Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Reaching Out

 

Letter to a cosmologist,

because my best friend said "why not write to him?"



"........
Your comment about going backwards into the simpler past to better understand the complex present, was an aha moment for me.  Now I get what I have been doing by instinct. 

            My current work started as a short story for an arts installation. Species on the Verge (also a video) and Water-The Flow (fashionRIP) were prior gallery shows that dealt with the human connection to Nature. I was planning another when my path switched. The last piece was to have been an exploration of climate change. However, the melting metaphor resulted in another kind of story and in the process, it outgrew the mediums. 

            Now the script is vast and unwieldy. It is like a hologram in my mind, filled with information relationships and connections. I have unearthed enough evidence to change the story. Knowing how human beliefs constructed this “reality” in a way that limits our species greater potential is maddening, even painful. Lately i have been working through the lens of play, it helps.

 “….   . change the world, change the metaphor, change the story.” These are some of Joseph Campbell’s last words to Bill Moyer. I heard them quoted after I had started this letter. Make of it what you will.
          
 I have collected several AAs and a Bachelors in Environmental Science and Communications (2012) I continue auditing and exploring ever more fields of study. The historic accounts are simpler, in number and variety. The information is sometimes shocking, humorous and or naive in today’s light. When played forward the cumulative record gets us “here.”  As in Big Bang, so too, in life.
           
So now what? I have been trying to find a way to get a peer review forum going, but so far it has been “good idea,” and that’s it. This is too big to do alone. I would really appreciate any tips, ideas, links to anything in kind, further inquiry, whatever.

Sincerely,
deborah j barnes 



Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Wedding Evolution

Hello,
I am going back into custom apparel as my love for design, the ethics of eco fashion and my love of fabric and the fiber arts is merging again with my social and political thinking. This new co creative project surpasses and yet embraces everything i have done up to now. 

The many colorful threads of experiences and research are being rewoven together again and voila.... the Wedding Evolution is being born.

Now this venture started with my friend and sister-in-law, Gwen. She  had been watching the TV show that helps brides find their special looks.  However many of the brides wanted something in the Not White department. These brides were often left to settle or leave the wedding atrium to satisfy their visions. .

After looking into the white wedding tradition it became apparent to me, that it was based on the sentiments of the Victorians. The Victorian Era mindset is not something i wish to further and after some thought, i realized that it is time to make garb for living people and events.

So if you and your partner are inclined towards a fresh approach, want a wedding that is personally meaningful, is mindful in thought and action,  then perhaps Wedding Evolution will be your cup of tea (See, that Victorian Empire invasion persists..:-)

I also believe that gender is a spectrum, Nature is more than a landscape and that the past can stop dictating to the present. 

Futures full of "new"  possibilities thrive when they leap the limitations of  hand me down thoughts. -This is not to be confused with hand me down clothing which is perfectly reFashionable and Yes to that Dress. With a restyling, a reFashioning or just a few touch ups, the old gowns can "walk" again.

Thank you,
deborah j barnes
creative director
of
Wedding Evolution