What do you get when you amass 10 female artists, all who set out to create visually stunning gowns together? The outcome is not a runway fashion show, but a showcase of brilliant, earthy elegance that breaks beyond the realm of clothing.
Earth Gowns—which currently shows at Allan Hancock College’s Ann Foxworthy Gallery through Sept. 24—is the brainchild of SLO-based artists Melinda Forbes and Julie Frankel. With more than a year spent in preparation, the two invited eight more artists to join the fold and fill out the exhibit.
The goal was clear from the get-go, explained Hancock’s Art Gallery Director Marti Fast. The artists were to create dresses that “Mother Nature” would wear, showcasing a variety of dresses and gowns inspired by the natural world.
“Melinda had the idea, ‘What would Gaia wear? If Mother Nature was walking the Earth, how would she look?’” Fast said. “The 10 artists met, they talked over the theme, and then they decided, each one, what direction to go in.”
Besides Forbes and Frankel, Earth Gowns showcases artful garments by Jennifer Blue, Peg Eckert, Meg Johnson, Susan Lara, Marylu Weaver Meagher, Chloe White, Stacy Williams, and Mary Wood. The group, mostly hailing from SLO county, come from a wide variety of mixed-media backgrounds, Fast explained.
Earth Gowns was showcased for the first time last year at the Steynberg Gallery in SLO, where artists and dancers donned the wearable art pieces and performed choreographed dances. The exhibit at Hancock includes still images of the gowns being worn, as well as a looped video of the dance performance.
Fast sees the exhibit as an important resource for the campus, valuable to student and staff beyond the Fine Arts Department, she said.
“I’m hoping the designers at the PCPA Theater will come and see,” she said. “I’m also excited for the creative writing classes to come, and the fine arts classes, of course.”
Though none of the artists showcased are from the Santa Maria Valley or study or teach at Hancock, Fast said that the work of regional or national artists has a place in the gallery each semester, to enrich both the gallery experience and the cultural community of the college.
An ongoing cultural resource keeps young artists and students engaged in creativity alongside their study, she said, and the work of artists from outside the campus can stimulate new outlooks and appreciation. Earth Gowns certainly puts forth plenty of nuance and commentary on the feminine, nature, and environmental issues on the artists’ minds, but with splashes of dye, swaths of fabric, and other accouterment.
“I think the viewing experience is always a conversation, and I think this project began with a simple conversation between artists, and then in the individual dresses by each artist,” Fast said. “This is as much a picture of each individual artist, and there is a balance of voice in these that are compelling.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne is always seeking a balanced voice. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 3, 2015.