Creature Couture
It is fair to say that we have been anything but mellow these past few months over Roger Mello’s special exhibition, Fuzuê! Invention & Imagination in the Art of Roger Mello!
The exhibition title served as inspiration while creating the intentions and goals of this project. The word, Fuzuê, comes from a Portuguese expression that captures a uniquely Brazilian sense of playful commotion.
One way Mello evokes this sense of playful commotion is through his use of color as a character and the theater of the page. Mello uses bright neon, black and white textures, and stark negative space to set the stage, channeling stories and characters inspired from Brazilian culture and global folklore.
As part of our exhibition-related art project, we wanted to invite folks to create their own wearable art and transform into their own unique character!
We wanted to use a specific color palette for this project so that when folks were finished with their creations, they would look like they walked right out of one of Mello’s colorful books.
Our papers were collected from the gallery interactive in the Mello exhibition and repurposed for our studio project. The unique drawings left behind by guests ended up being the perfect complement for this project!
Typically, we use rubbing plates to add textures to the papers used in the studio. We wanted to find a way to texturize our collage papers with a deeper sense of Fuzuê, and a pop of color – and fast!
Our studio assistant, Chris Jenkins, experimented with some tempera paint that had been sitting in our studio cabinets. He added some paint and water into a spray bottle, mixed it up, and – SPLAT! - just like that we had a fun and efficient way to use up some old paint and turn the gallery drawings into fresh, inspiring papers for this project.
Building With Paper
Once we had the papers set, we wanted to provide guests with a few ideas of how to sculpt with paper. We put signs on each table with visual aids and simple words to help folks expand on what can be done with paper. Here are some of our favorite ways to shape paper:
Fold.
Connect.
Bend.
Arch.
Notch.
Weave.
Crumple.
Loop.
Thread.
Check Out the Papers in Action!
The possibilities of paper are endless, and we learned a few tricks and tips on sculpting with paper from guests during this project that we had yet to come across. Check out how folks explored looping, folding, weaving, and connecting their papers together.
For more inspiration on wearable art, check out our Creature Couture Booklist with amazing titles selected by our literacy educator, David Feinstein.
We hope this project inspires you to play, explore, and encourage a bit of creative commotion in your own art making!
