Monday, March 7, 2011

Teamwork: Our Collaborative Group

Here again is our team...this photo shot during the video session.


Left to Right:
Andrea Marx, Duke Windsor, Susan Lazear, Osbaldo Ahumada

At the Shoot

We had a great time at the video shoot (see the YouTube video in a prior entry).
Here are a few shots from that day.

Duke talking to Patricia. Note Duke's paintings in the background.

Osbaldo being taped, holding his sketches.


Andrea and Susan, waiting to be taped.



The venue for the filming.

Men at Work!

Osbaldo and Duke... both artists in their own right. Osbaldo in fashion design and Duke as a fine artist painter.

Here they are together, and each working.

Osbaldo... drafting patterns

Duke... mixing paint

We are on YouTube!


Recently, our La Femme Noir team was featured in a video promoting the Art Meets Fashion collaboration, a project of the San Diego Visual Arts Network.
http://www.ArtMeetsFashion.org.


Here is a YouTube video where you can learn more about our project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjs8R4WJnTE

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Theme Philosophy

Our approach to the Art Meets Fashion challenge revolves around a fusion of our artist’s and designer’s unique styles of work. Both are very organic in their approach to design and both use texture heavily. For Duke, this involves not only his painting techniques, but his choice of mediums. For Osbaldo, this is seen in his sculptural and dimensional garments that demonstrate his ability to transcend us to another time and space as we watch his work move down the runway. Black is a prominent color used by both Duke and Osbaldo, and they share a love of fantasy and the sci-fi world. Thus has evolved, our theme and approach for this project, “La Femme Noir”. This will also be our team name.

As the plan currently stands, Osbaldo will design sculptural pieces of clothing, and portions of these will be painted by Duke, after the garment is constructed. For Duke, this will involve engineered painting in the round, and he looks forward to the collaboration. As the group looked at Osbaldo’s sketches, we saw elements of sculpture and fantasy. Susan and Andrea are opera-goers, and the sketches brought forth memories of Mozart’s Queen of the Night. Once we played the music from this famous aria in The Magic Flute, we all agreed that our approach was set. We would create La Femme Noir, fashion and art’s counter to Mozart’s Queen of the Night.

Initial Sketches

Here are a couple of early sketches from Osbaldo. It was with these sketches that we came up with our theme: La Femme Noir.

Team Member: Andrea Marx


Andrea Marx

Andrea Marx is a Professor of Fashion at San Diego Mesa College. She has degrees in Clothing and Textile from Michigan State University and Russell Sage College. At Mesa, her blend of industry experience and education training allows Andrea to train hundreds of students in the areas of patternmaking, construction, draping, and design. She is currently the Chair Person of the Consumer and Family Studies programs, and is a member of the Fashion Group International as well as the International Textile and Apparel Association. Andrea has overseen the development of curriculum and course materials in Fashion at Mesa College as well as Palomar College and the University of New Hampshire. She has won several Outstanding Teacher of the Year awards and is highly respected by not only students but her peers.

Team Member: Susan Lazear


Susan Lazear

Susan Lazear is a Professor of Fashion at San Diego Mesa College. There she teaches various courses related to fashion, textiles, fashion technology, and costume. She has a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science degrees in Clothing and Textiles. Susan is also the owner of Cochenille Design Studio, a software company that develops and markets software and design-aid products for textile and fiber artists (www.cochenille.com). She is an active fashion designer, and exercises her skills in the form of sewn and knit clothing. Her love of photography and writing have led her to publish articles in numerous textile/craft publications. In addition, she has authored two books on Fashion Design using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Susan’s world travels have allowed her to view fashion and cultures, documenting their clothing and costume as sources of inspiration to current fashion.

You can reach Susan at slazear@sdccd.edu
or via her website at www.cochenille.com
or, her personal blog, http://susanlazear.blogspot.com

Team Member: Osbaldo Ahumada


Osbaldo Ahumada

Osbaldo Ahumada is an innovative fashion designer who focuses on fantasy and sculptural pieces of wearable art. He was born in Sinaloa, Mexico and moved to the United States to pursue study in Fashion Design. He achieved his goals, and graduated from the Fashion Program at Mesa College in San Diego. Osbaldo has won numerous awards for his designs, including Best Fantasy and Best in Show Industry awards from the California Fashion Symposium (in 2007 and 2008), as well as numerous awards at Mesa College’s Annual Golden Scissors Fashion show. Ahumada loves art, and translates his love of sculpture to clothing through the use of unique fabrics and non-traditional materials.

Team Member: Duke Windsor


Art and music have always played an influential role in Duke Windsor’s life. Windsor worked as a Combat Illustrator for the United States Marine Corp until 1982. Recognizing that art was his calling, Windsor decided to open his first art studio in 1986.

In 1999 Windsor began a series of paintings focusing on the alleys of North Park. A decade later, deciding something had to change, Duke enrolled in the San Diego Fine Art Society's Artist Mentor Program. Under the guidance of mentor Yoram Gil and using his early cityscape subject matter as inspiration, Windsor created his current more stylized interpretations of the urban landscape. The Mentor Program allowed Windsor to make a ground-breaking transition in the execution of his works, pushing him to experiment with techniques and a visual language bordering on abstraction.

Duke currently lives and creates in North Park. For more information about his past or current work go to: www.dukewindsorstudio.com or contact him directly at dukewindsorstudio@cox.net.




Duke Windsor: Mixed Media Artist