History of seARTS Wearable Art Group

aboutGroup

Ten years ago a group of jewelers held a luncheon to recognize a local shop owner who has lovingly carried local artists work for over 35 years [Kathy McCarthy, London Ventures].  Following that lunch with the goal to work together, this group established themselves as a community inside of seARTS and held a Jewelry Design Salon at the Gloucester House in July 2007 as part of the seARTS Salon series.  Later that year, they launched a Holiday Show at the Pleasant Street Tea Company during Gloucester’s Middle Street Walk in December.  In 2008, the Holiday show was moved to the Saunder’s House of the Sawyer Free Library in what became an 8 year partnership and $$$ in sales of artist made goods.

Kris

Kristine Fisher, Co Founder CWA at CWAII Kick Off 2013

Moving Forward

In 2011, the five year mark, they raised the bar and sparked a new era for the seARTS Wearable Arts Group – the birth of Celebrate Wearable Art!  It’s not just a runway show.  It’s an opportunity for every creative “maker” to find a new way to showcase their artistry and for true patrons of hand-made, one-of-a-kind jewelry, clothing, and accessories to experience the art in full living color.    Biennial by design, the group is already working on the October 1, 2017 event.    A special feature of the 2015 show was the Celebrate Wearable Art panel at the Cape Ann Museum.   The quality and vibrancy of the discussion at the Museum was the impetus for the 2016 Salon.   The idea for Celebrate Wearable Art was seeded by Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco and M. Kristine Fisher - both former seARTS Board members (and currently Advisors) who saw the opportunity to kick things up a notch.  Kristine was inspired by the World of Wearable Art Museum in Nelson, New Zealand.  Jacqueline in the meantime, tracked down a show in Boston that was designed by Mobius.   Together, they created a unique event for Cape Ann.

Jackie

Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco Chair & Co-Founder Celebrate Wearable Art

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Martha Sutyak, Runway Curator, Celebrate Wearable Art joined the team in 2015

Looking Ahead

We just concluded our 4th biennial show and will announce an educational event for 2018.  The committee is reviewing future plans to assure that wearable art continues to make an impact on Cape Ann and beyond.

We thank this incredibly talented team of volunteers for their work over the last eight years to bring us to this exciting place in our young history!     Below are just a few of the wonderful comments we had from the 2017 event!

"The Wearable Arts event was a wonderful, fun, incredibly imaginative, high caliber event, which “blew me away” !   I have been a jewelry designer for 20 years, who has participated in many shows and “market places” throughout the years, participating in the Runway portion for the first time, propelled me into creating a completely new line and “look” to go with it."  -Sonja Grondstra

"This was a magical, high quality event.  We are lucky to have such a professionally run, fun and relevant event in our community. seArts is keeping the Cape Ann Art scene on the map."   -Kate Noonan  Owner  Common Crow Market

"This show was sensational.  It was a top notch event that truly showcased Gloucester and Cape Ann's art, design and fashion destination!"

"A very pleasant afternoon which alerted me to the amazing local design talent we have here in Gloucester and the North Shore."

seARTS is a 501c-3 non-profit.  We appreciate your support.