Your ReBegin: HOT Couture

April Hava Shenkmen invited people to a performance "inside herself"

A theme for this month is HOT Couture, with various friends (& multimedia artist colleagues) displaying their custom fashion creations for gallery openings and performances.

It started off when I made a quick cosmic cape for R. SKY Palkowitz, the Deulsional Diva's opening night of "Pancakes & Booze Art Show" the two day big crowd-pleasing art party, known for showcasing a lot of artists while serving up drinks and deluxe mini-pancakes (this time they had red velvet - my favorite). I had some pink sparkling and neon lime green fabric pieces just lying around waiting to be made into something out of this world, and Sky's showcase of her alien art was the perfect occasion to whip up some fun. I enjoy making my own unusual theatrical wardrobe designs from time to time, and am glad to put my modest sewing skills to use (coming soon: a new costume for "Planet Queer: Asteroid of Misfit Toys" on May 19).

SKY in front of some of her alien artwork

Then came international performing sensation Yozmit Avalokita's picnic in the park to celebrate his birthday. The surprise twist came when guests arrived to discover our picnic was taking place upon one of her very own custom made dresses. It's a great example of combining worlds of high fashion and performance art into a sublime transcendent experience, something Yozmit has made a great career of doing over the years. (check out http://www.theyozmit.com/ or search keyword "yozmit" in my blog for my artist profile and photos).

Yozmit prepares some homemade sushi for guests

And then there was the opening reception for the Iam8Bit gallery exhibition "Grace & Ritual: Hidden", in which April Hava Shenkman created a monument sized tent-like version of herself called "inside herself". She then invited guests to enter her giant dress, where a cute theatrical space existed for her to amuse audiences with an intimate durational performance piece. It was part stand-up, part cabaret, part Alice-In-Wonderland experience that was a major highlight of the gallery show. So wonderful to see her performance art merge with visual art and take it to a grand scale.

(Again you can search my blog for a profile on her body of work.)