Cultural Tech-Fusion Fabrics

I  think these pictures speak for themselves.  I cannot wait to see the garment lit up and installed and in dialog with the other more flowing garment. Seeing this pieces evolve from initial design to final stages of the form has been very exciting.

A few days ago Colleen sent me some new images of the garments in progress. I love this top to the second garment. I'd wear this! I like how the collar echoes the solar panel design. I think it is both sporty and elegant and definitely is some thing I could envisions someone wearing to work during the day or dressing up for the evening. It is a functional piece.

Below: These are beautiful just stacked. I can not wait to see them assembled and hung in the museum gallery. 
Colleen says, "240 yards of boning used already. 1/4 more ways to go!!! It's finally coming together. Assembling the entire art piece this week and next. Still need to sew sleeves and structure of peplum."

Rick Lee and his assistants work on prototype of the hanging installation.

Below are some recent in progress images of the topography piece in progress.
For the image of base of skirt below Colleen says "We have worked on 8 panels and 15 more panels to go."

Colleen sent me these images today. It took two full days to construct this sleeve. The print drew inspiration from San Jose's City Hall, Spanish tile roofs and Eichler homes. Colleen's sleeve  is a gestural reference to the City Hall rotunda.

Colleen Quen:
"Of course my shape has a little distortion of the City Hall in San Jose. It's symbolically showing the gesture. This is looking inside the sleeve. The complexity and building of structure needed to create the shape as well as my engineered pattern cut of sleeve."

YToday J.R. Campbell, Director and Professor of the Fashion School at Kent State,  and Susan Taber Avila, artist and professor at The University of California Davis , visited the studios of Colleen Quen and Rick Lee.

J.R. Campbell's digital textile department printed the silks for the Surface and Shape collaborative project Colleen, Rick and I are working on. He was in town to see a show at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and he had an hour window of time that matched Colleen's  window of time to meet. I almost was not able to make the meeting but am so glad that I did! It was an extra bonus to meet Susan.

In the last few days Colleen has been sending me images of her process of creating a garment pattern. She studied French couture and was an engineer in a prior career so she has that special mix of left and right side of the brain working in her artistic creations! A lot of math goes into her pattern drafting (I saw math equations on her initial pattern pieces). This really the best part of the project for me....seeing the process of other artists who work in very different media.

At our meeting last week, Colleen Quen shared her initial pattern studies. I was awed by how much hand work will go into these garments and was struck by how inventive and intricate these creations will be.

Last week the Surface and Shape design team had a meeting at Rick Lee and Colleen Quen's studio. It was so inspiring to see the models and sketches. Rick Lee had refined his design to be a reflective structure reminiscent of cloud computing.