The Textile Art Alliance (TAA) is hosting its thirteenth annual Wearable Art Fashion Show & Boutique on Sunday, October 16 at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven.  If you love fashion, creativity, and shopping local, then this event is for you.

 

TAA is a friends group of the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA).  Formed in 1934, its mission is to increase appreciation of the textile arts through lectures, workshops, and exhibitions, and to enlarge the textile collection of the CMA.  To date, TAA has purchased approximately fifty pieces for the museum’s textile collections.  These gifts range from Peruvian weaving dated 200 BC to works by contemporary artists such as Lenore Tawney, Glen Kaufman, and Jon Eric Riis.

 

Louise Mackie, Curator of Textiles and Islamic Art at the CMA from 1998 – 2016, said:  “As a museum we have a wonderful collection of contemporary textile art.  Not only from the United States; we have pieces from Japan, Europe, South America . . . it’s truly international.”   Last year the CMA acquired what it believes to be the only imperial Iranian tent in an American art museum.  The tent, a legacy of the Nineteenth Century Qajar Dynasty, is inscribed with the name of Muhammad Shah, who ruled from 1834 to 1848.  While many collections have Turkish tents from the Ottoman Empire, Persian tents are extremely rare.

 

TAA is an active organization of artists, designers, educators, and collectors with a common interest in and a passion for textile and fiber arts.  Whether producing unique pieces or studying textile art from around the world, members come together for workshops, lectures, and play days.  Many of these events are open to the public.  For example, you may attend a lecture about Inca weavers, participate in a hands-on workshop exploring deconstructed screen printing on fabric, or spend a day playing with sparkling beads.

 

An important event on TAA’s calendar is the Wearable Art Fashion Show & Boutique.  This event always sells out in advance.  The show features exclusive artisan-made clothing and accessories available in the boutique from more than fifty artists and designers.  In the morning, there’s time to look, touch, try-on, and purchase the fabulous art-to-wear, including everything from hand-painted silk garments, knitted coats, woven textiles, jewelry, purses, and much more.

 

At 12:30 pm, luncheon is followed by a fabulous live runway show featuring one-of-a-kind items by artists and designers from the region and beyond.  The artists create garments and accessories for people of all ages, shapes, and sizes – something for everyone.  Not to worry, though, the boutique remains open until 5pm, so you’ll have plenty of time for more shopping, including items you’ve seen on the runway as well as earlier in the boutique.

 

Proceeds from the event benefit the CMA’s textile collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Textile Art Alliance

An affilliate of the Cleveland Museum of Art

11150 East Boulevard

Cleveland, Ohio 44106

taacleveland.org

 

 

Wearable Art Fashion Show & Boutique: Sunday, October 16, 2016