble finding places to exhibit because the pieces are usually large and do ask you to stop and spend time with them.”

“Painter’s block” is something that hits even such an experienced artist, and when it does, Rome will take out a big piece of paper or canvas and “just make a mess!” Sometimes she’ll take a stack of small pieces of canvas or paper and quickly create some color patches or visualizations of thoughts, just to get her hands moving and stop intellectualizing. She keeps an “inspirations folder” like most creative folk, and advises others to “review your memory banks of places you’ve been when you’re looking for a stimulus…you don’t even need a photo.”

Rome considers this large canvas "a total mess," made just to get the creative juices flowing

Rome cites some of her own inspirations and influences as the works of Mark Rothko and Georgia O’Keefe, as well as Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland of the “color-field painters” who worked with untreated canvas in order to have the colors bleed into the fibers.

For more of Rome's work, see her website, http://www.joyromeart.com.