RODARTE at the MOCA

Last Friday was the opening to RODARTE's show at the MOCA, States of Matter. The show was hung beautifully, with dresses suspended from the ceiling making them look like ghostly sculptural forms. Also, the separation from a black to white theme was a nice surprise and break from the traditional. Florescent and black lights on a timed loop, flickering on and off and bloody tutus and dresses seemed directly inspired by scenes in a horror movie. The show is visually stunning and the clothes are a special treat to behold.

http://www.moca.org/museum/exhibitiondetail.php?id=442

The Perfect Gift

It's 79 degrees in LA today and Christmas is around the corner. I have been busy keeping up with several knitwear projects. Just in time for Christmas, I have knit up some cozy, colorful, fingerless gloves that I made for the winter season-minus today. I will keep adding more photos as the new ones come out. I already have a few custom orders for the Holiday season, so if you are interested in a pair, please let me know.

Portrait of Fashion Designers

Recently Mike Harnish painted another painting of me and Grant in working mode. I had only seen it on the internet until recently attending an art show at the Fairhaven Mausoleum Art Exhibition in Orange. There I got to see the painting in person and see that it had won 2nd place in a juried show. In my biased opinion, it should have one first place. Before the painting even had a chance to be hung in a proper gallery, it was quickly purchased by a savvy art collector. Many potential buyers were very disappointed at this news and hope to snag the next one. I also want to mention that Mike was awarded for his other paintings that were also in the show. To see more and better photos of his work, please go to http://www.michaelharnishart.com/.

Shorditch is Shining

While studying and culture absorbing in London I had the greatest opportunity to stay in one of the most fashionable and artsy neighborhoods in East London: Shorditch. The neighborhood is a mecca for for trendy boutiques, galleries, pubs, restaurants, and a huge cycling scene. This is where you will find your Bansky's and Horfe's not to mention Roa one of my new favorite street artists.
A couple blocks from where I was staying is Brick Lane, one the main drags in the hood which includes the Truman Brewery, an old Brewery that has been converted to art galleries, vintage market space, boutiques, showrooms, and offices for creative projects( like the one my friend Bobby was co-producing with Tim Kring, called Conspiracy for Good). Down Brick Lane are many exquisite boutiques, including a store that seemed to only sell Margiela and Rick Owens. I mean, do you really need to sell anything else? At the top of Brick Lane a store called 123 opened just a couple of weeks ago that has three floors, and each floor is a different designer, including Dr. Noki who made the loose knit shrug with a hood worn by M.I.A. on the cover of Nylon a couple months ago. If I ever move to London, this would be the place I would choose to live, preferably in one of the huge spaces in the Brewery.

London Calling[me to live here]

I have fallen in love. Deeply in love. Not with anyone, but with a school. Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design. I am currently taking a Experimental Fashion Knitwear summer course, and I can't get enough of it. I wish the days were longer and I could live there. But where I am staying now is pretty cool: Old Street district. There are tons of fashion forward boutiques, art galleries, bars, cafes and even a health food grocery store. Who could resist? Also, a huge number of kids riding fix gears and road bikes. And my secret addiction of graffiti and street art is greatly satisfied.

For my first week in London, I ran into one of my favorite british actors from my favorite TV show Misfits, was almost arrested jumping over a fence into an abandoned structure, and was completely moved by the Martin Margiela exhibit. Those were just some of the highlights amongst great art shows, Dover Street Market, Liberty, amazing people watching, and pretty good veggie food(which always adds bonus points to any trip).

Cheers

Two Talents One Castle

This is the end of the first week of the Ovanes Berberian(my dad) Outdoor Painting Workshop in Idaho. I come up every June to help him run the show and get into some painting and creating myself. My dad has created the most artistic setting for the students to paint still life's outdoors. As part of the Workshop, every Tuesday and Thursday nights there is demo in which my dad will paint an entire painting live in front of his student audience. This year we were to have a special treat, with Peace's son Casey Wilkinson, master pianist, playing all sorts of exquisite musical pieces (some of which he composed himself), along to my dads painting.
Last night was quite a performance due to the fact that my dad chose the biggest canvas he could find to demonstrate a landscape painting on. The combination of Casey's beautiful playing and my dad's intense painting was enough to make any art buff weak in the knees. Painting straight for almost three hours, my dad had pretty much finished the entire painting that was ten times the size of him. With vibrant colors that sang throughout the piece, that could only come from years of experience, I heard one of the students ask if he had done any drugs in another lifetime. Drugs or no drugs, it is something to see. My dad records every demo night and has a collection of his paintings on dvd. I always wish I had a recording of my some of my favorite classical artists painting my favorite paintings so I could pause and rewind if I wanted to.

Square Dress Srikes Again!

This past Sunday was my last day at my job at Ron Herman, and I had the pleasure of making my coworkers now ex-coworkers some lovely outfits before leaving. I was thrilled to learn that my employers also loved the dress I made for my friend Regina. (In hopes that they will pick up the line.) Please Dress Up! of course. Her dress is a beautiful silk print of dictionary pages. This was made exclusively for Shotwell boutique in San Francisco as a limited edition print. Regina was lucky that we still had some left over fabric. I just adore the print!
As for my next venture, (because everyone wants to know what you're gonna do next) I will continue to do Please Dress Up! and for the next two weeks I will be in Idaho helping my dad run his outdoor painting workshops. Stay tuned. City girl goes to the country and is always eager to come back after about a week or so of honky tonk living. Well, only when I leave my dads property do I feel like I am entering the twilight zone.