Tight budgets call for extreme creativity, so for the upcoming Bryant in the Park performance we’ve been discussing cheap, cheap materials. Conclusion: Plastic bags!(?) Oh, yeah. Cheap, recycled and grass-stain/water-proof. What more could you ask for? (*Cough, cough* besides a budget )

Now, let me just say, most plastic clothing is pretty (excuse me) trashy. It generally looks like you’re trying to wear a condom or a shower curtain. This is NOT the look we’re setting out for here. Classy, elegant, dashing. Let’s keep those words in mind. Now to get those creative juices flowing here is some plastic bag apparel inspiration: http://www.threadbanger.com/post/5599/recycled-plastic-bag-dresses

-A.

Ok…not an Art.Party, but still an art party!

This Saturday June 20th, 2009 I will be one of the exhibiting artists at the pARTy in the Park in Norwalk, CT! pARTy  is a one day cultural arts festival organized by the Norwalk Arts Commission to showcase and promote local artists and musicians. There will be events like live music, artists’ booths, free yoga and a short-film festival tunnel all day!

I will have a booth exhibiting and selling my handcrafted, original and reconstructed Cosmic deBris clothing designs made from (mostly) recycled materials (also selling designs by Kate Goldwater of AuH2O) at the Oyster Pod (@ the Norwalk Maritime Center) from 12-5pm. Come check it out!!

PS. It’s a REALLY easy ride out from NYC on Metro-North. Take the New Haven line to South Norwalk and walk to the event!! (Or take a cab if you’re that lazy, but hey, if you’re coming from New York, 6 blocks ain’t nothin’ but a chicken wing) Get out of the city and spend a day by the water in bea-utiful CT!

(Ya-yeah local arts!!!)

For more information go to: http://norwalkarts.org/pip/info.php

Hope to see you there!

Alex T.

I was inspired during my trip last weekend to Philadelphia by the strange light in our cab.

(Light and darkness, anyone?)

-AT

Having spent an unusual amount of time in various New York City flea markets as of late, the strange tension between death and rebirth keeps coming up for me. I’m always so drawn to the bizarre trinkets, discarded by their previous owners, waiting patiently to die in the mounds of junk or to be swept up and resurrected by the romantic inclinations of a passerby who sees the beauty in the death of the object’s previous occupation and/or the possibility of its rebirth and reincarnation.

Maybe this is coming up because it’s spring?  TS Elliot wrote

“April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.” 

Considering global warming, I think April counts as May these days. It so clearly represents the nostalgia for what we’re leaving behind andthe hope for what is to come. 

I love reusing and recycling objects and fabric. There is power in giving “life” again and it weaves the past, present and future together in such an intriguing way. I bought some used lace from the last flea market I went to and intend to add it to a shirt that needs extension. Pretty excited about it. Who knows who/how this lace was used before? What was its journey into my hands? What would they think of its new home now? My imagination can run wild…

-Alex

I would like to second Carolyn’s post about collaborative art and say: YAY for COLLABORATION!

Theater, by nature is (almost always) a collaborative process and it is why I like being involved with it so much. Most of the work I do in the rest of my creative life is, by nature, a solo job (photography, painting, sewing, etc.). I love having that time to myself to focus, to produce, to meditate and create, but there’s something so exciting about when you get together with one or more other people who are just waiting to pop (!) with ideas. There’s nothing more fun and motivating than egging each other on (creative peer pressure!)–the energy is contagious.

I have a grandiose vision of a DIY community that comes together to play, to exchange ideas and pump one-another up, all in my own backyard… Hmm, note to self: find a back yard…or a boat yard? Anyone, perchance have access to an empty one?

Fundraiser “collaboration art.party” in a __yard this summer?

Let’s DO IT!

-AT

Hiya folks!

As ArtParty begins preparing for it’s upcoming Party experiences, we’re getting the wheels turning on the design side of production! Without giving too much away yet, let’s just say there will be a lot of wires in our collective futures…

Check out these amazing wire-fashion sculptors that are being added to the list of “inspiration”:

Susan Freda: http://www.susanfreda.com/SimpleViewer_v17/index.html

Leigh Pennebaker: http://www.leighpennebaker.com/

Enjoy!

Alex