Showing posts with label art in embassies program. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art in embassies program. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Art in Embassies Calendar: Homage to American Women Artists
Today I received a package in the mail from Cairo, Egypt. It contained three U.S. Department of State calendars titled Homage to American Women Artists and my Poison Ivy Pump is featured in this calendar. A few years back this sculpture was in the Brussels American Embassy. The State Department Art in Embassies program is an interesting program for artists. I just found my bio on their site. In the future, I hope to be involved in their abroad programing teaching workshops. You can submit your bio and work for consideration on their newly designed website. The info is a link in the bottom menu bar of their site.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Shoe Designing Fun!
For several months now I have been researching digital textile design tools online and kind of as side research found that Zazzle has a great custom shoe design section. This feature has been around since early 2008 and I was unaware of it. I had a Zazzle account for several years but had not been checking in on the latest features. Tonight I took two of my textile designs and applied them to two different women's shoes: Ked's and Converse. It took just a few hours (I could have done it much quicker but was noodling around with color schemes, stitching, etc.) Growing up in L.A. in the late 70's and early 80's when slip on Vans were very popular, I never imagined I'd be able to design my own slip on canvas shoes. Pretty incredible how technology creates such opportunities.
Zazzle has a fantastic preview section. I got sucked in playing around with the numerous options. Great intuitive interface design at this site. Here is a screen capture below. You can look at your shoe from all angles and even view a pair of shoes of your design.
Above: You can apply your custom textile to the exterior canvas surfaces of of the shoe.
Below: You can view your custom textile design on the flat pattern pieces. You can also download these pattern templates so that you can create seamless designs that wrap from one section of the shoe to another.
The Snap2Objects blog has a great listing on different custom shoe sites.
I have created many sculptural shoes of Asian food wrappers, so it is fun for me to begin to create real shoes that people can wear.
Below are a few examples of my sculptural shoes. These are made of wrappers and wire and so cannot be worn (I've been asked many times and wish I could say "Yes, slip them on!")
Below: Poison Ivy Pump. This piece was exhibited at an Arts and Embassies Exhibit in Brussels las
t year.
Plantation Tabi sculptural shoes created of Morinaga Candy boxes and my grandfather's photos, seaweed candy wrappers and WWII bombing leaflets.
1942 Shoe: this piece was in a Fuller Craft Museum ex
hibit last year.
Zazzle has a fantastic preview section. I got sucked in playing around with the numerous options. Great intuitive interface design at this site. Here is a screen capture below. You can look at your shoe from all angles and even view a pair of shoes of your design.
Above: You can apply your custom textile to the exterior canvas surfaces of of the shoe.
Below: You can view your custom textile design on the flat pattern pieces. You can also download these pattern templates so that you can create seamless designs that wrap from one section of the shoe to another.
The Snap2Objects blog has a great listing on different custom shoe sites.
I have created many sculptural shoes of Asian food wrappers, so it is fun for me to begin to create real shoes that people can wear.
Below are a few examples of my sculptural shoes. These are made of wrappers and wire and so cannot be worn (I've been asked many times and wish I could say "Yes, slip them on!")
Below: Poison Ivy Pump. This piece was exhibited at an Arts and Embassies Exhibit in Brussels las
t year.Plantation Tabi sculptural shoes created of Morinaga Candy boxes and my grandfather's photos, seaweed candy wrappers and WWII bombing leaflets.
1942 Shoe: this piece was in a Fuller Craft Museum ex
hibit last year.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Art in Embassies Program, Brussels/NATO exhibit
A few weeks ago I found out that I was selected to be in The US State Department's Art in Embassies program. One of my pieces was selected to be in a show about "Plurality" in the Brussel's U.S. NATO embassy. It is a two year show and it will be my first work that will be included in a show catalog.
The piece selected for the exhibition is a sculptural shoe. I originally designed it as an entry in the Fuller Craft Museum show "a Perfect Fit". I intended to create a whole series of superwomen inspired shoes. As of yet, I have only completed this "Poison Ivy Pump". This piece is made of wire, Chinese crack seed wrappers, Japanese candy boxes, Russian chocolate wrappers, Japanese plastic sushi garnishes and pearls. It is coated in a two part epoxy glaze.
Photo: Gerorge R. Young
Shoes are symbols of mobility and immobility depending on their functionality and design, and can be symbols of status and gender. Constructed of Asian food wrappers, my sculptural shoes reflect on the intersection of cultures through food and clothing. They also play with the class association of shoes, for while they appear to be the heels of high society, they are a collage of humble materials that would find reuse and utility in the plantation culture of Hawaii's past.
The piece selected for the exhibition is a sculptural shoe. I originally designed it as an entry in the Fuller Craft Museum show "a Perfect Fit". I intended to create a whole series of superwomen inspired shoes. As of yet, I have only completed this "Poison Ivy Pump". This piece is made of wire, Chinese crack seed wrappers, Japanese candy boxes, Russian chocolate wrappers, Japanese plastic sushi garnishes and pearls. It is coated in a two part epoxy glaze.
Photo: Gerorge R. Young
Shoes are symbols of mobility and immobility depending on their functionality and design, and can be symbols of status and gender. Constructed of Asian food wrappers, my sculptural shoes reflect on the intersection of cultures through food and clothing. They also play with the class association of shoes, for while they appear to be the heels of high society, they are a collage of humble materials that would find reuse and utility in the plantation culture of Hawaii's past.
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