‘The Walking Gallery’ Wearable Art Show
The Walking Gallery was an ArtHouse Jersey production, three exciting nights of wearable art events, showcasing bespoke, wearable and sustainable creations as part of their Skipton Big Ideas Exhibition during October 2021. The unique, one off events featured sustainable style and wearable art alongside a number of special performances, including choreographed dance and acrobatics, set amongst the installory experience of the overall exhibition at St Helier Town Church.
The Walking Gallery artwork
The work itself was designed by 26 creatives; a mix of local, international and aspiring artists. The wearable art explored some of the big ideas and themes that our community faces today, including sustainability, accessibility and identity. This unique showcase departed from the traditional runway fashion show and the audience were invited to come dressed with their own creativity for the occasion, although it was by no means required.
One of the lead artists for The Walking Gallery was the internationally renowned Danish artist Mari Keto. Combining jewellery materials in her installations and portraits, Mari Keto explores the limits of artefacts. Keto’s work combines concepts with high craftsmanship” to form research-based artwork. She engages with her subject matter from various perspectives in order to define her own, exploring the tensions and structures of our contemporary culture. Strongly influenced by cultural histories and pop culture, her work examines the distinctions between value and consumption.
Other work was created by artists; Qiao Cun, Maria Tarrant, Kyle Moody, Heather Barrett, William Howell Jackson, Bianca Padidar, Bethany Voak, Anna Shipley, Kerry Jane Warner, Henry Lambert, Jodie Carney and Antoaneta Tica and a number of JCG Year 12 students.
Director of ArtHouse Jersey, Tom Dingle, said: “The Walking Gallery shows were a key highlight of ArtHouse Jersey’s extraordinary Skipton Big Ideas Exhibition. Some of this work has been years in the making and many designers’ concepts and approaches have shifted in exciting ways as the pandemic unfolded. People enjoyed vibrant, thought-provoking ideas and design concepts that offered clues as to the future of clothing and fashion. It’s no secret that the clothing sector presents a behemoth problem for the environment, and to see art come to life while exploring the pressing theme of a sustainable future with artists of this calibre was very exciting indeed. Brilliant design, fantastic performances and an experience in the Town Church people are not likely to forget.”