Fashioning Art from Paper

Exploring 500 years of fashion, SCAD FASH's current exhibition features Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave's spectacular visual illusions in Fashioning Art from Paper, a collection of nothing short of masterpieces of life-size attire made of paper and paint. The exhibition is in its final week. You can see it through Sunday, January 12, 2020.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

This exhibition is absolutely stunning! Isabelle de Borchgrave's works of art are sculptural replicas of historic garments found in early European paintings or collections from around the world, including gowns worn by Queen Elizabeth I.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film had been on my must-visit list since its opening was first announced but sadly this was the first time I'd been. Sad because I've missed some magnificent exhibitions already, but I will not miss any others! The space is AMAZING, the staff is knowledgeable and friendly, and the museum is a wholly unique experience.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Being my first time at the museum, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd seen photos of previous exhibitions and I was familiar with the building—I worked in a satellite office of Equifax many years ago and would go to meetings and training classes at the company's headquarters, now SCAD Atlanta. 

Signage leading to the museum is well done, and clever, too! You follow the purple line to the level where the museum is located and there are signs noting "a little farther" and "almost there"...pure brilliance!

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Programming

This Thursday, January 9, at 12noon, join SCAD FASH Italian Renaissance scholar and art history professor Sarah Mellott Cadagin for her talk Moda Alla Medici: Fashioning the Self in Renaissance Florence. 

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

This exhibition includes a number of fashion accessories including shoes, purses, and jewelry so exquisitely fashioned that they too would trick the eye from a distance if you did not know that they were made of paper.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

Within the exhibition are pieces from Isabelle de Borchgrave's Kaftans series, inspired by the Silk Road textiles of Central Asia.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

I visited on a rainy day, but took my umbrella and ventured onto their outdoor space, located on the parking level. It's elegantly appointed and offers some wonderful vistas of Atlanta's skyline. Up on the museum level, there's a terrace overlooking the outdoor space with some seating and a staircase leading down to the larger outdoor space which spans the width of the building.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

There's a digital exhibition guide which you can follow along on your cell phone or the museum will loan you a tablet (they'll need to hold your ID while the tablet is in use). The garments in the exhibition are numbered, so it's easy to follow.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

SCAD FASH is a teaching museum—and an absolute gem for locals and tourists alike—featuring nearly 10,000 square feet of adaptable exhibition space.

Fashioning Art from Paper | SCAD FASH | Photo: Travis Swann Taylor

The exhibition includes a trio of de Borchgrave’s series Les Ballet Russes.

Fashioning Art from Paper is co-organized by SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Society of the Four Arts, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Frick Art and Historical Center, Baker Museum and Flint Institute of Arts. This fabulous exhibition is on view at SCAD FASH through Sunday, January 12, 2020.

The Art of John Lennon...in nearby Roswell!

"Along with his guitar, pen and paper seemed to have served as ideal tools to express John's complex emotion". - Yoko Ono

"On Cloud 9" | The Art of John Lennon | Copyright: Yoko Ono

While music is remembered as Lennon's most popular art form, he loved both literature and visual art, having studied a Liverpool Art Institute before The Beatles was formed. I never knew this, but he penned and illustrated three books, and he continued to draw throughout his life.

The Art of John Lennon is a fascinating exhibition coming to the venerable Anne Jackson Gallery in nearby Roswell, Georgia, Friday, May 29 through Sunday, May 31, and will include curator-led events.

The posthumous, limited edition prints in the exhibition are adapted from Lennon's original drawings. The art has been selected from rare archival sketches and is representative of his whimsical and thought-provoking imagery. Each print is reproduced utilizing the sophisticated and detailed standards typical for archival fine art printing processes, guided, approved and hand-signed by none other than Yoko Ono.

"John did his drawings with inspiration and speed, very much like how he created his songs. It was obvious that there was a strong innate need for John to keep creating these works". – Yoko Ono

I don't remember not being a fan of The Beatles. I remember like it was yesterday listening to my favorite Beatles song, Revolution, as loud as possible during my senior year in high school in Pinedale, Wyoming. That was long before iPods and even before I owned a Walkman!

In fact, I played the song on a record player in the school's Art Room, which was, in effect, a huge warehouse. The sound of the loud rock music was quite the contrast of the country music I was raised on. I'll always be a Beatles fan and now that I've learned that John Lennon was also a visual artist, I'm an even bigger fan!

"The City in My Heart" | The Art of John Lennon | Copyright: Yoko Ono

Scheduled events during the exhibition will feature programming led by Collection Curator, Lynne Clifford, a noted authority on the works of John Lennon. All events are complimentary and open to the public!

"It is a rare opportunity to be able to view over 70 works by John Lennon in a gallery exhibit. The art on exhibition at the Ann Jackson Gallery comprise the years from 1964 through 1980," said Collection Curator Lynne Clifford.

It was years after high school, on a vacation to New York City, that I happened upon the black and white Greco-Roman mosaic bearing the word "Imagine", located in Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Yoko Ono says, speaking of John Lennon's song of the same title, "That song was John's plea for us all to envision a world without conflict or division, and imagine instead a world of peace." Perhaps one day the world will give peace a chance.

Fast-forward many years, after I'd moved to Atlanta, I was on a date at a Tex-Mex restaurant at the corner of Howell Mill Road and Collier Road where a mariachi band playing songs like Margharitaville and La Bamba. The band was taking requests. A table of four young ladies whispered their request to the band and without hesitation the band broke into "We all live in a yellow submarine..."! The restaurant has long since been torn down, but that Beatles memory endures!

I was too young to ever attend a Beatles concert, although I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Beatles tribute band RAIN perform at The Fox Theatre. That was an on-your-feet show! Forty-five years after the quartet disbanded and thirty-five years after John Lennon's murder, The Beatles and John Lennon continue to bring me and millions of others great joy.

The Art of John Lennon will be at the Anne Jackson Gallery in Roswell, May 29 through May 31, 2015. All events are complimentary and open to the public and all artwork in the exhibition is available for acquisition.

Whether John Lennon's messages resonate with you or you're a fan of all Beatles music or you're an enthusiast for unique art viewing opportunities, make your way to see The Art of John Lennon.

And imagine...