Native Funk and Flash: September 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Alexa's Portland Adventures

Recent grad Alexa Stark has a write up on her new project, redesigning vintage clothes for Portland thrift store The Factory. Read it here ! Yay Alexa!

NEW MONEY: Business Models for a Sustainable Future

Exit Art's new exhibition NEW MONEY: Business Models for a Sustainable Future opens tomorrow, reception from 7-9. Some of the models that the show explores are one for one, bartering networks, microfinancing, social economy networks to name a few. Our goods will be there! Exit Art is located at 475 10th Av.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Meet Otto von Busch: Parsons' new haute-couture heretic

If you see a friendly bespectacled new face around IDC, chances are it's Otto von Busch, newly appointed IDC faculty. Otto is a design activist-artist-fashion theorist-hacker and a self-described "haute couture heretic and fashion renegade" . His project Selfpassage "explores how fashion can be used for empowerment, self-development and personal growth instead of being a phenomenon of top-down decrees and collective anxiety".

How IDC is that?! Whether its through informative booklets or open workshops, Otto's work attempts to democratize and hack the fashion system, by exploring alternative modes of relating, production and identity. He speaks of "Not boycotting fashion or scorn it as the emperors new clothes, but instead celebrating the magic and desire flowing through that system, reconnecting it to empower instead of regarding it as an enslaving culture"

Appropriately, he's teaching (Un)Fashion this semester. We are wishing him and his family a warm welcome to New York and look forward to having his special presence in our community.

Check out some of his awesome zines, explaining the mechanics, rituals and virus nature of fashion, for download here.
And triple make sure you look at his various projects here.

DEED class

Course Description

This hands on course will explore how to bring to market, products designed by Parson's Deed Project in collaboration with two artisanal rural groups in Guatemala: Ajkem’a Loy’a and Barco. The course will present different options of bringing to market handmade products from the developing world, addressing issues such as branding, marketing, quality control, production, wholesale versus retail, margins, inventories, customs, labels, shipping, etc. Principles of cultural, social and environmental responsibility will be at the core of the course. These subjects will be presented by leading industry experts who will share their first hand experiences with the class. Field trips to Soho and Brooklyn, will explore possible contexts and trends. The course will address the importance of small, slow, artisanal based enterprises as valid option in a world of fast fashion and extreme consumption.

Blog here. More Gorgeous Pics here.

Mildred's Lane at Living as Form

Mildred's Lane display at Living Form. Mildred's Lane is a work styles project by artists Morgan Puett & Mark Dion in Pennsylvania that explores new modes of being and blurring living and art practices. Pretty website and expansive explanation here.IDC senior, Lilah Horwitz, was the Minster of Comfort this summer during their Summer Session (ie. intellectually stimulating camp for artists!) and did the stitch work on these sweet aged napkins. Meet Lilah below enjoying the Future is for Ghosts installation at Living as Form.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Creative Time Summit: Living as Form

The public art enthusiasts at Creative Time are hosting a summit to kick off their exhibition Living as Form that explores twenty years of cultural projects that instigate dialogue and community participation by blurring boundaries of art and living,

Check out some of the events here
We are looking forward to Our Goods' (a project of IdC faculty Caroline Woolard)barter advisor sessions! The Illumination and Pilgrimage Offerings look rad, and Reflections on the Economy inspired by an Elegant Toilet sounds promising with their functional, sensational recreation of JPMorgan Chase executive's restroom!

Fashion ReAction Fest!

The Second Annual Fashion ReAction Festival, an AMAZING collaboration between Gem Fabrics and Culture Push, brings together inspiring people teaching inspired workshops every Saturday from Sept 17th to Oct 22nd! As if it can't get any better, it does: it's free!

Check out the schedule:

8/20 Fashion Re/Action Preview: Patternmaking

Everything you wanted to know about the foundations of manual patternmaking is included in this workshop. Learn all the shortcuts to copy the clothes that you love, to make new clothes you'll love with super-professional design alterations.

9/17 Natural Dyeing - instructor TBA

Learn centuries-old Japanese Shibori techniques to create beautiful textiles and garments with natural dyes.

9/24 Wearable Sculpture with Stacy Scibelli and Michael DiPietro

Explore new ways to adorn and extend your body while creating wearable art objects from repurposed materials in this collaborative workshop.

10/1 Intro to Knit, Crochet and Sweater Darning with Jeremy Wilson and Rachel Schragis

Jeremy Wilson leads participants in the basics of knitting and crochet to create a yarn bomb project for the outside of JEM! A super fun collaborative project not to be missed. Also, bring your old holey sweaters and socks and artist Rachel Schragis will teach you to resurrect them while honoring their imperfections with simple darning methods.

10/8 Bargello Needlepoint with Michael DiPietro (FORMER IDCer)

Learn the art and history of 'flame stitch,' a super-easy and beautiful needlepoint technique dating back to the 16th century. Flame stitch can be used to create crazy embroidery designs that are equally Baroque and Psychedelic - just in time for Halloween!

10/15 Clothing Remake Marathon!

Use our donated fabric, clothing, and notions to turn discarded garments into the stuff of dreams with our sewing and design experts. This is a free-form studio workshop with a lot of hands-on sewing time.

10/22 Symposium: Building Sustainable Fashion

Rachel Shragis leads a quilting bee for the 21st century in this unique interdisciplinary event. While our guest speakers (TBA) explore the question "How can we as consumers create a Sustainable Fashion System?", we'll be working together to create a quilted flowchart of the issues at hand.