Finally got out tonight and saw the fabulous Alisa Dworsky exhibit called Drawing Strength at the Burlington City Arts Center Gallery . Oh it was just wonderful to see such great art in such a great town. I was able to stay for a short time to listen to her quick artist talk about the show and I have been thinking about something she said. She said that her art is influenced by her choice of environment, specifically where she has chosen to live, ie. Vermont. And she mentioned that by choosing to live in Vermont, we are choosing to live in a rural and pastoral environment. As artists living in Vermont we are making art that responds to this rural and pastoral place, whether we acknowledge it or not. I was floored by this. Of course we are!
I am making art that is about the way we dress, how we choose to present ourselves, specifically myself with in a greater context. It is very difficult to wear a dress everyday when it is 20 degrees outside. It is hard to wear those boots with little tread, because they look good but aren't quite practical enough to grip the sidewalk. It feels good to wear a thin leather Chanel Jacket over my sweater dress instead of bulking up with the Eddie Bauer goose down hooded jacket. I think I am making a really odd break through here, and no I am not loosing my sense of reality. I realize that there is the practical side of fashion and then there is the aesthetic side. Right now this dress is choosing the aesthetic.
Which brings me to her name. I have been thinking long and hard about this dress and what she is starting to feel like. This collar that I added seem silly and superfluous but some how reminiscent of a Jacobean Ruff, or something Tudor- ish. Seeing that I am starting to think about transforming this dress completely white with various white wools and linens and embroideries, I think I shall call her Elizabeth for Queen Elizabeth I of England. I think I may have opened a can of worms with this name, but we'll see what happens next....
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