fabricflowers

Linda Celestian paints thin layers of silk with natural dye, felts it and supports it with wire to sculpt fabric thats light and airy.Her ethereal silk sculpture, "The Ocean's Whisper to Me is a blur of vibrant blue floating in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts.Celestian's sculpture a wooden dress and a flowing black tape ball gown share a common thread. They won the top awards at the GoggleWorks newest exhibit Vanity Fare which features art inspired by fashion.

Last summer saw two popular fashion exhibits in museums: the blockbuster Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Roberto Capucci exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art The GoggleWorks decided to try something similar with Vanity Fare a juried exhibit of fashion-inspired art.About 90 artists entered more than 200 pieces for the show Judges Lyn Godley an artist and Pam Ptak a clothing designer narrowed the selections to more than 80. The exhibit showcases patchwork jackets, shoes decorated with feathers or dried flowers two painted homages to leopard skin pillbox hats and more.

The judges also picked the top winner including a grand prize for the best in show That artist Celestian will be featured in an upcoming solo show at the GoggleWorks.Fashion is familiar territory for Celestian of Wilmington who studied fashion design and worked in the industry for a few years before focusing on painting.Shes often inspired by the ocean and nature. Celestian and her family frequently visit Sanibel Island in Florida's Gulf Coast.

With the ocean in mind she stumbled upon a way to make sculpture thats soft but not stuffed, clunky or heavy She hand-dyes silk organza felts it to give texture and gives the fabric shape by stringing wire throughout.Its bridal fabric gown fabric but for me, it's like white canvas Celestian said You can make it into anything,Prom fashions feature shiny, shimmery fabrics