I hand dyed all of the fabric and then cut it to scale... this is all for the tent I that I made for the Church of Circus Exhibit that is currently on display here in Burlington
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Art Updates
Dear Friends and Family,
I am excited to announce several new and exciting events and exhibitions featuring my Art.
It begins with the opening of The Church of Circus, a collective circus themed group show opening this Friday, August 5, 2011 at the old OutDoorGearExchange 152 Cherry St. Burlington, Vermont at 5pm.
The Church of Circus is a 'pop-up' group art exhibit installed temporarily in a huge retail space in down town Burlington. In a dizzying installation of sculpture, painting, photography and performance, these 10 Vermont Based Artists put their own spin on the Brechtian tradition of collaboration and audience participation as a vehicle to aesthetic experience. The Church of Circus preaches 'Art For All', creating an interactive lively and provocative atmosphere for all who enter.
For more information please visit our blog site at http://churchofcircus.tumblr.com
This show is going to be spectacular and I will have an installation inspired by vintage circus and burlesque titled "Thimbelina: Blow Off". If you are around Burlington for the month of August, this is an exhibit not to be missed.
Also not to be missed is a review by Amy Rahn for Art New England Magazine about my solo show The Tulle Did Her In at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, Vermont for their September-October, 2011 issue. The show is opening on September 23, 2011 and will feature my dresses from The Dress That Makes The Woman Project. We are also transforming a portion of the gallery in to my studio where I will be coming to work during the exhibit. For more information please visit http://helenday.com
In addition to the Art New England Review, I shall be featured in IMAGE Magazine for places to go and things to see related to Fashion and Art in Stowe, Vermont.
I am also apart of a group juried show at Studio Place Arts in Barre, VT called Uncommon Threads opening this August. For more information please visit: http://www.studioplacearts.com/
The South End Arts District in Burlington, VT is also hosting the South End Art Hop on September 9-10th, 2011. Although my studio will not be open for viewing this year, I will be a part of STRUT the fashion show taking place on Saturday the 10th exhibiting 6 of my most recent designs.
This summer and fall have proven to be busy and fruitful and humbling. I would like to thank all of my friends and family for their continuous support and encouragement. I would also like to thank all the folks who have been following my Dress That Makes the Woman Blog (http://dressthatmakesthewoman.blogspot.com) as well as those who have supported my online art auctions benefitting two major disaster relief funds. Thank you.
I would also like to thank the Vermont Arts Council for recently granting me a Creation Grant for the following year supporting me in the preparation of a show at the Duxbury Art Museum and Complex in Duxbury, Massachusetts called Self/Fabricated. This show will open in September 2012 and will be up for several months.
In addition to the Duxbury show, I am also scheduled for the following 2012 exhibits:
TBA, G Gallery, Houston, Texas, November 2012
The 3rd Floor, Flynn Dog Gallery, Burlington, VT, summer 2012
And Finally, The Dress That Makes The Woman project is winding down. It is hard to believe that I am 3/4ths of the way done with the project. I am currently working on putting together a show called The Final Stitch, featuring a special reception on November 6th to celebrate the finale of The Dress That Makes The Woman. Please check my website for updates about where and when this will happen. www.wyliegarcia.com
With all of these marvelous events and happenings and publications I feel so grateful.
Happy August and I hope to see you at one of these events in the near future,
Wylie
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Wylie Sofia Garcia
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
A Snowflake for Bentley
It's under my right ribcage, under my heart, a place that is tender to always remember.
July 20, 2011
A friend, also known as my so called art and antiques consultant gave me a challenge this month: make a high collar and a hat. This is what I came up with.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
July 10, 2011
A brief statment for an art show coming up in a year... this is referencing some of my larger works and pieces on chairs etc...
My art started with my fascination of fine textiles and embellished surfaces and began to take on a sculptural and visceral tone when I started to incorporate a traditional quilting technique called trapunto. I began to explore the irregularity between my notions of a traditional composed female veneer and the emotional subsurface of femininity. Around this time I became pregnant with my son and there was something in the combination of a changing physical appearance, psychological unknowns/fears/excitements, and fearing the loss of a sexual identity to motherhood that made me start to make work that appears beautiful-gutsy-bodily-lusty-anxious-comforting-feminine-disjointed. I feel like I try to get to some sort of truth about myself and about being a woman and then when I arrive there, I start to obsess and over obsess which results in the over articulated and manipulated surfaces of my work. My work represents various components of myself while also psychologically mapping my notions of femininity. Some one recently told me that my work reminded them of fascia, the soft tissue that is part of our connective tissue under our skin. I loved this analogy because fascia provides support and protection for most structures with our body: my work is like protective manifestation of what supports me as a mother, wife, woman, artist, human being.
Friday, July 8, 2011
July 8, 2011
Day one in new said dress: cut off poofy sleeves and embroidery around a flour with the initials of my true love.
Questions to be answered:
Do I preplan each dress before I start?
No, but sometimes there is an idea I have been wanting to work with so I will try to experiement a little with a preconceived idea. Usually I deviate from the plan.
No, but sometimes there is an idea I have been wanting to work with so I will try to experiement a little with a preconceived idea. Usually I deviate from the plan.
How do I pick the dresses I start with?
I have a whole rack of dresses hanging in my studio. They all have some meaning for me. Some times I start with one of them, other times I just go with the flow and a couple of days before the month switches I pull a couple of things and make a last minute decision. Some times I construct a garment entirely from nothing... like Cupcake.
Will I wear these dresses again?
Aside from perhaps reshooting some final portraits ( Evangeline and The Struggle and perhaps Medkansla) I don't really see myself wearing any of these dresses again. They document a very specific time and space in my life. They are the history of one month for the year between Nov. 2010 and Nov. 2011. I want them to say what they say and be a record of where I was, who I was, and kind of act like an intersection or pinpoint on a map of my own life.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
July 7, 2011
A new day. I love the start of a new day with a new dress. It feels easy. It feels hopeful. It feels full of potential and possibility.
Last month was like a breather. A small break. A time away from lots of blogging and mostly just full of pictures. I keep getting all kinds of valuable input about how this project might be better, stronger. That's all good and well, but I think I live a very full life. Full of projects and full of time management and full of being busy. Not alot of time for loafing, not alot of time for writing. I realize that my art, the product is more valuable than the process... I want people to see how I get there to the end, any way I can, any way I know how and enjoy the ending but marvel at the process. It is so hard to document my process perhaps because the intensity of the process is so personal.
Sometimes I will be walking down the street thinking that what I am thinking I should blog about. Then I get home and forget. I try to write things down, but then things feel contrived because I inevitable edit my own thoughts when I type them out again.
Medkänsla is a perfect example of how I had alot to say but was unable to find the time to write down some of those thoughts. For example, while working on that dress, I was really trying to honor my Mormor's request that I don't turn it into art. Years ago when she gave me that dress she said "don't cut it up". Maybe she was joking, I don't know, but I thought about that while working on it. I chose to embroider on it instead. This dress was also a bit of a contradiction. It was my Swedish grandmother's Mexican embroidered dress. It kind of embodied both sides of my family. I wanted to think of this dress as a neutral ground for me to explore some symbolism representing both my Mexican and Swedish halves. It wasn't easy, instead it made me think more about my own little immediate family and our journey to find a courage and compassion when confronting our own familial challenges. Valor is another way to say Courage in spanish. Medkänsla means compassion in Swedish. Perhaps this dress should have been called the Swexican.
I was so exhausted yesterday when it was time to take my final portrait. I wanted to capture the exhaustion.. instead I feel like it turned out a little like one of Cindy Sherman's film stills. Which leads me to ask myself, what am I hoping to accomplish with this project. It is soon to be over.. I am 3/4 of the way done... 75%! I must admit it has become easier... I accept the challenge more, but I am also realizing that not every month has to be spectacular. Some months there is a need for the understated. Where will this month take me? This dress is so funny, huge shoulders, weird zipper in the back...
I just took a tour of the High Fashion exhibit at the Shelburne Museum and I am feeling a little inspired. I am starting to perhaps think there is a need for a reprise of Tulle, after all my next show Opening Sept. 23rd, 2011 at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, VT will be called The Tulle Did Her In. There will even be a little blurb about it in ART NEW ENGLAND for the Sept./Oct. issue.
Despite all the pauses, and perhaps even self doubts at time, I feel that my slow but steady production and anticipation of future success has served me well. One moment at a time. One stitch at a time. Ten minutes every day.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
July 6, 2011
Details. Details. Details.
After thinking I had taken the final portraits of this dress, I sat down and sewed for 2 more hours. I guess I feel like I didn't have alot of time with this one..
July 6, 2011
Translating important things from the blackboard in our kitchen to my dress. Things I never want to forget.
Today's Horoscope... July 6, 2011
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): One of the greatest kings of the ancient Persian Sassanid Empire was Shapur II (309-379). Shortly after his father died, he was made king while still in his mother's womb. Since he could not yet wear his crown, officials set it upon his mother's pregnant belly. He ruled from then until the day he died, 70 years later. I'm naming him your patron saint for the second half of 2011, Taurus. My sense is that the seed of some great accomplishment is already germinating within you. It may take a while to be fully born, but I suggest we consecrate its bright future now.
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Wylie Sofia Garcia
July 6, 2011 : 1am or maybe later
Sewing.. Sewing... Sewing... wishing I could do this piece justice..
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Wylie Sofia Garcia
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