Going global

In addition to the embellished metallic mesh pieces I sent to Cynthia for her Global Caravan show in Honolulu, I sent an appliqued sweater - a sample rejected from a Holiday collection I worked on a few months back. It was supposed to be coral on green, but a communication glitch caused it to come out a very Christmas-y deep red.

Since I wasn't able to be there for the gallery opening I sent along an 'artist's statement' to hang on the rack along with the garments. Here is part of the text:

"I have included one special knitted sweater design in the show. The artwork for the embroidery and appliqué design was taken from a photo of one of my favorite carpets Cynthia carried back from Turkey. Carpets were piled high at her special showing, and magic color combinations colored my dreams for sometime afterwards.
Soon after, my travels took me to Yingkou in northern China near the Mongolian border, where I spent several weeks designing a knitwear collection. I slipped my Turkish carpet design onto one of the sweaters. The Chinese interpretation of that design, with its beaded accents, is truly a child of Global Caravan."

The red is appliqued on top of the green sweater, then embroidered over the applique. Afterwards, sew-thru rhinestones were scattered over the design, with a few seed beads for good measure. I loved working on this piece - finding the right shape and color of stones was a challenge. It's too bad that it was a bit too dramatic for the line I was working on, and will remain one-of-a-kind. In the sample room in China, this piece was known as the 'Chinese Opera' jacket. Funny how that Turkish carpet design seems to fit right in to the Mongolian vibe there in northern China