Elizabeth Stewart I

These are some photographs of Elizabeth Stewart's 'My Own Private Ohio' which is currently on exhibit at Edinburgh College of Art.

"I think of My Own Private Ohio a process piece. I digitally manipulated, collaged and printed my own old family photographs to create the hand sewn appliquéd circular patterning. It was quite an intense process….many hours of  sewing involved. I didn't want it to end!
I immersed myself in this project while visiting and sitting with my Mom in Ohio where I grew up, a few months ago now. This area is known for it’s large Amish community. There I found the base for this piece, an amish dress. Ironically, the Amish do not believe in any decoration in their dress, not even buttons as they are believed to be too worldly. It was a wonderful way to delve into my fascination for the ‘mythical’ family images, nostalgia and memory."  Elizabeth Stewart

Garments often, as discussed previously on this blog, embody their wearer; in that they take on the form of that person's body shape and movement, they become worn in response to that persons activity and hold their unique smell. I love the way that Elizabeth's 'My Own Private Ohio' dress has become a canvas of her family, her history and also the way in its construction it also holds the influence of traditional Amish quilting.

Lesley Dill

Lesley Dill's Dada poetry wedding dress made for the Dada ball in New York, a paper dress of words for performance. The words and language a powerful catalyst on the vehicle of costume for emotional dialogues about,life and death. Lesley Dill is an American photographer, sculptor, artist, performer and costume maker who throughout all of her mediums and creative endeavours uses language;

"language is the touchstone , the pivot point of all my work."

"I wanted to talk about our era of Aids and also the theme of the Dada Ball by using the metaphor of a woman wearing a dress. The idea was inspired by Duchamp’s “The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even”. The dress is a brown paper dress painted white and stamped with the words of the Emily Dickinson poem, “The Soul Has Bandaged Moments”. I chose a virginal white dress as a reminder of the many women who are HIV positive, and as a symbol of the incredible loss of innocence that awareness of early morality has brought us."  Lesley Dill

Mar Goman II

Interesting graphic designs of buttons by Mar Goman,