It’s tough to look at art the same way after seeing Brooklyn-based artist Ariel Adkins’ trendy take on sculptures and paintings from around the world.
Every week, the blogger and founder of Artfully Awear transforms an art installation into a wearable masterpiece with simple tools like paints and a jumpsuit. “My main art is art inspired by other art,” Adkins said.
The young artist and entrepreneur has turned a Claude Monet painting into a party dress and modeled thrifty outfits inspired by Pablo Picasso works. Her favorite innovation is a shift dress covered in vibrant blue, pink and orange fringe that mimics a Nigerian architect’s multicolored, floor-to-ceiling ropes exhibit shown in Philadelphia last fall. The artist, Francis Kéré, was so impressed he ordered a matching jacket from her.
As the brand suggests, Artfully Awear aims to fuse art and fashion as well as push people to engage with art from an alternative perspective.
“I like giving an example of how two plus two equals five,” Adkins said before hosting a workshop for young girls in Greenwich last week. “I think about what I do as artwork inspired by another piece where the product equals more than the sum of the parts because of the emotional experience of the process.”
Last week, she joined forces with fellow young female business owner Molly Wills in Greenwich to host a workshop. The two met in college and celebrated an anniversary of sorts Friday at Wills’ Waverly studio as they first collaborated several years ago when both were working to lift their businesses off the ground.
“I love her concept; I think it’s so brilliant,” said Wills, whose Waverly Project exposes girls to experiences and mentors through weekly events. “It pairs especially well with the Waverly mission, which is about enjoying the creative process and the girls realizing it can be inspired by anything that interests them. (Adkins) lets art inspire her creative process and it could be anything for them.”
Adkins has been diligently producing her weekly projects and pursuing marketing for Artfully Awear for a few years, Adkins said, but she formed the concept 10 years ago.
As an active thrift shopper, Adkins found a secondhand skirt that instantly reminded her of Monet’s impressionistic paintings Haystacks. The skirt wasn’t that attractive, Adkins recalls, it just “turned a knob in my head” because of its similarities to the famous work.
“It was actually kind of ugly,” Adkins said of the full skirt that portrayed images of haystacks and farming equipment. “I didn’t really like the pattern.”
But her philosophy is that she doesn’t have to like every piece she works with. “There’s an endless amount of inspiration out there, and I don’t have to like all of it,” she said.
Adkins, who pairs her Artfully Awear work with a position as an arts and cultural liaison for a social media platform, said she doesn’t get paid for all of her projects, but the number of museums and artists reaching out to her for collaborations is growing.
“I want to go everywhere,” she said.
MBennett@greenwichtime.com, 203-625-4411; Twitter @Macaela_
Every week, the blogger and founder of Artfully Awear transforms an art installation into a wearable masterpiece with simple tools like paints and a jumpsuit. “My main art is art inspired by other art,” Adkins said.
The young artist and entrepreneur has turned a Claude Monet painting into a party dress and modeled thrifty outfits inspired by Pablo Picasso works. Her favorite innovation is a shift dress covered in vibrant blue, pink and orange fringe that mimics a Nigerian architect’s multicolored, floor-to-ceiling ropes exhibit shown in Philadelphia last fall. The artist, Francis Kéré, was so impressed he ordered a matching jacket from her.
As the brand suggests, Artfully Awear aims to fuse art and fashion as well as push people to engage with art from an alternative perspective.
“I like giving an example of how two plus two equals five,” Adkins said before hosting a workshop for young girls in Greenwich last week. “I think about what I do as artwork inspired by another piece where the product equals more than the sum of the parts because of the emotional experience of the process.”
Last week, she joined forces with fellow young female business owner Molly Wills in Greenwich to host a workshop. The two met in college and celebrated an anniversary of sorts Friday at Wills’ Waverly studio as they first collaborated several years ago when both were working to lift their businesses off the ground.
“I love her concept; I think it’s so brilliant,” said Wills, whose Waverly Project exposes girls to experiences and mentors through weekly events. “It pairs especially well with the Waverly mission, which is about enjoying the creative process and the girls realizing it can be inspired by anything that interests them. (Adkins) lets art inspire her creative process and it could be anything for them.”
Adkins has been diligently producing her weekly projects and pursuing marketing for Artfully Awear for a few years, Adkins said, but she formed the concept 10 years ago.
As an active thrift shopper, Adkins found a secondhand skirt that instantly reminded her of Monet’s impressionistic paintings Haystacks. The skirt wasn’t that attractive, Adkins recalls, it just “turned a knob in my head” because of its similarities to the famous work.
“It was actually kind of ugly,” Adkins said of the full skirt that portrayed images of haystacks and farming equipment. “I didn’t really like the pattern.”
But her philosophy is that she doesn’t have to like every piece she works with. “There’s an endless amount of inspiration out there, and I don’t have to like all of it,” she said.
Adkins, who pairs her Artfully Awear work with a position as an arts and cultural liaison for a social media platform, said she doesn’t get paid for all of her projects, but the number of museums and artists reaching out to her for collaborations is growing.
“I want to go everywhere,” she said.
MBennett@greenwichtime.com, 203-625-4411; Twitter @Macaela_
Resource :http://www.greenwichtime.com/business/article/Artfully-Awear-puts-trendy-spin-on-art-11050019.php
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