Since 2011 the seARTS has embarked on a fabulous journey, challenging the larger arts community to design and raise the bar for wearable art. Through the Celebrate Wearable Art program, we have enjoyed runway looks from seasoned fashion designers, sculptors, fiber artists, floral designers, interior designers, jewelers, painters, photographers, and woodworkers, among others. The wearable works created by CWA artists have served to inspire numerous viewers and fellow artists.
Our annual “Salon” panel discussions present an opportunity to explore various aspects of wearable art from the perspective of makers, curators, educators, and wearers. Past Salon themes include “Exploring Expressions on the Human Form,” and “From the Understated to the Outrageous.” The 2018 Salon will focus on the “Transformative Power of Wearable Art,” and will probe wearable art’s impact in relation to education, fashion, exhibitions, and the artist’s own creative experience. We have asked artists in the community to send us stories about their journey, challenges, and inspirational moments in the process of making wearable art. Along with these stories of creative transformation, there will be a discussion about the power of wearable art works for wearers, and within the broader cultural arena.
This panel will be hosted on the evening of October 4th at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, MA. It has been timed to coincide with Mass Fashion Symposium. The keynote moderator will Petra Slinkard, The Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles at the Peabody-Essex Museum. Petra will be joined by Barbara Broudo, former Director Archives & Museum at Endicott College;
Suzanne Ramljak, longtime editor of Metalsmith magazine and curator of the Fuller Craft Museum’s exhibition, Uneasy Beauty: Discomfort in
Contemporary Adornment opening October 6th; and Anne Lee, author of Artistry in Fiber, Wearable Art. According to the book description, “We have always decorated our bodies – both permanently and temporarily. Art to wear explores the intersection of fashion and art, in a creative space in which the wearer interacts with art, breathing life, shape, and individual expression into it. In our mass-produced world, wearable art offers a place for individuality. The third volume in this acclaimed series exhibits the work of over 50 international artists who create unusual wearable art with both traditional and uncommon materials combined with modern technology.” The book will be available for sale and to be signed by the author at the Salon.
Anne Lee co-authored Encaustic Art in the Twenty-First Century (2016) and a three-volume series, Artistry in Fiber (July 2017) covering Wall Art, Sculpture, and Wearable Art (all from Schiffer Publishing). In addition, Anne has written articles for Fiber Arts Now, Art Quilt Collector, and the NBO Quarterly Review. Prior to her writing career, she researched, curated, and wrote about exhibitions at Vose Galleries in Boston.
Our final panelist is Christine Gauthier-Kelley, a silk painter and wearable 
artist who was an early member of the seARTS Wearable Art group and participant in Celebrate Wearable Art starting in 2011. Christine creates her works at Ten Pound Studio in Gloucester and has recently presented a solo show at the Manchester Historical Museum. The event will also include select looks from Celebrate Wearable Art IV.