Daily Nonpareil, Council bluffs, IA
03/08/06
Art by ISU professors on display at LAX
Phil Rooney, Staff Writer
03/08/2006
AMES - Los Angeles International Airport has on display an award-winning
wearable art piece designed and made by two Iowa State University professors.
"Transformation:Icarus I," as the fiber artwork is named, is a wool gabardine
cape digitally printed with a circle image. The piece won first place for wearable
fiber art from the fifth Biennial International Juried Wearable Expressions
Exhibition hosted by the Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
Designed by J.R. Campbell and Jean Parsons, both associate professors of
textile and clothing at Iowa State, the design topped 72 other entries, including
some foreign entries.
The artwork is named for the mythical Icarus who met a tragic fate after
attempting to fly over water with wings held together with wax. According to myth,
Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted, and he plunged to his death.
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Inspiration for the cape began as part of a series of designs Campbell and
Parsons created based on geometric forms and intended to change from twodimensional flat art pieces to three-dimensional apparel forms.
"This piece began as a circle and evolved to have half-circle insets in the side
panels to create movement when worn. Initial images came from photos that
Campbell took of the inside of a clothes dryer," Parsons said. "These were
transformed into images that blend with shape and add to the impression of
flight."
The cape design is displayed in the Tom Bradley International Terminal Customs
Hallway at LAX because the curator of the Wearable Expressions exhibition also
organized the airport show and wanted to use the piece.
Campbell is currently a research fellow with the Centre for Advanced Textiles,
Glasgow School of Art, Scotland. He and Parsons are in early collaborations on
two new pieces.
Parsons is uncertain about the future of their award-winning cape art.
"It has been in several shows now, so it may be retired," she said. "Or, it could be
available for purchase."
Icarus I already was the inspiration for another wearable art project.
"Campbell and I did a second Icarus piece in a lightweight silk and another color
that moves very differently," Parsons said.
That piece has been in one show.