For those of you who don't know, I teach art classes at my local community college. It's my day job, but it is also my passion. I feel like I learn as much from my students as they learn form me. I have been lucky enough to have this position for a few years now, and even though I am not full-time, I am able to (just) pay the bills with this job.
This year I was invited to have my own solo show in our Galleria. We don't have a "proper" art gallery, but we do have an open atrium on the main floor of the humanities building with glassed-in cases called the Galleria. This is where we house our art displays - unfortunately, the glassed cases on the wall only allow 12" of depth, so they stink for 3-d pieces. I spent a lot of time in the year before my show measuring the cases and going through my inventory of costumes to decide what to display. You see, I am also lucky enough to be the costume director at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. On top of that, I have played a character out at our festival for almost 9 years. Before that I was what we call a "playtron" - that is, I came as a customer to the festival dressed up in Elizabethan costuming. All of this combined means I have a large backlog of costumes in my basement. For my show I decided to do a mix of costumes made for myself and made for others. After many months of sketching ideas and nail-biting, I finally decided to display some of the work in the large stand-up cases the school has (we dug out 2 of the 4 available. The other 2 are buried in the storage room under a layer of detrius). The rest of the the pieces I hung from industrial hooks on the wall (thank you Ben Clore for all of your help!
See his brilliant work here.) I have to admit, I was surprised I had so much work to display - it is amazing how it adds up over time!
My character is Mary Jayne Fitzhugh - the village seamstress. I PROMISE I was thinking of the shoes when I came up with her first name...and Fitzhugh sounds like "fits you"...yeah, we love puns.
The "opening" of my show culminated in a performance - a few of my fellow performers were kind enough to add their talents to the list - we had belly dancing, court dancing, bag pipes, jokes, and basic nonsense. It was a TON of fun!
My show came down this week, but if you missed it here are some pictures (as always, click on them to enlarge):
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| An overview of the galleria - photo by Lindsey Franzel of the Delta College Marketing Department |
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| From a different angle |
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| Ball Gown for the 2013 season. |
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| The actress who played my assistant for three seasons decided she wanted to join a singing group, and needed a court gown to be a part. This was the commission I did for her. |
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| The hat I made for her - Photo by Lindsey Franzel |
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| Left: Seamstress 2012 dress (with handwoven fabric) Right: My first apprentice, Alice (skirt made by Alex Spittle who played Alice) |
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| Closeup of Mary Jayne's famous hat |
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| As I was photographing my hat, I realized why I get so many pictures taken of me during the run of the show - this thing really is like a walking still-life when it is on my head! It's very sculptural, and there is something different to see from every angle. |
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| A selection of works on the wall behind the main cases - photo by Lindsey Franzel |
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| A pink Florentine-style dress I made a long time ago. I haven't been able to find the sleeves for it in ages. |
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| This is a silk duipioni gown I made ages ago, and then remade it 3 or 4 years ago for the royal ball the festival puts on. I don't wear this one anymore, though - as I made a new ballgown last year (see above pics) |
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| 2010 |
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| The top 2 doublets are women's, the bottom is a man's. The cut is virtually the same - the biggest difference is the woman's is shorter to accommodate a shorter torso. The top doublet is from my first year playing the seamstress in the 2006 season |
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| 2011 |
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| 2009 |
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| Florentine gown loosely based on styles worn by Eleanora of Toledo. Worn by me as a parton, so this must date to 2004-5. |
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| Meanwhile, on the other side of the room.... |
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| Originally we had 5 princesses, but we sadly lost one to illness before the run of the show began. The girls are all named after various gemstones - here you see Amethyst and the back of Opal. Not in the show - Garnet and Emerald (I just ran out of room!). The dresses are shot silk dupioni, and they just shimmer in the light. I didn't take a picture of Opal's dress as they are all the same style. In this pic you can see the shoulder swag. |
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| Closeup of the princess jewelry - they also all have matching necklaces and bodice jewelry - both worn by the mannequin in the previous picture |
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| The guard uniforms overlooking the safety of the princesses |
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| And finally I leave you with this....are YOU brave enough to put your underwear on the wall???? |
