NEW Yes Please More Store

New Pop-Up Store!  Opening this Friday at the Denver Pavilions on the 16th St. Mall.  On the 2nd floor across from Express and Forever 21, this location is loaded with gorgeous goods by ONLY colorado designers and artists!!

Don't miss the launch party for the new location this FRIDAY, October 8th featuring all new designed goods, sweet beats, lovely confections, and the people who get it.  Be those people.

I'm proud to introduce 2 new dresses, a new jacket, a new clutch/folio and new necklaces as Hol Sum's contribution to the store!  Exclusively available at the Pop-Up store, I hope you'll try something on!

Also, Hol Sum got the Yes Please More Creative Entrepreneurial Grant for which you all voted so fervently!  As promised, eco-sensitive and sustainable fabrics will make their debut as part of Hol Sum's next additions to the Pop-Up store later this Fall!

felt, always dear.

HAND/EYE magazine has regular articles about some of my favorite media.  The publication usually has a rich depiction of a process or medium via multiple articles/perspectives.  This particular article is about Marjolein Dallinga, felt artist under the name Bloomfelt, who works with Cirque de Soleil to create costumes and related elements.  It's clear from the photo slide show that she also creates felt art installations and works for the static stage.  I recommend viewing the slide show of Marjolein Dallinga's work that accompanies the article (click on this post's title to link to the article).

Felt is certainly one of my favorite art and design mediums.  Everything from industrial grade, sometimes rock hard, tough felt to the paper thin, gauze that the animal hair can aspire to.

More articles on felt at HAND/EYE's site and even MORE in their print editions.

"Look what I have created!!!"

Carrot love... err... something like that.

Garden, 425 Holly St., 2010

September 1st

On display at Denver's Museum of Contemporary Art yesterday.  Spectacles in and outside the building - I think this is probably a nice addition to the current exhibition - Energy Effects.

one week

One week, at the end of August 2010, this happened:

Christian framed my artwork.
I presented Hol Sum at Pecha Kucha Night #11!
My bicycle was stolen.
I commissioned a new dress with Kelsey.
McCall and I made awesome progress in new Hol Sum clothing for Fall and Winter.
My drawing, CMYK 2 was accepted for the Denver Modernism show and won honorable mention!












 And now... a recovery Saturday morning with Christian, coffee, french toast and whipped cream.

woman

 Most of the time, I don't like the taste of art about Barbies and/or the female "body image paradox" (you know, when we want to be thin and lithe and pretty but we don't want to cave into the OCD beauty struggle that sometimes plainly conflicts with natural woman-ness).  However, this piece by Maria Gil Ulldemolins strikes another chord of thinking. 

The current renewed feminine interest into traditional hand crafts such as knitting and needle point addresses another aspect of womanhood.  More women want to take ownership of these traditionally feminine skills.  Moreover, artistas worldwide are using the "hand craft" as art media.  There is a simple message when putting age old media to use for contemporary female identity themes - there is history in our present condition. 

Maria's Cross Stitch Barbie crosses our conflicting ideas of the ideal woman.  She addresses more than the physical shape of us by calling out the historically feminine mode in us.
Of course, there's more to this piece that addresses many girls' desire to take apart and often destroy their barbies.  I'll leave my comments for the conflicted identity department, but read Maria's own article, Man, I Feel Like a Woman at HAND/EYE magazine's website.

sneaker couture

Ms. Yoakum with "Goddess Tara" sneaker (photo from NYT)

"Amanda Yoakum paints on sneakers."  The un-traditional medium started with a gift for her boyfriend and has now become her couture practice.  See the whole article at the New York Times site.  Cheers to Amanda for keeping her work commission based.