Workshops
Palmer and Mull Galleries | Sara Hume, Curator
The “Fashion Timeline” showcases the Kent State University Museum’s world-class collection of historic fashions. Encompassing over two centuries of fashion history, this exhibition is designed to show the evolution of styles and silhouettes while contextualizing the pieces with relevant political, technological and cultural developments. While the display is a permanent feature at the museum, the individual pieces are rotated frequently so there is always something new to see!
Click here to see the virtual timeline that accompanies the exhibit.
The first gallery spans the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. This was a period of revolutionary change that can clearly be seen reflected in the fashions. The American and French Revolutions radically changed the political landscapes while the industrial revolution transformed how goods, particularly clothing and textiles, were made. The luxury and rococo excesses of the eighteenth century gave way to the romanticism and neoclassicism of the early nineteenth century. The next room includes the second half of the nineteenth century to the dawn of World War I. Synthetic dyes opened up a world of color and the sewing machine facilitated the application of yards of ruffles, pleats, and fringe. The upholstered, heavy styles of the Victorian era eventually gave way to Edwardian froth and lace.
The final two rooms conclude the timeline with fashions of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. While the early years of the twentieth century may have been a period of world wars and depression, fashions also reflected the heydays of jazz and swing, the boldness of Art Deco, and the endless possibilities of technology from plastics to rockets. The final gallery brings the fashions up to the present day. The end of the twentieth century saw a multitude of social changes which resulted in a greater range of acceptable styles for both women and men. Ready-to-wear clothing has become the rule so every garment has a label whether from a famous designer or a fast fashion retailer.
Stager and Blum Galleries | Sara Hume, Curator
SPECIAL UPDATE: The exhibition "The Great War" will be closing June 7, 2015 rather than July 5, 2015 as previously advertised. The Museum will be undergoing renovations starting June 8 and will have to be closed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
From 1914 until 1918, the world faced war on a scale never before seen. In addition to the loss of millions of lives, this period saw tremendous technological, social and political upheaval. These profound changes led to a transformation in the way women dressed. Increasingly called to work and contribute in numerous ways to the war effort, women made great strides towards equality. The war’s impact reached far beyond men in the trenches to effect women both at home and in the workforce. Women directly served the war effort not just as nurses, but also in roles that had previously been reserved for men including service in the Navy and Marines. Immediately following the war, women in the United States and Canada as well as in several European countries received the right to vote. This exhibition explores how the roles for women changed during and in the immediate aftermath of World War I through a careful look at how they dressed.
While many of women’s inroads into the workforce were quickly reversed once the war ended, the fundamental changes in how women dressed endured. This exhibition looks at how women’s fashions changed in response to these shifting roles. Women adopted shorter skirts and a looser, less confining silhouette. Gone were the cumbersome petticoats and rigid whalebone corsets and in their place were slim, clean lines and serviceable suits.
The exhibition is organized into sections focusing on women at work, at play, and at home. A selection of propaganda posters along with contemporary fashion plates will be displayed alongside actual garments from the period. The nearly 30 ensembles include not just fashionable day and evening wear, but working clothes including a naval uniform and nursing uniform, as well as athletic clothing and bathing suits. A selection of undergarments and accessories such as hats and shoes further illustrates the changes in silhouettes.
The videos from this exhibition can be found on the Kent State University Museum's YouTube playlist.
Alumni Gallery | American Jewelry Design Council (AJDC)
The most compelling work of the American Jewelry Design Council (AJDC) is their annual design project, which began in 1996. Each year the distinguished group chooses a design theme for which members create one-of-kind pieces. The themes are chosen with considerable care to inspire many meanings, and the projects are meant to stimulate both the artist and the viewer to think beyond common limits and regard the jeweler’s creation beside other works of art as an object of contemplation. The project originally began with the intention of auctioning off the pieces to fund AJDC projects, however it was ultimately decided to keep the pieces with the intent to exhibit them. The resulting archive is spectacular, with works of master craftsmanship in precious and non-precious materials by America’s most influential jewelry designers. All works in the exhibition have been selected from this remarkable archive
, 
Broadbent Gallery | Jean Druesedow, Director
American designer Geoffrey Beene (1927–2004) was respected throughout the American fashion industry for the high technical quality of his work and his innovative, modernist designs. Although very fashionable, Mr. Beene’s collections were never trendy and always original. He took an artist’s approach to turning two-dimensional fabric into a three-dimensional shape for the body and was considered a designer’s designer. Garments from the Museum’s collection will trace his 40-year career.
Higbee Gallery | Sara Hume, Curator
The art of creating beautiful custom clothing has always entailed beautiful workmanship that is hidden when the pieces are worn. This exhibition showcases these secret inner-workings that are usually out of sight. Weights, pockets, quilted linings, boning, ruffles and labels all come to light when the garments are flipped inside out.
The pieces selected for this exhibition, which span the eighteenth to the twentieth century and include both men’s and women’s wear, are excellent examples of their respective eras. Unlike many period garments, which have been reworked or have had their linings and waistbands altered or removed, these pieces have maintained a remarkable degree of integrity. In fact, in some cases, the insides are as beautifully finished as the outsides.
Fashion history usually focuses on changing silhouettes with the rise and fall of hemlines or the tightening and loosening of waistlines. Underlying these external shifts are structural changes that appear only when the garments are laid out and examined closely. Creating three-dimensional garments from bolts of cloth demands solving certain basic problems: how to finish the edges, how to fasten the garments, how to shape the material around the body’s curves. Dressmakers and tailors have addressed these problems with a number of ingenuous methods. Some of these techniques reappear in every era while others are specific to a period. This exhibition tracks these changes with a careful selection of representative pieces, which are mounted in ways to allow visitors to take a close look at the interiors.
For more information visit the exhibition website: https://insideoutksum.wordpress.com/
recent work
by Nancy and Darrell Seibert
July 2 – August 2, 2015
, 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE through May 22:
Decagon, School of Visual Communication Design Photo-Illustration Exhibition
KENT, Ohio – The School of Art’s Downtown Gallery presents “Decagon, School of Visual Communication Design Photo-Illustration Exhibition, May 8 – May 22, 2015,” an exhibit of photographic works created by graduating Photo-Illustration students, class of 2015.
Decagon will showcase a variety of works ranging from expressive studio photography to dynamic digital compositions by photographers: Michael Angelini, Caroline Boetger,
Nathan Hubble, Josiah Hull, Andrew Keller, Jackie Lalumandier, Brianna Levay, Olivia Mandala, Joslyn VanKirk and Erika Walesch.
Decagon will have an opening reception on May 8, 2015 from 5-7pm at the Downtown Gallery.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Kent State University’s Photo-Illustration program prepares students for careers in studio and illustrative commercial photography. Photo-Illustrators are intermediaries between clients and their audiences, acting as interpreters by bringing clients’ visions to life.
For additional information about the photographers, parking, please visit www.KSUDecagon.com
The Downtown Gallery is located at: 141 East Main Street in the heart of Kent, Ohio.
Gallery hours are Mon-Wed 9:30 am-6:00 pm, Thurs 9:30 am-8:00 pm, Fri 9:30 am-7:00 pm, Sat 10:00 am-4:00 pm & Sun 12:00 pm-5:00 pm
Phone (330) 676-1549 (please contact Anderson Turner M-F
Contact: Anderson Turner, director of galleries, haturner@kent.edu, 330-672-1369 (office)
Annual Spring Foundations Show
April 29 - 30, 2015
reception: April 30, 5 – 7 PM
Stager and Blum Galleries | Curators: Koon Hwee Kan and Janice Lessman-Moss
We initiated this project as a celebration of more than three decades of diplomatic ties between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China. This exchange exhibit serves as an experimental channel for direct connections among contemporary studio faculty members in both cultures. Gravitating toward uniqueness is typical in new artistic creation and cultural expression, which may inadvertently overemphasize contradictory outcomes stemming from differences.
Sharing similarities—especially artistic sensitivity and creative vision—and reflecting upon connections and distinctions can create opportunities to bond and open a space for interconnectedness, the ultimate goal of this project. We believe that the ongoing development of thought-provoking ideas and enduring approaches helps foster greater mutual trust and intensified understanding among global communities.
For more information, visit atinfinitum.org
