Artists

Phoenix Zoellick, Graphic Designer of Wearable Art and Fine Artist

I used to strive SO hard to make really “deep, meaningful” work, until I realized it wasn’t much fun and most of what I was producing seemed stiff, like it had a stick up its overly-conceptual behind. So I started to unclench a little, come out of my art-school daze, and create work that was FUN. Fun to make, and hopefully fun to look at, with a little depth and meaning thrown in for, um, fun. I love subtle references and secret codes, drawing continuous inspiration from tattoos, pop culture and fairy tales. I see it as passing notes to you in the big classroom of life; I love it when you get it, and giggle at our inside joke. And yes, I often get detention. (Portrait by Eartha L. Goodwin 2010)

Miranda Caroligne, Clothing and Accessories Designer

Miranda Caroligne represents the work of Miranda C. Burns. While Miranda’s talents range from performance art to philosophy, and installation art to authorship, her primary focus is the creation of wearable art from salvaged textiles. She was raised in the nature of woodlands and oceans, nestled among a pile of scrap fabric with a needle in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other. Formally trained and licensed as a Physical Therapist (MSPT), Miranda has her own unique way of tailoring garments to enhance body form and mechanics. Miranda’s creations are based on much more than aesthetics. Her work is infused with concepts of individual self-expression, DIY practices, realistic body image, diminishing waste, supporting local economies and sustainable living. This ethos is masterfully woven together to recall the forms of yesteryear and the function of today with an otherworldly edge — a heartfelt core philosophy she calls “neoarchaic.” Miranda’s designs have been available to the public since August 2001, and are proudly adorned by performers and fascinating individuals for the playfully dramatic qualities. Her fashion performances and stunning one-of-a-kind creations have established her as a bright star in San Francisco’s constellation of provocative artist-designers. She gives a fun peek inside this world in her book, “Reconstructing Clothing for Dummies,” excerpts of which have also been published in “Living Well in a Down Economy for Dummies.” After 5 years running her own retail shop in the Mission, Miranda relocated and refocused her private commission clientele in August 2010. She is currently located at Developing Environments, an artist live-work community at 540 Alabama Street @ Mariposa.

DAS OWL, Deborah Sciales and Oliver Lowe, Clothing and Accessories Designers

Deborah Sciales is the designer behind DAS clothing and accessories. STORM describes wearing DAS as giving you a regal feeling of “kingliness, fit for performing Shakespeare in the park”.  Her men’s clothes and accessories are amazing in their fit and original patterned style from waistcoats to spats, making sure a gentleman is dapper for any occasion!

She spares no expense on materials or time with the ladies as well. Her excellent skills are evident in her shoulder, messenger or evening bags along with arm gloves in silks and leather and textured tapestry, all from “cultural excess”: vintage, and rolls from recyclers and resellers. DAS one-of-a-kind silk and taffetta bustle skirts and shrugs are colorful and popular being smartly size adjustable.

Deborah says of influences from the past, “I am always completely amazed how clothes of many ages ago were so much more of what I would call advanced and more beautifully ornate than today’s “Gap styles”. To me there is a real sense we all have that tells us that the clothing and architecture being generated by contemporary society is in a downward arc.  She and her co-hort Oliver Lowe (who works with her on lovely mad hattery, OWL designs) seek to “elevate the everyday” by increasing one’s potential for living well by living well in DAS clothing. She says, “When you are wearing fine textiles and clothing, you can’t help but acting like your inner fine-clothes-person”. (Portrait by Eartha L. Goodwin 2010)

gibbous fashions, Clothing and Accessories Desingers

gibbous calls themselves “a miniature fashion house of hearts and hands” that collects cast-offs of the past to create your re-newed, favorite, how-did-I -live-without-this fashion pieces.  I should warn you; much like a tatoo, once you get your first gibbous piece, you’ll want more and more.  The collective of 4 designers re-uses a variety of materials, victorian clothes, stained silk slips, buttons, coins, keys, to re-fashion material menageries, sans patterns, into unique items you’ll never find in any department store.  like all of our designers, gibbous creates pieces you can wear with pride.  they strive to undermine disposable fashions manufactured in far-off sweat shops one stitch at a time.

Beads of Beauty, Jewelry Designers

Beads of Beauty wearable art.  Experience the elegance and beauty of Beads of Beauty wearable art. Shimmering earrings, supple bracelets, unique necklaces and graceful lariats. Hand-woven with the finest polished glass beads, pearls, crystals and semi-precious gemstones. Created at a socially responsible, non-profit community center.

About the jewelry

Beads of Beauty jewelry is hand-woven with tiny polished glass beads (approximately 1.5mm, about three times smaller than glass beads typically used in beadwork) using durable Nymo nylon thread. Each piece takes anywhere from a half day to an entire week to create. The tiny beads and the fact that they are not made on a loom create a lightness, smoothness and suppleness not found in any other beadwork.

About the artisans

Beads of Beauty jewelry is made at a fair-trade*, non-profit community center: The Huichol Center for Cultural Survival**. The Huichol are an indigenous tribe from Northwestern Mexico, descendants of the Aztecs, and live mainly in isolated mountain communities. Because of this self-imposed isolation, they have succeeded in retaining many of their cultural traditions, one of which is beaded jewelry. Many of Beads of Beauty’s pieces incorporate traditional Huichol symbols, such as mandalas, spirals and peyote flowers, but with a modern twist and contemporary color combinations.

About the designers and the design process

Susana Eger Valadez (anthropologist, co-founder and director of The Huichol Center) with the help of Imelda Cruz de la Rosa (Huichol designer and activist), comes up with many of the new designs and concepts. Angelica Valadez (Huichol designer and daughter of Susana and renowned Huichol artist Mariano Valadez) and Gael Jefferies (U.S. sales and marketing manager) also contribute ideas and designs. Huichol artisans at The Huichol Center learn and recreate traditional Huichol designs, using Beads of Beauty’s signature non-traditional tiny glass beads, as well as learning and recreating new, contemporary designs from the head designers.

*“Fair-trade” is an organized social movement which promotes standards for international labor, social policy, and environmentalism: Fair pay, gender equality, safe and healthy working conditions, and environmental protection.

**At The Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, the Huichol artisans are able to make a living with their traditional art forms, while bringing the beauty and power of Huichol symbolism and spirituality to the outside world. The Huichol Center employs and supports a large community of Huichol Indians in Jalisco, Mexico. It is a fair-trade, non-profit community center which provides jobs, education, an organic gardening project, farm and nutrition project, medical center, and other valuable support systems to the Huichol people. The Center was founded in 1981 and has been working hard ever since to:

• Support the continuance of Huichol native traditions by fortifying their culture with community based economic solutions that promote self sufficiency
• Promote and respect the Huichol peoples’ birthright to self-determination
• Care for the physical health and well being of the Huichol people
• Document the ancient traditions and native knowledge for safekeeping
• Assist ecological conservation and sustainable agriculture in the homeland
• Provide educational opportunities that strengthen the Huichol belief system
• Create opportunities for cultural interchanges between Huichols and other native groups

Born by candle light on the Island of La Palma to vagabond parents, Nieves doesn’t remember hitch-hiking across Europe as a baby–but her nomadic youth is unforgettable. For the better part of her childhood, Nieves traveled the West Coast with pack donkeys alongside her father, a folk musician and renegade intellectual. Because of her upbringing in the counterculture, Nieves’ became acquainted with alternative therapies at a young age. Her earliest career goal was to become an herbal healer, and in her late teens she became interested in aromatherapy. She has now been in the natural products industry for 17 years.

She began her career with V’tae Perfume and Bodycare, managing a scent bar. Here, she blended essential and fragrance oils to match clients’ requests: from matching and inventing perfumes, to creating room sprays and aromatherapy formulas. She transitioned into a position with Zia Natural Skincare, where Nieves educated consumers, marketed and developed products, including the Body Butter fragrance.

Nieves continues her education, taking cosmetic chemistry courses from Rebecca James Gadberry, pestering Mollie Jensen for advice and studying perfumery with Jeanne Rose.  She studies the chemical properties of essential and fragrance oils, pursuing information sources rooted equally in modern science and traditional folk remedies. With her knowledge of cosmetic ingredients finding products that she wanted to use herself became increasingly difficult. When she couldn’t find what she wanted, she began creating them for herself. She now owns and operates By Nieves, a natural handmade body care line produced with organic ingredients and served with a twist. Nieves delights in formulating unique and wonderful body care. She develops products that she wants to use-and has found that other people are looking for the same solutions! (Portrait by Eartha L. Goodwin 2010)

Eileen, Accessories Designer

I am Eileen Noonan, a mom, shaman, horsewoman and artist. I am inspired to work with objects that are alive and can tell me their story. I am drawn to vintage baubles and flowers and all that mother nature creates.

To track the origins of my work I have to point to my Shamanic Apprenticeship. One of my exercises was to work deeply with a spirit to create a mask and garment that would both please and represent this spirit’s nature. To facilitate the process, it seemed, that the spirit communicated with me through a creative energy wavelength, a wavelength that is directly connected to the creative energy of nature. Once the exercise was completed, what I was thrilled to find, was that this pathway was left open. I had a direct line of communication to the creative energies of nature which now speak, inspire and encourage me daily.

Being connected with this energy force created a need to express what I was absorbing. I started making feather headbands, the pull was to work with objects of nature. They are so full of energy, ideas and with a strong desire to be realized. It feels as though my job is simply to get out of the way and listen to how they wanted to be connected. I am especially drawn to make pieces that will be used in celebration and ceremonies as well as whimsical hair accessories.

Where my work is heading is really nature’s call. I spend many hours roaming the woods, listening and learning. I know that being a human is an obstacle with all the doubt and fear that comes with the package but my goal is simply to listen to mother nature and to honor her by bringing to fruition what it is that she inspires.

Amelia Mosher, Sexi Seaweed, Jewelry Designer

Sexi Seaweed’s collection of wearable treasures are “inspired by the wild” and best appreciated as installation pieces for the human form- completed by the animation of the wearer’s movements.  She credits pacific northwest totemic art for her interest in story-telling through jewelry, integrating the experience of wearing the piece as part of the presentation. The siren behind the Seaweed is Amelia Mosher, island girl of a remote Alaskan fishing village, recently returned to her Humboldt home.  She enjoys working with materials of organic origin, and celebrating the ineffable cosmic beauty of the natural world.  Amelia uses her intuition to guide her aesthetic choices in hopes to create a piece which is unique and meaningful to the individual.

STORM, Writer, Artist, Award Winning Tarot Reader

STORM [ www.stormantic.com ] lends his writing talents to the SwankSpeak! magazine as interviewer, copy editor, Creative Genius column composer, and his creator-owned Galaxy Runway comic.  You’ll also find his definitive discourse on the Swankety Swank blog when he presents Yabette’s furniture in Swankety Swank Showcase. SF Weekly Award Winner  STORM reads Heroic Tarot when he’s in town as he is currently on sabbatical.  Accomplished in individual and couple’s readings, STORM enjoys bringing his brand of Tarot Magick to events and parties.  You can also obtain an art card gift certificate, receive a reading over the phone, or purchase a Sacred Super-Hero candle for yourself or a loved one. On rare occasions, you will discover STORM emceeing, performing a lip sync, or singing original songs with Yabette at a Swankety Swank soiree. STORM is also the creator of the memoir fantasy comic book Princess Witch Boy.  You can obtain your own copy at Swankety Swank or at his etsy site.