Isabella Biscarini in her coffee filters dress
GPS AP 3-D and sculpture teacher Isabel McCall attended a workshop this past summer at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, a nationally recognized art education center in Gatlinburg. She brought back to her students at GPS a lesson plan that has certainly been ‘newsworthy.’
Her students were asked to make a garment primarily out of newspaper or other paper product that they could wear. Engineering the dresses was a challenge, according to Ms. McCall. The artist/designers had to take into consideration factors such as the weight, the fragile material, balance and proportion.
Senior Katie Brown couldn’t wait to model her dress and Fascinator hat. Another senior Keyle Snyder, made a dress out of the colorful funny papers, cut like feathers so that they look airy when she walks. Isabella Biscarini’s creation has a huge coffee filter skirt that looks like something from the 1950’s, said officials.
"The girls really outdid themselves,” said Ms. McCall. Her lesson plan came from an Arrowmont class with Warren Seelig, a distinguished visiting professor in the crafts/fiber program at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia who teaches, curates, and writes on subjects related to fiber, textiles, and material studies. “He is brilliant,” she says. “His class wasn’t focused on making a piece of work per se, but more about how to think about the work and issues that come up when a sculptor is trying to make the work hold together.”
During the class, Mr. Seelig showed slides of his students modeling their dresses. Seeing those slides in their GPS art class was all it took for the GPS AP students to begin their unique designs.
See photos of other paper designs here.
Katie Brown in her dress and hat