4 minute read
HAUTE TRASH! & THE ART OF ADORNMENT
Through the persistence and tenaciousness of Dr. Nerine Kleinhans, a BC Arts Council grant and the Tilted Brick Gallery Association, a 12-metre mural was unveiled in February 2024 at the Creston Valley Hospital trauma unit. Seven artists from Yaqan Nukiy and Creston collaborated to create a mural depicting water and its healing nature. Each artist chose one section of the overall composition to portray their personal engagement with water in all its many interpretations and influences—from birds in flight to the healing powers of water-nourished plants to the vast landscape created by water to the ebb and flow of vapour and streams.
Photo: Gay Allen
Turning garbage into treasures
by Margaret Tessman
When faced with the question, “What can we do about garbage?” two groups came up with the same answer: Turn it into something beautiful.
The second annual Haute Trash! fashion show, competition and exhibition will take place on June 15 at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson. And the Rossland Council for Arts & Culture (RCAC) will stage the Art of Adornment Wearable Art Show and Gala at the Rossland Miners’ Hall on May 11.
Performing artist Marilyn Hatfield was Nelson’s Cultural Ambassador for 2020, the epic year that we are all glad is behind us. She has had an interest in trash fashion since she lived in California in her 20s. “It was called Hot Trash back in the day,” she says. “It was so inspiring and insane what people came up with.”
Trash fashion is a way for people to exercise creativity while at the same time generating awareness of our relationship to garbage. Hatfield felt that the concept was a perfect fit for Nelson. “It’s such an artsy, forward-thinking community,” she says.
The first Haute Trash! event took place in May 2023. Just over 20 designers between the ages of 9 and 70 participated, with first and second prizes going to a young woman from Winlaw who crafted an entire party outfit from Whiskas cat food bags, along with a Jingle-inspired dress.
Hatfield strived to make the event available to everyone in the community and was able to pull 30-plus prizes from local businesses. Haute Trash! is supported by the Trust, through the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (CKCA) and Nelson District Arts Council. The Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery displayed four of the 2023 winning designs after the event and have agreed to do so this year as well.
The Art of Adornment debuted on International Women’s Day in March 2020, the brainchild of RCAC board members Elaine Wigle and Theshini Naicker. “Our goal was to use wearable art to inspire art and artists,” says RCAC executive director Meghan Hall. “We want to make wearable art a recognizable art form.”
Participants were presented with the challenge of using 80 percent recycled materials in their creations. The results ranged from full ensembles like a plastic bag ball gown, to accessories such as jewellery, shawls and a stick-and-leaf head piece.
The jury was able to view items ahead of the catwalk show to examine the designs and construction more closely. Accessories were placed on display on the second level of the Miners’ Hall, along with sketches and early design concepts of the ensemble outfits, which gave a feel for the time and layers that went into the creations.
Hall says that modelling the ensembles rather than having them on display really brought another level to the experience for the audience. “It’s like looking at clothes on a body rather than just on a rack,” she says. “The movement really tells the story of the piece.” RCAC will again partner with the VISAC Gallery in Trail to display a selection of the creations after the event. Artists are paid for their entries and the expanded 2024 prize categories include Best in Show, Eco, Youth and Technolog‘me.’ The Art of Adornment is supported by CKCA, the BC Arts Council and the Province through a Community Gaming grant.
For more information: hautetrash.ca, hautetrashnelson@gmail.com, rosslandartscouncil.com
