Sunday, March 22, 2009

the body as canvas

As I consider branching into the beaded object-- as opposed beading the wearable-- I find myself contemplating wearable art as opposed to other forms of art.

It's going to be an ongoing process . . . I think, sometimes deeply, rarely swiftly.

There are schools of thought that contend that if an item is useful, it's not art. I'm not of that school. In fact, I prefer my art to be functional. I'm more comfortable buying something that's going to get use. Not to say I don't have a bit of wall art-- I do-- and it has it's place, I love it, am thankful for it and am not knocking it. I also love my handcrafted cups, clothes, blankets, rugs etc.

Sometimes those things are more craft than art-- that's good too. I love craft. I love how Wikipedia differentiates the two-- art, it says is "intended to be accepted as a serious and unique artistic creation or statement." Sounds good to me!

Enter WOW-- the World of Wearable Art. It 'takes art off the wall and onto the moving body.'

WOW consists of 10 2-hour shows held annually in New Zealand since 1987. It's a worldwide competition with international acclaim. It's been described as "Mardi Gras meets Haute Couture at a Peter Gabriele concert directed by Salvadore Dali."

It gives me one more reason to want to fly half way around the world. Are you in?



2008 Winner Montana Supreme WOW Award & Winner Air NZ Sth Pacific Section
Ornitho Maia, Nadine Jaggi, Wellington

1 comment:

  1. I love this contest...tweeted this post for ya :) Oh and I have an artist friend in QLD that would prolly put us up :)

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