Diane Palmer's current piece, "The Big Show," is a circus-inspired work that she will model on the runway at this year's Wearable Art Show in Ketchikan.
Diane Palmer's current piece, "The Big Show," is a circus-inspired work that she will model on the runway at this year's Wearable Art Show in Ketchikan.
Diane Palmer's current piece, "The Big Show," is a circus-inspired work that she will model on the runway at this year's Wearable Art Show in Ketchikan.
Story last updated at 2/4/2010 - 11:34 am
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories focusing on wearable art in Southeast Alaska. Next week's installment will feature Juneau artists. Look for a focus on Sitka's wearable art in our March 3 issue.
Ketchikan - Since 1986, Ketchikan residents have made a tradition of strutting their stuff. Alaska's "First City" was the first in the region to celebrate wearable arts with the Ketchikan Wearable Art Show. Twenty-four years later, many of the event's original members are still involved and remain as excited as ever.
Artist Diane Palmer has created pieces for every Wearable Art Show since the beginning.
"It has been wonderful to watch some of the young kids who have been involved since they were four or five-modeling and wearing creations by their mothers-now doing their own truly amazing pieces themselves at 16 years old," Palmer said.
The first show was held at a small theater with a capacity of about 60 people. After a decade, the event was moved to the Ted Ferry Civic Center. Over the years, additional shows were added and the event now requires three evening shows and a matinee to accommodate its growing audience.
With growing audiences came heightened creativity in the form of an annual theme, which was adopted around the time of the venue change. This year's theme, "On the Rocks," serves more as inspiration for artists than as a mandatory rule.
"It's great to see all the different twists folks have on the same theme," Palmer said. "I usually don't focus on what the theme is in the beginning, but try and weave some thread of the theme into my piece during the process."
This year, Palmer's piece is titled "The Big Show," a circus-inspired zoo filled with cocktail drink swizzle sticks in special designs including monkeys, pink elephants, mermaids and giraffes.
"I figured they are usually served with a drink 'on the rocks' so it worked for me," Palmer said.
Palmer had a vision of including giraffe-shaped swizzle sticks, which are not easily found in Ketchikan-she ordered hers from Great Britain.
The difference between regular art and wearable art is inherent in the name-wearable art must be wearable. Palmer models her own pieces, and she must take their weight into consideration. In addition to swizzle sticks, "The Big Show" consists largely of wooden pieces.
"It looks deceivingly heavy but the weight is distributed," Palmer said.
Palmer's wearable art has gained her not only local fame, but international recognition when she took her piece, "Spirit Transformation," to the 2002 Montana World of WearableArt Awards Show in New Zealand. Her piece took third place amidst 24 other competitors in the awards' open section.
"Their show is a production and a great must-see for any wearable art fanatic, such as myself," Palmer said.
On the Rocks: The 24th Annual Wearable Art Show will be held at 8 p.m. Feb. 4-6 with a 3 p.m. matinee on Feb. 6 at the Ted Ferry Civic Center. Tickets are $25 for the evening galas and $12 for the matinee. Past Wearable Art Show pieces will be on display at Cape Fox this week and during the Wearable After Party after the final gala performance. Call 225-2211 for more information.
Libby Sterling may be reached at libby.sterling@capweek.com.
