Dresses and fish

Frankford Ave First Friday in June had some fantastic and then some fun fiber art sculpture. At Goldfish Gallery was Lesley Haas' delicate paper dress construction. The paper has the brittle texture and color one would expect from aged textile artifacts. The bodice was supported by a dress form, but I'm not sure how much structure lies beneath the shredded-newspaper skirt. On the night of the opening the crowd was filled with models wearing flirty cocktail dresses created by another artist in the show, but they felt garish and burlesque compared with the elegant form below- though even Haas dress is showing some "cleavage" with the loosely tied bodice!

Down the street at Highwire Gallery, the Northwest Artists Collective was on display with "Go Fishin". Melissa Maddonni Haims' hanging sculpture "The Ocean" seemed the most fitting to the theme. Her piece is entirely knitted in a variety of yarns. I find the flat ocean animals distracting compared to the wonderful colors and forms that create the water. I wonder what would happen if the animals were given the same depth and texture as the water...
I think both of the works above were featured in the Focus on Fiber show at Art in City Hall this past Spring. It's nice to see them in a different context.