The upcoming Kent State University Museum exhibition, “Fashion Meets the Body: Juried KSU Faculty Exhibition” will feature individual and collaborative works created by faculty from the Kent State Fashion School and School of Art. The exhibit, which opens September 28, with a special artists’ reception on October 9, will feature innovative two- and three-dimensional artwork that uses technology, mixed media and fiber relating to the theme “fashion meets the body.” Highlights of the exhibit include garments made entirely of recycled socks, inventive re-imaginations of traditional Vietnamese and Chinese dresses and elaborative digital printing techniques on fragile materials. All works were juried by Rachel Delphia and Margaret Powell from the prestigious Carnegie Museum of Art.
The “Fashion Meets the Body” exhibit will showcase a rich diversity of fresh approaches, techniques and influences incorporated by each designer or collaborative team that is reflected in the innovative garments and objects. While some artists experiment in unexpected ways by combining digital technologies with found objects and personal histories, others are driven by the impulse to reuse and recycle existing garments, as well as old techniques such as woodcutting and collage. The designers in this exhibition share an impulse to innovate, not only for the sake of creating something new, but to inform and extend deeper meanings and messages about what it means to live in society today.
Dr. Kim Hahn, Fashion School Interim Director and Co-Curator of the exhibit, is excited to bring attention to the incredible designs created by the talented Kent State faculty. “We are ecstatic to present our internationally recognized and exceptionally talented faculty work to the Kent community,” said Dr. Hahn. “The exhibition showcases an extensive collection of department work from various faculty members from the College of the Arts. As we are planning to schedule a series of events (panels, lectures, gallery tours) hosted by the accepted artists throughout the run of the exhibition, we believe that both this exhibition and the events planned will be an excellent opportunity for us to be connected with the Museum community. We are thrilled to edify our relationship with the KSU Museum through this exhibition and hope to introduce an inspirational dynamic to both the Museum and the Fashion school.”
The exhibition will open to the public on Friday, September 28 in the Museum’s Broadbent Gallery and will be on display until September 1, 2019. A special artists’ reception will take place on Tuesday, October 9 from 5 - 7 pm and will feature a museum tour and wine and appetizer social. Attendees will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with jurors Delphia and Powell and the faculty whose works of art are featured in the exhibit. This event is free and open to the public.
About the Jurors
Rachel Delphia joined Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) in 2005 and was appointed The Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design and head of the department in 2013. Delphia has worked extensively with the museum’s permanent collection of European and American objects from ca. 1750–present; she has a special interest in modern and contemporary design and craft. Her recent exhibitions considered modernist silversmith and midcentury industrial designer Peter Muller-Munk (1904–1967) and Chilean designer Sebastian Errazuriz (b. 1977). Delphia has also served as adjunct faculty at Carnegie Mellon University, teaching design history and exhibition design. She received her M.A. from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in Early American Culture as well as her M.A. in English and B.F.A in industrial design from Carnegie Mellon. Delphia organized CMOA’s 2017 presentation of Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion, a project that was co-organized by the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands. The exhibition was curated by Sarah Schleuning, High Museum of Art, and Mark Wilson and Sue-an van der Zijpp, Groninger Museum.
Margaret Powell is a decorative arts historian from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is the curatorial assistant of decorative arts and design at the Carnegie Museum of Art. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the Smithsonian Associates/Corcoran College of Art and Design M.A. program in the History of Decorative Arts. Her first book, Only the Best, a children’s picture book about the African American fashion designer, Ann Lowe, will be released by Chronicle Books in 2019. She also writes about costume history on her website: www.hiddenfashionhistory.com.
About the Kent State University Museum
The Kent State University Museum is located at 515 Hilltop Drive, at the corner of E. Main St. and S. Lincoln St. in Kent, Ohio. It features over 30,000 pieces in its collection, amassed from many generous donors. Starting September 11, new dates and times will go into effect and the museum will be open to the public on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 am – 5 pm; Thursday from 10 am – 8 pm; and Sunday from noon – 4 pm. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $4 for children aged 5 to 17. The museum is free for children age 5 and under and to those with a Kent State ID. Sunday admission is free for all ages. Parking is free for all museum attendees. Patrons should use the allotted Museum spaces in the Rockwell Hall parking lot. For more information please call 330-672-3450 or visit www.kent.edu/museum.
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Photos:
Header Image: Sense of Place, by Archana Mehta 2017, photo by Sara Hume.
Photo 1: Loxodromic Radii, David Hahn & Kim Hahn, 2018, Photo by David Hahn
Photo 2: Our Sons, Melissa English Campbell, 2014
Media Contact:
Brittani Peterson, marketing associate, bpeter12@kent.edu, 330-672-2714 (office)