Posts tagged ‘clothing’
Elfriede Style: A Retrospective of Colorado Couture
Guest Blogger: Susan Froyd, Arts and Culture Editor at Westword. 2012 Westword MasterMind Dianne Denholm has presented exhibitions focusing on the fiber arts in nearly every aspect since opening the TACtile Textile Arts Center six years ago. But never before had she turned the magnifying glass on the fine art of dressmaking and couture, a subject that’s undergone a renaissance in Denver this spring, thanks to the Denver Art Museum’s Yves Saint Laurent block-buster.
Inspired by that show — and a little bit by her own past life as the owner 
of D’Lea’s fabric store in Cherry Creek North — Denholm decided to ask her former competitor, Boulderite Elfriede Gamow, if she might be willing to pull together some of her favorite pieces from over the years for an exhibition to dovetail with the last weeks of the YSL show.
The result is Colorado Couture: Past and Present, which pairs the elegant Gamow’s impeccably sewn garments with a sideshow of prototypes from up-and-coming Denver designer Fallene Wells’s 2013 fashion line. “I wanted to make it educational, so people could know how this is done,” Denholm explains. “This is high-end dressmaking techniques and fabrics we’re talking about, featuring clothing that Elfriede still wears now, which demonstrates their timelessness. The quote she gave us says it all: ‘I’ve always gone for the style rather than the fashion.’”
Colorado Couture continues through August 18 at TACtile, 1955 South Quince Street, Suite 200; an open house is being planned during its run, with details TBA. Admission is free; find information at TACtilearts.org or call 720-524-8886. — By Susan Froyd
Exhibit photos by Carol Naff
TACtile Textile Arts Center classes for fiber arts
May Classes
Registration is open at TACtilearts.org
Specialty Beading Classes
sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Bead Society and held at TACtile
Mixed Media Textile Artist Bead Classes
with Larkin Vanom
Beaded Cuffs
Friday 5/18/12 9 am – 4 pm
Class Fee: $70 (including kit fee)
Make an elaborately beaded bracelet that wraps around your wrist like the cuff of a well-tailored shirt. This project will expand your design, color, and beading skills; allowing you to create a wearable work of art. The cuff is sized to fit your wrist, and the pattern provided can be adjusted to allow you to make a beaded cuff as a gift. The class will focus on design, color, finishing, and altering the basic shape, as well as stitch techniques.
Talisman/Hues and Cues
Saturday 5/19/12 9 am – Noon
Class Fee $35 (including kit fee)
This class will focus on understanding and using the meanings of color, shape, and symbols, both personal and universal, to create artwork with meaning, spirit, emotion, and personal resonance. Applying this information to whatever your art form may be, will allow you to create personally meaningful art, while using symbols that can be universally recognizable.
Beaded Buttons
Saturday 5/19/12 1 pm – 4 pm
Class Fee: $35 (including kit fee)
This is a great way to use leftovers from larger projects, and small enough to carry when you travel. Beaded buttons can embellish a garment, wall hanging or home decor project. All it takes are a few beads, a button form, a scrap of fabric and your imagination. It is a very easy introduction to the world of bead embroidery.
Tiny Beaded Vessels
Sunday 5/20/12 9 am – 4 pm
Class Fee: $70 (including kit fee)
Using bead embroidery stitches, students will create a small, encrusted treasure. The three or four-sided vessel will be in their own chosen color scheme. Charms, buttons, or small cabochons may be used as the focal point on one or all sides of the vessel. The class will focus on beading stitches, color, and design as well as the construction of the vessel.
