Costume Mania

A few weeks ago we accompanied a good friend of my husband (Patrick) to a show at the Arlington Arts Center in Arlington, VA. The friend, Jason Lee, is a sculptor and was showing his work about consumption: bright orange, mass-produced-looking lightboxes, mounted either on the floor or on the wall, offering glimpses of the sky, and of a creek or stream. These Euthenics studies pose questions about planned communities, public spaces, sprawl, and the triumph of universal technology. (I took that bit from their website).

Anyway, we loved Jason's work, of course, but I was also really impressed with a young DC artist named Steven Frost, known for using needlework and fabric in pieces focusing on sexual identity, presents a project made in collaboration with his mother. Steven and his mother, Barbara, deconstruct the artist’s childhood Halloween costumes, suggesting new meanings and motivations for the wearer of each elaborate outfit, and presenting their efforts as a sort of haute couture Halloween brand.

The reason I was taken with Steven's work is that I have a similar costume relationship with my son, Sam. Each halloween since he was born, I have helped him make his costume. And, ditto, for each school performance, etc. I have a lot of fun stepping up to the challenge of what he can come up with. Costumes have included a truck, Max from Where the Wild Things Are, a spider, General Grievous (damn you George Lucas!!), Anikan Skywalker, and most recently a jester and gnome.

What I find most challenging and am most proud of is that we often wait until the last minute to put these costumes together and I try to assemble them with fabric and accessories that I have on hand. Maybe someday Sam will have his own art show in collaboration with me.