Since 2002 the Port Moody Arts Centre Society has presented the Wearable Art Awards with support and sponsorship from volunteers, business and government.
The Wearable Art Awards attracts entries from artists of all mediums in the wearable art artistic genre from across Canada, the United States, and around the world, and encourages evocative, imaginative and thought provoking creations for the human body.
This year the Port Moody Arts Centre is gearing up for a special presentation of its unique annual Wearable Art Awards event showcasing over 120 garments which were created using the most unusual combination of materials such as wire, egg cartoon, soldered brass, seashells, corn husks, recycled sweaters and many more, submitted by artists from all over the world.
The 2010 Wearable Art Awards will be exhibited on a large-scale with new submissions displayed in the Port Moody Arts Centre Gallery. The retrospective works from previous years will be displayed from February 3 to March 21 in the City Hall Galleria, the Port Moody Library, the Port Moody Community Branch of Vancity, TD Canada Trust in Suter Brook Village, Pasta Polo Restaurant, Golden Spike Pub & Bistro, and many other locations throughout the Tri-Cities, for the whole community and the thousands of anticipated visitors to enjoy.
The 2010 Olympic Games will bring an estimated 2.3 million visitors from around the world to Metro Vancouver, so the organizing committee is leveraging the world’s attention being focused on British Columbia and the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
“Some 6,000 media members, not accredited to cover the games events themselves will be seeking newsworthy events to cover and we believe we can encourage many of them, as well as other visitors, to come to Port Moody to see our Wearable Arts,” said committee chair, Andrew Danneffel, of the Port Moody Art Centre.
By mounting this large scale exhibition of the Wearable Art Awards, the Port Moody Arts Centre will
draw a significant number of international visitors to our city, ultimately helping our community and local businesses benefit from this influx of tourists and visitors.
Catch the Opening reception of the exhibition on January 21, 2010, 6-8pm at the Port Moody Arts
Centre, 2425 St. Johns Street in Port Moody, where close to thirty artists will be attending. The reception and exhibition are free to the public.
The exhibition will be taking place in and around the City of Port Moody from January 21, 2010 – March 21, 2010 during the Games. Olympic guests and international media personnel in the Vancouver, British Columbia area for the Olympic Games are invited to see the exhibition (Port Moody is a suburb of Vancouver).
LADY LIBERTY CAMOUFLAGED BY KIMBERLY ANDERT OF INDIANA EARNS PASTA POLO PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD IN 2010 WEARABLE ART EXHIBITION
PORT MOODY, BC – Visitors voting on 100+ entries in Port Moody’s 2010 Wearable Art Exhibition event have chosen “Lady Liberty Camouflaged”, an intricate creation with a strong conceptual meaning created by South Bend Indiana’s Kimberly Andert, as this year’s “People’s Choice” recipient.
This award, generously sponsored by Pasta Polo, is the 2nd award this entry has received. It was also chosen by the jurors of the 2007 Wearable Art
Awards as the Conceptual Award winner. Lady Liberty Camouflaged was one of many retrospective garments – entries from past Wearable Art Awards – that returned to Port Moody for the two month long exhibition which focused on making Port Moody a destination point during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Jane Matthews, Executive Director of the Port Moody Arts Centre, credits both design and concept for the win. “With the many quality garments on display this year to choose from, there was not a clear People’s Choice favourite. Andert’s success in designing an incredibly detailed garment, combined with a conceptual meaning that resonated with the public was the reason for her win.” This is Andert’s second People’s Choice win – she also
captured the title in 2006 with her entry “Radiance”, a dazzling red gown made of 247 “flames” which also returned for display during the 2010 Exhibition.
“Lady Liberty has been used as a rallying figure throughout our country’s history, and visages, encouraging citizens to support war over many generations,” Andert says of her entry. “Unfortunately, our history has been full of war and while our lady is wrapped in America’s colors, she also wears the trappings of war camouflage, ammunition belt and the eagle of freedom. We are forced to ponder the liberty she is representing; is it really ours, and those we seek to protect?”
Photos and further details are available at http://www.wearableartawards.com.
The Wearable Art Awards is presented by the Port Moody Arts Centre Society – with support from businesses and sponsors who include the City of Port Moody, the BC Gaming Commission, the Port Moody Arts Centre, Pacific Coast
Terminals, Pasta Polo, and the Georgia Straight – to encourage local, Canadian and international artists of all mediums to submit evocative,imaginative and thought-provoking creations for the human body. The imaginations of the participating artists are the only limits on entries.