WHAT: Common Threads: A Talk and Show About Contemporary Garments Inspired by Traditional Asian Design Sensibilities

WHEN: Friday, April 11, 2003 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: University of Massachusetts – Amherst 10th Floor – Campus Center

TICKETS: $10, Five-College Students $5. Includes a post show reception.
For tickets call 413-545-2511 or 800-999-UMAS Tickets available on-line at www.fineartscenter.com

The Asian Dance and Music Program’s Spirit and Soul Series presents:
Common Threads
A Contemporary Interpretation of Fabric and Traditional Asian Garment Design
By Designer and Weaver Leonore Alaniz

Weaver/Designer Leonore Alaniz invites her audience to journey to the lands of Japanese, East Indian, Greek and Germanic mythologies, where they meet the characters who wear the textiles and garments she has created.

As part of the "Spirit and Soul" series, Alaniz presents and offers for purchase masterfully crafted and stylistically diverse "art-fabric-ations" which contain common cultural threads that are present in the fabric of many societies. Her work demonstrates that societies develop attires of distinction and that "cloth-ing" is a transformative experience and is naturally associated with costuming and stage performance. As a mindful act, "cloth-ing" affirms who we are or who we aspire to become. Alaniz will narrate the show and speak about the influences along the creative path.

The material wealth displayed includes award-winning, hand-woven shadow weaves, metallic gimp, painted ribbon weaves and silks hand imprinted with ginkgo leaves. Of special interest is the designer's innovative, diagonal garment construction. She applies it to dresses, shirts, blouses, skirts and jackets. As counterpart to her expressive fabrics, Alaniz uses fabrics of organically grown cotton for garments that drape in classical Greek fashion. The fabric’s simple beauty resembles hand-woven Indian khadi. Mahatma Ghandi championed its production with his spinning wheel and it became a symbol of India’s quest for independence from British colonialism.

The notion of thread as our heritage and the topics surrounding it reaches into the labyrinths of mythology and into the world wide web of computer discourse.

After the show, a reception with hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be provided. An exhibit and sales area will feature scarves and other wearables by Alaniz and unique hats and helmets by fellow artisan Matt Newman. Both designers were granted patents for their innovative wearables.