CARMEN ARTIGAS - FASHION DESIGN, ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, & REBIRTH

Mexican-born Sustainable Designer Carmen Artigas and I recently met at a free textiles workshop, where she jokes that I seemed "possessed and working as if I was getting paid by the hour" (I was on a mission to sew a coat and hardly spoke with her). This past Sunday I had a chance to sit down and talk with her one-on-one about her life and work so far, and what a lovely surprise I got:

"Carmen received a grant to study fashion in Milan and, against all odds, was hired right after graduation by the hottest designer working at the time, Romeo Gigli." Here, she tells me, she had a chance to work alongside one of the most respected fashion designers in the world: Alexander McQueen. They were both only 19 at the time and still fresh fish in the fashion world. Carmen mentions that McQueen ("Lee," as she knew him) was always extremely sweet and down to earth.

Carmen continued moving to bigger and better things, later landing a much-coveted job with Donna Karan, where she worked as Assistant Designer for the Season's Collections. After that, she went on to do everything from curating the only Shoe Museum in Latin America; to designing costumes for movies, commercials, & dance; to finally showing her own line in the great city of New York.

Then came her 4-month trip to India... which changed her world. Here Carmen experienced the totally different sustainable lifestyle and realized she could never go back to the fashion world she knew. From that moment on, she chose the way of Sustainable Design and has since launched her latest collection: Viva La Vida, products made by prisoners in Mexico who have found positive outlets for their energies. Carmen also teaches an Ethical Fashion course at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Ole!

*IMAGES: (First 6) Carmen Artigas designs; (Last) Carmen Artigas & Alexander McQueen at Romeo Gigli studio, 1990.
**I do not claim any ownership of the above images.

TEXTILE ARTS CENTER MENDING BRUNCH

Because I've been increasingly interested in learning about Textiles and how to manipulate them (previously having hand-sewn clothing, printed designs onto clothing, and knitted scarves for everyone on the block), I've been attending as many workshops as possible offered at the Textile Arts Center (Brooklyn, NY). The space is absolutely gorgeous, very open and full of light, with thread and fabric in every color imaginable. This last time I went to the Textile Arts Center was to attend the Fashion Week Mending Brunch hosted by Sewing Rebellion NYC. Mimosas & materials were provided, as well as free classes on how to do everything from dyeing/printing onto clothing, to quilting, to making the coats your mother always buys two sizes too big more fitted (I was able to rescue a few of mine ;) What a great, great way to meet people of all backgrounds. And for now, the granny in me is totally addicted to textiles...

*I do not claim any ownership of the above images.

HELP JAPAN!

7 Ways To Help Japan's Earthquake & Tsunami Victims: TIME ARTICLE. It can be as easy as texting "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

THE ARMORY SHOW 2011 (NYC) / ARRONIZ GALLERY REPRESENTATIVE

I was asked to represent the Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo Gallery (Mexico City) this past weekend at The Armory Show, NYC. After four tireless days of showing/selling artwork, I finally have a chance to write about it:

The Armory Show, coined "America's leading fine art fair devoted to the most important art of the 20th and 21st centuries," is a huge four-day event that takes place in Manhattan every March. It brings fantastic Galleries, Curators, Artists, Collectors, and Celebrities from all over the world to enjoy a full array of Armory Arts Week events hosted throughout the NY area. The opening reception was held at MoMA with performer Kate Nash.

The Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo Gallery represents artists from Mexico and Latin America working in varying media (incl. installation, film, photography, sculpture, painting, & video) who are relatively young and pushing the limits in Contemporary Art. The three artists we represented at the fair were multi-media installation artist Nicola López, paper artist Daniel Alcalá, and multi-media artist Omar Barquet. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Nicola López was among the artists we were showing, as I had first come across her work several years ago in Texas through mutual friends, and had later run into the artist again recently at several reunions in Brooklyn (small world!). Her work is now part of MoMA's permanent collection as well as at El Museo del Barrio.

We had a great turnout and received a lot of love from renown museums, collectors, and the public in general. Oh! And among the artists we spotted was the fabulously eccentric Chuck Close. Loooove it. We finished the events celebrating with my bubbly, newly-befriended Stylist Derric Keith (shown below) and other cozy company. More craziness planned for this coming week and hope to be one of the artists exhibiting at The Armory Show soon ;)

*IMAGES: (Center, Right) Nicola López site-specific piece; (Center, Center) Omar Barquet site-specific pieces; (Center, Left) Daniel Alcalá site-specific pieces.
**I do not claim ownership of top 2 images. VIDEO: Nicola López interview (I do not claim ownership of this video).

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS (NYC) - CONTINUING ED

This past Fall I decided to enroll in two night-time Continuing Education courses at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC: Business of Art (taught by Steve Cranford at Whisper Branding), and Silkscreen (taught by Printmaker Dominick Rapone). Even though I was half dead by the time I got to each class from all day of work (one of the classes ended at 10:00 PM), I can’t deny that it was completely worth the sweat and tears. Steve’s insights into knowing how to market yourself as an Artist or Creative Business and all the fine details of making a Business Plan were great, and Dominick’s amazing Printmaking talent goes without saying. Although I had previously owned a small Printmaking business (The Active Printmaking) in Texas, I learned a whole new set of printing techniques. Low-quality Blackberry pictures of some of my work at the Silkscreen class shown below (the last image is of a print by Dominick Rapone titled Eve in the Garden).

*Last image used with permission from the artist.