.francesca
about to fall or fly
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2005
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About The Curator
Before settling in Montreal in 2002, self-taught fashion designer Clayton Evans pursued studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design where he began creating clothing. His label, complexgeometries, a line of clothing and accessories for men and women, was established in 2004 and is available in select boutiques across Canada and online at http://www.complexgeometries.com. A few years ago Clayton launched Bias Montreal with co-founder, Sarah Collins, to improve networks among Montreal's independent fashion designers. Bias organized the first CVP and is the regular host of clothing sales and creative forums for both emerging and established Canadian designers. Recently, the focus of Bias has shifted from retail and production to non-commercial community building projects as a way to engage designers in creative discussion. Bias seeks to create a supportive and non-competitive arena where designers may interact with artists from different disciplines, and to encourage the open exchange of skills and ideas.
Curator's Statement
If you gave a group of people the exact same materials and asked them to create something with them, the results would be surprisingly different. That’s the idea behind Consistent Variable Project: Trial 2 (CVP:Trial 2). In the winter of 2005, I mailed 13 CVP:Trial 2 kits to emerging artists across Canada. Participants had one month to make whatever they wanted. The rules were simple: the artist must use all of the contents of the kit and nothing more. Here is a list of the kit’s contents:
2m white cotton fabric
1m bright yellow gingham
White sewing thread
A selection of metal fasteners (snaps, hooks and eyes)
A fuzzy white car polishing mitt
Red latex gloves
Blue dye
White embroidery thread
A bag of brightly coloured beads
Stainless steel wire
A clear PVC dish mat
A silver and red cooler bag
Two black permanent markers
The CVP: Trial 2 marks the second time I’ve curated a mail-art-kit-group-show. The first Consistent Variable Project (CVP) took place in Montreal in the winter of 2004 when 50 local participants received identical kits with the instructions: Use all, use only. The first CVP kit consisted primarily of natural fibres that inspired an organic aesthetic in the artists’ pieces. Over half of the projects featured some kind of plant imagery, and some took the form of fabric flowers. For CVP: Trial 2, I decided to include synthetic materials in the kits, instead of the natural ones found in the first CVP. I wanted to see how this choice of materials affected the final results. In the end, people still created flowers, but there is great diversity in style and theme of the final works.
The artists’ pieces were photographed by an outstanding team in an art studio generously provided by OBORO in Montreal. Photographer May Truong led the day-long photo-shoot with the help of photography student, Thanh Truc Trinh, stylist and model, Tamar Amir, make-up artist, Nathalie Rivière, and hair stylist and impromptu model, Dan Laflèche. A few CVP: Trial 2 participants came out to model their own work and the work of fellow artists.
While the final pieces are engaging, it’s the community that emerges from projects like this that I find most interesting. In the year following first CVP I saw the emergence of a strong, coherent, and supportive local community of artists, craftspeople, and designers. It’s my hope that the launch of the CVP: Trial 2 online gallery will inspire and foster an ever-expanding network of designers across Canada.
Before settling in Montreal in 2002, self-taught fashion designer Clayton Evans pursued studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design where he began creating clothing. His label, complexgeometries, a line of clothing and accessories for men and women, was established in 2004 and is available in select boutiques across Canada and online at http://www.complexgeometries.com. A few years ago Clayton launched Bias Montreal with co-founder, Sarah Collins, to improve networks among Montreal's independent fashion designers. Bias organized the first CVP and is the regular host of clothing sales and creative forums for both emerging and established Canadian designers. Recently, the focus of Bias has shifted from retail and production to non-commercial community building projects as a way to engage designers in creative discussion. Bias seeks to create a supportive and non-competitive arena where designers may interact with artists from different disciplines, and to encourage the open exchange of skills and ideas.
Curator's Statement
If you gave a group of people the exact same materials and asked them to create something with them, the results would be surprisingly different. That’s the idea behind Consistent Variable Project: Trial 2 (CVP:Trial 2). In the winter of 2005, I mailed 13 CVP:Trial 2 kits to emerging artists across Canada. Participants had one month to make whatever they wanted. The rules were simple: the artist must use all of the contents of the kit and nothing more. Here is a list of the kit’s contents:
2m white cotton fabric
1m bright yellow gingham
White sewing thread
A selection of metal fasteners (snaps, hooks and eyes)
A fuzzy white car polishing mitt
Red latex gloves
Blue dye
White embroidery thread
A bag of brightly coloured beads
Stainless steel wire
A clear PVC dish mat
A silver and red cooler bag
Two black permanent markers
The CVP: Trial 2 marks the second time I’ve curated a mail-art-kit-group-show. The first Consistent Variable Project (CVP) took place in Montreal in the winter of 2004 when 50 local participants received identical kits with the instructions: Use all, use only. The first CVP kit consisted primarily of natural fibres that inspired an organic aesthetic in the artists’ pieces. Over half of the projects featured some kind of plant imagery, and some took the form of fabric flowers. For CVP: Trial 2, I decided to include synthetic materials in the kits, instead of the natural ones found in the first CVP. I wanted to see how this choice of materials affected the final results. In the end, people still created flowers, but there is great diversity in style and theme of the final works.
The artists’ pieces were photographed by an outstanding team in an art studio generously provided by OBORO in Montreal. Photographer May Truong led the day-long photo-shoot with the help of photography student, Thanh Truc Trinh, stylist and model, Tamar Amir, make-up artist, Nathalie Rivière, and hair stylist and impromptu model, Dan Laflèche. A few CVP: Trial 2 participants came out to model their own work and the work of fellow artists.
While the final pieces are engaging, it’s the community that emerges from projects like this that I find most interesting. In the year following first CVP I saw the emergence of a strong, coherent, and supportive local community of artists, craftspeople, and designers. It’s my hope that the launch of the CVP: Trial 2 online gallery will inspire and foster an ever-expanding network of designers across Canada.
but i really love some of this finished work...i love the idea of making whatever you can out of certain types of products. i love challenges like that!
