For years I have studied fiber, how it relates to art in general, and then specifically how fiber relates to women's art.  I studied Textiles at UC Davis with Victoria Rivers and Emily DuBois, which was an amazing experience, yet studying with professional women fiber artists at various Quilt Conferences embellished my education abundantly.  I cannot praise enough the quality of teaching in both venues.
From 1988 - 2004 I taught wearable art design, lectured and curated Fashion Shows, with commentary I wrote laced with stories about women's history and fiber.   My first fashion show was for the Naval Officer's Wives at Mare Island, Vallejo CA in 1988 and my last was for the International Quilt Festival's Designing Women at the Westin in Santa Clara CA, 2003.   I took a Fashion Show from the Network for Wearable Art in 1990 to South Africa, representing 30 artists and presenting the show in the Cape Town area as well as in Durban.  I curated and moderated a Fashion Show in 1992 at Stanford University in Palo Alto CA for the International Federation of University Women. 
After each lecture or show women would gather and offer their stories about life changing events relative to their sewing.  These stories connected each of us in a way that is so completely satisfying it is impossible to describe.

The piece below was traveling in an International Exhibition and is included here as an example of my fiber art.
         
Joseph's Coat Front                                Joseph's Coat Back
Front and Back respectively of Joseph's Coat, in the International Quilt Festival, Den Haag Holland 2004.  Original Design and Hand Made by Viktorya c.2007.  Composed of Joseph's Coat quilt blocks on the back and woven raw edge fabric strips on the front and sleeves, all applied and quilted onto striped silk duponi carrier with rayon thread.  The views you see are from my Napa Studio 2003 during Open Studio through the Arts Council of Napa Valley.  The above garment can be detached and therefore one can display the work flat on the wall.

For the Wall or the Wearing

The first piece I made that could be worn but also could be separated into a flat piece for the wall was a long vest entitled Xanadu, 1993 using a modified Folkwear Tibetan Vest Pattern.  I installed fasteners on each shoulder that afforded opening and elevating the vest into flat-wall artwork.  The garment has been shown in many exhibitions, fashion shows and publications.  Photo Philip Dow c. 1994


Creating wearable art is much like creative writing with similitude in process.  Xanadu was not based on the poem but recognition of similarity came after my piece was finished.  The poem by Coleridge begins:

Kubla Khan or, A Vision In A Dream. A Fragment.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round :
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree ;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
                            -Coleridge  1798
Full version of the poem

A smaller vest inspired by ample ancient goddesses is entitled Bell-Shaped Goddess.  The image below was published in the Columbus Dispatch as part of a promotional article for Body of Art curated by Leslie Gelber at the Ohio Craft Museum, 1996. 


The vest has removable connections on each side and each shoulder.  The largest portion is the back of the vest, the two upper pieces are each front piece.  Vest pattern was given to me by Nanci Moldenhaur.

The Great Mother by Erich Neumann (you can look at info about the author on this WIKI link) is a book from which I've derived inspiration.  The bell-shaped goddess is one in a series of goddess garments I made during the 90's.  This study spilled over into paintings as well.

Read an article on this blog about some renditions.