My first gallery show!

Dear Ms. Priebe
As part of its 2009-10 exhibition season, the Pratt Institute Department of Exhibitions will present “Ethics + Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion,” an exhibition of fashion and contemporary art that will take place November 20, 2009 - February 20, 2010. Guest curated by Francesca Granata and Sarah Scatturo, the exhibition will take place in the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 West 14 Street, New York City. We will celebrate with an opening reception on Thursday, November 19, 6 – 8.



“Ethics + Aesthetics” is the first American exhibition to survey the work of artists and designers (many of whom are New York-based) who explore practical and symbolic solutions to the question of integrating sustainable practices into the fashion system.  The exhibition builds on the already established sustainable practices of using recycled, renewable and organic fibers and the employment of fair labor, while deepening the public’s understanding of what constitutes sustainability within the fashion system. The exhibition is organized around three main themes:  Reduce, Revalue and Rethink, which are meant to expand on the traditional ecological mantra «Reduce, Reuse, Recycle» by acknowledging the importance of aesthetics within fashion design.

“Ethics + Aesthetics” will include work by Alabama Chanin, Bodkin, Susan Cianciolo, Kelly Cobb, Loomstate, Max Osterweis/SUNO, Zoë Sheehan Saldaña, SANS, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Uluru, and Andrea Zittel and Tiprin Follett/Smockshop

A New Hive

Derrick Cruz of Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons curated a most beautiful, intimate pop-up exhibition at Earnest Sewn on Washington St. titled A NEW HIVE. (you will regret not hitting that link and seeing/learning more)

ULURU desinged bags hand stitched by the "worker bees" of Alabama Chanin in addition to hand spun/hand knit alpaca honey comb vests.

A NEW HIVE: by Derrick R. Cruz Opens July 9th in NYC

New York, NY, 20 June 2008 – As part of its ongoing installation series, Earnest Sewn Co. hosts "A NEW HIVE", an installation at their flagship store in the Meatpacking District of New York City in July of 2008. The work takes the current mysterious and alarming en masse disappearance of honeybee colonies as an opportunity to stage a hyperreal environment in which nature and myth return to influence science and industry, causing balance. “The rich folklore and natural history of honeybees inspires an ethereal childlike curiosity in individuals,” said Derrick R. Cruz. “Curiosity leads to contemplation, internalization, and then to genuine concern. I hope A NEW HIVE will help us regain respect for these amazing creatures; after all, almost everything we eat is made possible by bees.”

upcycling experiment no.1

at the end of spring 2007, i owned all this beautiful fine gauge silk/cashmere overstock because small designers are forced to meet unfortunate minimums to go into production, but that is a whole other post. after learning that natalie chanin (formerly of project alabama) had re-organized and started alabama chanin, i decided to email her and see if she was open to working with other designers in an effort to give her stitchers more work. i mentioned my beautiful overstock and that i would like to take old stock and applique it onto old stock to create new and more thoughtful garments thus the term up-cycling vs. re-cycling. you are taking something recyclable and recycling it into something of greater value, upcycling. some of the pieces i had produced did not arrive as ordered or i had an abundance of one particular style and those would be cut up and stitched onto my more basic silhouettes as photographed here. the inspiration for the spine applique came from frida kahlo, who despite breaking her spine in her teens and being plagued by chronic pain there after lived a larger than life, potent, influential, iconic life. there is a quote from a 1953 diary entry that says, "feet, why do we need them when we have wings to fly?" that reminds me its just really mind over matter and reappears in my fall 2008 collection.