Dreams By Machine
Repurposed and Functional Art
Dreams By Machine
Re-purposed and Functional Art
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sustainable…
Posted on June 27th, 2010 No commentsSO I look in my inbox and I find this…
“YOU JUST WON THE CPSA AWARD AT THE FRINGE!!!!” (Translated: the sustainable practices award, for draping with re-used and re-purposed materials.)
After a lovely time doing a live-draping demo for the LA Visionaries and a meeting with a potential (and really great) photographer AND…not long after I’ve smacked my tailbone (trying to figure out a sliding door rail) in the new studio I’m going to be sharing with designer Michael Schmidt.
Cement floors, IKEA chairs and flip-flops. A flawed combination.
Thank you all…I am humbled, honored and seriously sore.
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LAVA Visionary description…
Posted on June 26th, 2010 No commentsI am overwhelmed to the point of blushing. Thanks to Kim Cooper, who talks me up far better than I can!
I’ll be doing a live draping at the LAVA Sunday Salon at Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown LA tomorrow at 12:30, so if you missed Presque Pret a Porter…
This week we shine our molten red glow the direction of Visionary A. Laura
Brody, who offers a special program at Sunday’s LAVA Salon when she
transforms recycled fabric scraps into a custom couture creation crafted on
the body of a daring Salon attendee. Laura is sculptor who specializes in
outrageous costuming for performers, a custom leather crafter who evades the karmic jolt of working with animal skins by reusing her materials, and a serial collaborator always seeking the next artistic cross-fertilization.
From fetish pieces to inflatable comic suits, from a live draping
performance during the Hollywood Fringe Festival to her ongoing collaboration on “Driven,” an all re-purposed and re-used Steampunk wheelchair created for her friend Peter Soby (the Driver, who’s paraplegic and needs a chair to get around), Laura’s work is challenging, unexpected and always weirdly beautiful.
Yea! and thank you!
You can find Kim and my fellow visionaries at http://www.lavatransforms.org/
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C’est La Fin du Presque Pret a Porter
Posted on June 22nd, 2010 No commentsAt least, the sole Hollywood Fringe Festival performance is over.
But the images linger…and there is more to come!
Presque Pret draper directions
Presque Pret audience enthrallment
Draping With Staples
SO many people to thank…
Rio at Beauty is Pain http://www.myspace.com/beautyispainboutique
David O and Ameenah Kaplan for their fabulous re-purposed, participatory jam session- find David at http://www.davidomusic.com
Models Lauryn Otten/ Protea and Johnny Quale/ Prince Poppycock- find the Prince at http://www.princepoppycock.com
Many thanks to the audience for gleeful participation and glorious donations! Particular thanks go out to Pam Noles (fellow Fringer) who was so fond of the idea of the show she donated without even being able to attend! Go and see her ! Death 40-feet Tall! and have a blast. http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view/25
And thanks to the Hollywood Fringe Festival for giving me the opportunity to show people live re-purposing! Check out their other events - it’s all still happening through June 27th. Go to http://www.hollywoodfringe.org for details!
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Presque Pret a Porter is coming!
Posted on June 16th, 2010 No commentsPresque Prêt a Porter:
Join the repurposed revolution!
Live draping and clothing creation using recycled and re-purposed clothing and fabric- taped and draped on YOU by a skilled costumier, A. Laura Brody.
6/19/10, 8-10 PM at Beauty is Pain, the rock and roll couture boutique at 1443 N. Highland Ave (just south of Sunset).
Improvised aural explosions by the dynamic duo of David O and Ameenah Kaplan, joined by many adventurous volunteers.Bring a piece of clothing or fabric to sacrifice to the art and become born anew from its ashes…jeans that never fit? Unfortunate drapes? Bedraggled bed linens? That never-to-be-used bridesmaid dress? All will be re-made and re-worn.
And you will be a living work of art!
Entrance is free, though donations are always welcome…
DONATIONS (of fabric, clothing, tape or wine for the bar) bring preferential draping privileges.
This is an official part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival! Come see the site project at http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/project/view/180
and the sights for all around Hollywood this June at http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/ ! -
Dreams of re-make, re-use, re-purpose
Posted on May 9th, 2010 No commentsThis was a catch phrase of the 1940’s, when wartime rationing made re-using a virtue. But it truly became necessary at the end of the 1920’s, when the stock crash forced many into austerity measures.
We now have that necessity again. Hell, Greece is being forced into austerity measures. And when it’s forced, no one likes it.
So many of the eco-friendly and pseudo-sustainable products available now have the “green” touch of approval by using a portion of recycled product- but not all. Or by recycling, but processing the material so heavily it actually damages the environment more than creating more landfill. Or by using only one product that regrows itself easily (say, bamboo) but tints or dyes or varnishes it in massively toxic chemicals.
Now, I am not saying that I live the utterly green lifestyle. I could always do better. But I really honestly do re-use, re-make and recycle. (Or is that upcycle? Who made up this phrase? It’s really condescending.)
The jewelry and accessories I make are at least 90% remnant, scrap, restored and savaged thrift, come from salvage, gift and etc… I wish there was a re-used thread to use. I’d like it if there was an eco-friendly alternative to WD-40. I sadly break machine needles too quickly, but I do re-sharpen the ones with burrs. My display units, even, are mostly repurposed.
And I get a lot of my clothing from thrift stores. I make pieces out of old sheets and spare fabric, I re-use items for tables and work stations, I figure out and re-purpose and make do.
Some of this is economy. A lot of this is the firm belief that I just don’t need it to be new.
So yes, I would love it if you bought my pieces. I would love it if you’d enjoy my entirely re-purposed electric wheelchair. I would adore it if you’d commission one from me. I’d adore it for you to give me your old wheelchair, crutches, walker and prosthetics and have me make them stunning again for you.
I would love it even more if you’d make something for yourself. If you show me what you’re re-making, re-using and re-purposing today. I will show you how to tear apart your old and unwanted and have you make yourself your own form of beauty. So that you can’t walk past a thrift store or junkyard or yardsale without seeing the art waiting to be born.
So that we might never need malls and child slavery labor and most fashion advertising ever again.
Laura
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The Whisperer in Darkness
Posted on May 5th, 2010 No commentsOh yes. We are finally all shot!
The Whisperer in Darkness is in the can and now in the process of editing. The trailer is available on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd5gWGfnK5M&feature=player_embedded
And it really looks beautiful. While the last HPLHS black and white film (The Call of Cthulhu) had that silent film style, this one was shot with a classic film noir flair. It’s going to be stunning, odd and ideal.
For one of the last scenes we shot (up in the Griffith Park area), it turned out that the guy assigned to watch over us on behalf of the park and LA County was a huge H. P. Lovecraft fan but had never heard of the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society. He was thrilled and the film probably has a brand new fan before it even comes out.
It was a weird love affair shot in the dark, with rain machines and alien insect creatures, in the hills of LA, schools of MA and the wilds of Vermont….
And soon it can be your love affair too!
Walter Brown and Noyes plot evil
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Now on display (in great company…)
Posted on April 30th, 2010 No commentsThe jewelry has made the Eco-Logical Gallery’s ReVisions show!
Now on display in West LA, at 4829 W. Pico Blvd 90019.
The opening was really touching- part of their work includes sending canvasses to local schools and having the children (from ages 6-19) do individual pieces. These were all mounted outside the gallery on the public walls, and at the opening they unveiled them. Those kids were thrilled!
Come visit Peter Schulberg’s site at:
http://www.eco-logicalart.org/
And come and visit the art!
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just a note of appreciation
Posted on March 24th, 2010 No commentssometimes you get a little boost when you least expect it.
I’m pleased with the work I did for Nude Nuns with Big Guns and didn’t expect to hear anything more about it. Most of the work I do is like that- once the pieces are out, it’s over and it’s rare that I hear about it again. Unless, naturally, someone wants to borrow the costumes.
After a very hefty deadline push today and a couple of gallery denials, I got home late to find this in my email:
“Hi Laura,I’m an actor in NUDE NUNS WITH BIG GUNS, and I wanted to tell you what an amazing job I think you did with costuming; especially with Asun’s poster costume. I was at the set in San Bernadino Sunday night doing some pick-up shots and Robert and Joe showed me some footage from the rough of Asun as Sister Sarah donning what I like to call her “habit of righteous vengeance.” Oh my God! She looked incredible and your design totally made the shot smoke.Just visited your website and love your work. Hope to see you at the premiere, which the guys say may be June-ish.Best regards,Bill Oberst Jr.”
www.billoberst.comTHANK YOU.
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the projects at large…
Posted on March 22nd, 2010 No commentsIt’s high time I put up the projects in process…
These are some examples of the rock and roll outfits I’ve been making with Michael Schmidt, a seriously great sculptor/designer and rock look creator. The coat was for Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, the “bondage Barbie” look is for Erica Jayne and there is more and more to come…
Will.I.Am jacket details
Full Crystal Jacket
Erica Jayne ensemble
Bejeweled Biker Cap
The coat: crystal chain mail mesh with applied leather pieces, decorated with metal strips and studs.
The full coat weighed about 85 pounds.
The full “bondage barbie” look, complete with patent leather gun holster…
yes, of course it gets bust pads! What do you take me for?
And no outfit is complete without a hat.
I’ve also been working on designs for Diavolo Dance Theatre, which has an upcoming concert in collaboration with the LA Philharmonic. The designs are being finalized, but here’s a sketch for a few dancers:
Diavolo initial sketches
The piece is called Fearful Symmetries and the design is a little nomadic, a little dancerly and a little Dune.
More is upcoming, of course, but I’ll do my best to keep up to date!
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Nude Nuns with Big Guns
Posted on March 8th, 2010 No commentsoh yes. It’s coming.
And my costume is indeed on the poster…
It makes me giggle. A lot. It’s all in 1970’s classic nunploitation style. And who doesn’t want that? With a tagline of “This sister’s one bad mother”?
It’s a must see.
http://www.freakshowentertainment.com/FSE/NudeStills.html
Mother Superior in action
http://www.tarstarkas.net/blog/2009/11/29/nude-nuns-with-big-guns/
Gallery
