Workshops

Stager Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator

The woven journey through India's history of dress unravels into a splendid and diverse tale.  The second most populous country in the world, India is currently inhabited by over 950 million people. Indians exhibit phenomenally varied ethnicity and culture. At least two dozen major languages are spoken. The predominant religion is Hinduism (83%), but Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains represent important minority religions. This cultural diversity contributes to hand-woven fabrics and traditional dress of stunning variety and beauty. 

Weaving is one of the oldest and best known of India's arts. In rural India, where three-quarters of the population still lives, traditional dress and weaving methods remain vital although threatened by the development of power looms and modern mills. Once, weaving was a high-status occupation, with skills handed down from father to son, and injuring a royal weaver was punishable by death. Today, a craftsman still holds an assured, hereditary position, but the rewards are more likely to be personal satisfaction than financial gain. A waning supply of raw materials and traditional dyes and the change in demand has also modified production. Nevertheless, Indian silks retain their worldwide reputation and an export volume second only to that of China. 

The dance of bold colors and metallics created by the inventive drapes of these textiles catches the imagination like no other contemporary clothing. Their woven splendors prove the Hindu craftsman right when he states that "the first, the best, and the most perfect of instruments is the human hand".

Stager Gallery | Dr, Catherine Amidon, Exhibition Curator (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)

Different Voices: New Art from Poland is based on the works of twenty women artists whose activity is related to the fiber arts lineage. The exhibition and catalogue highlight the strength of their production, outline underlying themes, explore techniques and challenge the extent to which their participation in this lineage questions their relationship to 'contemporary art.'

All made since the end of the Soviet era, the art in this exhibition is contemporary. It is of our time and addresses issues relevant to the artists, but it is embedded in a tradition outside of the historically male dominated spheres of painting and sculpture that carry different cultural and political traditions. Polish culture has historically been more solid than the country's geographic borders, engendering an art history that is often preoccupied with national identity. The works in the fiber art lineage embody the aesthetics of a different, quieter dialogue, defined by conscientious process and more reflective of feelings and individual experiences.

Although the work in this exhibition is current, modern and post-modern traditions have instructed the viewer to instinctively anticipate something from 'contemporary art' other than art that is simply contemporary to the viewer. The term 'contemporary art' suggests that the work play off or respond to broader, internationalized issues. Gender, sexuality, the environment, human rights and censorship are among the most potent content in the established art world. Commodification and institutionalization of 'contemporary art,' by galleries, museums, and universities, have insured the propagation of a certain kind of discourse around the content. The work in this exhibition is entering the mainstream, but still exists on the margin of those systems; hence it is read differently.

What are the issues that enframe our understanding of these works? Are media and message through the media the only challenge in naming these works products of 'contemporary art?' What is the role of the lineage of weave and textile arts as women's work, craft or even domestic activity? These are some of the questions to be explored. And the story goes deeper, much deeper, into the body knowledge of the maker and gestures of the act of creation.

Body, process, gender, social product, spiritual vision and media exploration converge and diverge in the works in this exhibition, revealing new perspectives on a society moving through socio-politial changes, and altering human psyches in the process.

Broadbent Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator

Revolutionaries of design Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo have fused east and west to establish an aesthetic that goes beyond national identity. Their innovative approaches to fashion have baffled and transformed us for the past three decades. Beneath a surface of metamorphosing modern forms, the intellectual core of their work is solidly informed by the traditional principles of Japanese design.

A new generation of creative designers came of age in the chaos of post-war Japan, a time of radical political and cultural change. It was then that western clothing replaced the kimono as the usual dress of daily life. Traditional codified attire was swept away, and the Japanese fashion system re-invented itself from a model aesthetically and structurally foreign to Japanese ways. New forms emerged, rooted in a culture that had spent centuries searching for beauty and balance in all aspects of life. 

The work in Japanese by Design retains a respect for craftsmanship that manifests itself in the knowledge of the nature of chosen materials, an understanding of the discipline imposed by structure, and a control of technical processes. The freedom that emerges from this time-honored approach permits the creation of new styles that satisfy both traditional tenets of eastern design and the cutting-edge visions of radical chic. 

From the conjunction of old and new, a unique vision was born. During the recent past Japanese fashion designers have searched, questioned and shaken the foundations of western dress. They have invigorated and modified it profoundly along the way. The creations of Miyake and Kawakubo bring the art of clothing design to a different level, and propose new proportions, diverse sensitivities, and an original take on comfort and appropriateness. In them we find a fresh perspective. 

The Kent State University Museum would like to thank Mary Baskett for sharing her knowledge of contemporary Japanese design, for the inspiration and enthusiasm she brought to this project, and for temporarily parting with pieces from her wardrobe. Japanese by Design would not have been possible without her unfailing generosity.

Mull Gallery | Jean L. Druesedow, Director

Introduced on the air in Cleveland, Ohio at WEWS on January 13, 1949, as the "First Lady of Physical Fitness," Paige Palmer starred in her own television program for 25 years and kept women in Northeastern Ohio tuned in as she told them how to stay young looking, thin and glamorous. Decades ahead of her time, Paige Palmer was the first in the nation to bring a regular exercise regimen to her viewers complete with patented exercise equipment and apparel bearing her name.

The museum exhibition highlights the years on Cleveland television, the fashion and fitness promotions, the travel, the celebrities, and the personal panache that have kept Paige Palmer in the spotlight for fifty years and more.

The station brochure seeking potential sponsors for her show called her "A Lady with Sensational Style Who Sells and Sells and Sells." The mere mention of a product on the "Paige Palmer Show" found it flying off the shelves. The exhibition looks at the way the  business of fashion merchandising was practiced during the time span of the show, and how a television personality in the early years of television participated in fashion and product promotions.

Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator

Where will you be for the party of the millennium? The event that ushers in more than a change in the calendar but a new era: the inauguration of the first woman president of the United States. Few things are certain but some are inevitable.

When American women obtained the right to vote in 1920, they changed the political arena forever. At the dawn of the new millennium, women have attained positions of leadership and power that many thought impossible a century ago. The ultimate party of the millennium will be an occasion for joy, a celebration of true balance in democracy and an affirmation of the contributions of all our citizens.

Strengthened by women's achievements in the last century, let us embrace the future and look forward to the day when the last barrier of gender inequality is overcome. Let us tap into the national resources of women's strength and determination, and encourage them to run for political office at all levels, including the presidency.

This exhibition showcases the creativity of American designers and envisions the brilliant and glorious evening that will forever be engraved in people's minds as the party of the millennium.

Higbee Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator

When the Kent State University Museum opened its "Victoriana" exhibition in January 1988, it was enhanced by loans from Martha McCaskey Selhorst - six bonnets, six parasols, a carpetbag and a paisley shawl. The Selhorst Collection was well known in the Cleveland area through the entrancing and entertaining shows of period fashions created by Marty Selhorst. 

Begun during the 1970s fashion for wearing vintage clothes, the collection grew, and grew, and grew to encompass 150 years of fashion history and a thousand pieces. Marty's eye for period fashions sought out exquisite, pristine examples wherever she traveled, and some of the pieces were purchased in London and Paris. The collection was particularly known for the Victorian and Edwardian lingerie dresses made of wonderful assemblages of white laces, its jazzy "flapper" dresses from the 1920s and its slinky bias cut fashions from the 1930s. Less well known, but of great significance to the Kent State University Museum's holdings, were a group of cotton day dresses from the 1860s and two exceptional costumes for fancy dress balls, also from the nineteenth century. 

From the moment the collection entered the Museum parts of it have been on exhibition. Many of Marty's extensive group of Pucci designs were in the 1996-97 "Pucci!" exhibition, her paisleys part of "Wrapped in Splendor, the Art of the Paisley Shawl", and one of the cotton day dresses in "Fashioning Fashion". "Silhouettes of Style" marks the Museum's first rotation of selected costumes from the Selhorst Collection, and officially welcomes the collection to the University. We are most grateful to Martha Selhorst for her keen eye, the extraordinary care she gave the collection, and her generosity in donating it to the Kent State University Museum.

Alumni Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator

The 1970s was a period of self-expression, experimentation and soul-searching. From humble working class denims to high style disco garments, fashions mirrored the changing attitudes that contributed to the emergence of a plethora of new provocative and powerful styles.

Prior to this decade, French Couture had played dictator to the masses. This unilateral stylistic discourse catered mostly to the elite and was watered-down as it reached the base of the social pyramid. With the growing political disenchantment of the 1960s and the emergence of radical subcultures, a wider variety of influences began to be perceptible among American society. Where the "youth quake" of the 1960s had projected the bright-eyed futuristic rhetoric of its era, the 1970s drew on the volatile political atmosphere that fueled change in society and, irrevocably, in the fashion system.

At a time when countercultures re-defined society and a growing number of people started experiencing, perhaps painfully, the principles of democracy, individuality and freedom of expression became catalysts for new ideas, new behaviors and new styles. In both politics and fashion, ideas that were once subversive made their way to the forefront and contributed to the abolishment of autocratic rules. To this day, no two individuals feel they must conform to a unique dress code.

Fashion rules are slowly becoming an endangered species and ideas now emerge from various social strata. Street styles trickle-up to the middle classes and even to the elite. Although the politics of style are still subject to a multitude of social, cultural and economic forces, it took a time of turmoil and protest to get the fashion revolution started.

Broadbent, Palmer, and Mull Galleries | Anne Bissonnette, Curator

Enter Isabel and Ruben Toledo's world and find two highly talented individuals working in synergy. Muse to her husband's sculpture, painting and illustration, Isabel Toledo conceives of shapes and structures to clothe the human body. Complementarily, Ruben Toledo's surreal view of life brings humor and unconventionality to her industrial world.

Born in Cuba one year apart from each other, Isabel and Ruben met while attending high school in New Jersey. They married soon afterwards, and entered the New York fashion world almost immediately. Strongly anchored in Cuban culture yet highly individualistic, both approach their craft with passion. From her American upbringing, Isabel gained an appreciation of machinery, practicality and comfort while retaining a love for traditional elegance. Ruben's irrational, instinctive approach to art fused with American popular culture, exploding in playful, incisive and intensely surreal observations on fashion, beauty and life.

After decades of mutually inspired creative endeavor, the couple refuses to be categorized or assimilated by the establishment. An idiosyncratic figure in the American and European fashion world, Isabel stopped presenting bi-annual collections in 1998 after twelve years of intense production. Today she creates at her own pace, testing the results until they meet her standards of excellence, and furthering her investigations into concepts close to her heart. Effortless at first glance, her garments are actually painstakingly engineered to be fluid and comfortable and to feel familiar. Even the elaborate spinning helixes, suspended shapes and geometrical constructions are anchored with both pragmatism and poetry. A multi-faceted artist, Ruben Toledo is the master of several media. His best-known work delights in the absurdity, audacity and charisma of the fashion world. Unlike many illustrators, he adds wit and perspective to the representation of the human figure.

Entwined in the same universe but respecting their separate talents, Isabel and Ruben Toledo draw sustenance from each other's abilities, strengths and esthetic beliefs. Freedom of thought is their common ground.

Stager Gallery | Jean L. Druesedow, Director

Flora & Fashion: Gardens Become Us! features a range of fashions influenced by botannicals and florals including 18th century costume, 19th and 20th century ballgowns, garden party dresses, floral hats, textiles, accessories, and elegant examples of couture from Dior, Balenciaga, Norell, and Chanel, among others. The exhibition also showcases decorative art from the collection with a special section devoted to the newly acquired Paige Palmer Collection of Ohio Pottery, including beautiful examples of Roseville, Weller, and Rookwood pottery.

Higbee Gallery | Anne Bissonnette, Curator

The Kent State University Museum is pleased to present a unique combination of historic costumes and paper doll art. This exhibition explores fashion from the 18th and 19th centuries through authentic garments of the time period and the paper doll artistry of Norma Lu Meehan.

Meehan began her career as a fashion illustrator, working forty years for magazines and newspapers until illustrations were replaced by the photographs that became the industry standard. Not ready to put aside her passion for illustration, she searched for an alternative artistic outlet, and soon found it in paper dolls. The creator of numerous paper doll books since 1991, Norma Lu Meehan has worked diligently to develop a reputation as a premier paper doll artist. The book, published by Texas Tech University Press, from which this exhibition is drawn is a testament to her talent.

The idea for her latest book came when she visited the Kent State University Museum. Excited by what she saw, Meehan approached the museum staff about using the collection in a paper doll book. With Director, Jean Druesedow, as co-author, and Curator, Anne Bissonnette, as consultant, the project took off. Together, they selected slides of some of the finest garments in the collection for Meehan to study and illustrate. When she showed her first watercolor illustrations for the book, Collection By Design: A Paper Doll History of Costume 1750-1900, to the Museum staff, they were inspired to create a complementary exhibition.

Museum staff and volunteers under Bissonnette's direction carried out the myriad tasks of exhibition preparation: stabilizing garments, reproducing items necessary for their display, and finding paintings and decorative art to create authentic surroundings for the costumes . A rare treat for Museum visitors are the many 18th century garments from our collection, which are seldom shown. Recent acquisitions from this era include a purple iridescent gown à la polonaise, a man's orange moiré suit, and our first pair of 18th century women's shoes, shown with an exquisite short gown and quilted petticoat.

Each of the garments and paper dolls on display in the Higbee Gallery is a tribute to the changing face of fashion. The exhibition is a unique opportunity for paper doll lovers and fashion enthusiasts alike to see delightful paper doll creations alongside the period costumes that inspired them.