Dana Fenwick

"I was challenged by Taylor to create a collaborative piece of fiber art from found clothing, specifically 'Naked Lady Party' clothing. Naked Lady Parties are fun clothing exchange parties where ladies swap out their clothes! We usually make a huge pile on the floor of all of our clothes and dig through it while surrounded by as many mirrors as we can find! You have to be ready to hear a lady or 10 give their opinions on the new dress you tried on! It's very fun, imagine a dressing room full of friends. In the end when we are exhausted from trying on 12 outfits in an hour, a pile of unwanted clothes always remains. This pile is donated to the host’s favorite charity. My favorite place to donate is Portland, Oregon's 'Barely Worn' a not-for-profit thrift store with a mission to help troubled teens.
The “Everlast Quilt”, which in true 'NLP' (naked lady party) fashion will be a collaboration to create art from clothing that was no longer being used.

Choosing which textile pieces to include in the quilt brought up every reuse artist’s dilemma: Is it dead or is it alive? Has it completely lost its function as clothing or would someone still really love wearing it. Sometimes I answered this subjectively and decide that some fashions must die. Other items were too holey, frayed or stained to keep on going as clothing. The challenge was to arrange them into a collage that would give them a new function, art.
I was inspired by a few prize pieces that said so much about the original wearer, like the Everlast shirt. Besides being a great re-appropriated slogan for sustainability the enormous shirt says so much about the person who wore it.

Each worn out textile brings its own set of intriguing questions about the former owner.
As I combined the clothes it was almost impossible to avoid the human form so I decided to emphasize the figure. 'Everlast' represents a crowd protesting for a new system of reuse and environmental sustainability. The clothes are refusing to become garbage. The textiles, like the artist involved in this project have come together to form an alternative to our current system of waste and pollution. "

-Dana Fenwick

Uma das tradições mais amadas de Portland e mais misteriosa entre homens, é a Naked Lady Party (Festa de Damas Nuas, o NLP). NLPs são festas regulares de troca de roupa convidando mulheres trazer roupa que elas não estão usando mais. As roupas acumulam-se na casa da festa, enquanto senhoras conversam, comem, bebem e fazem novas amigas. Numa hora determinada, as mulheres são permitidas a atacar um monte de roupa a procura de "novas" roupas. A roupa que sobra é doada. A Dana Fenwick freqüenta as festas de troca de roupa. Ela é um artista de fibras que incorpora materiais reutilizado nas suas obras. Ela aprecia o estético e a história de materiais que foram legados. Ela criou esta obra com roupas que sobraram de uma dessas festas.

One of Portland’s most beloved reuse traditions among women, and favorite curiosities among men, is The Naked Lady Party (or NLP). NLPs are regular clothing swap parties inviting women to bring old clothing they no longer wear. Clothes accumulate in the center of the room while ladies chat, eat, drink wine and make new friends. At a determined hour, the women are allowed to attack the pile in search of ‘new’ wears. Leftover clothing is donated to the host’s charity of choice. Naked Lady Party frequenter Dana Fenwick is an accomplished fibers artist who incorporates reused materials into her work. She appreciates the aesthetic and history materials that have been handed down, and created this piece from clothing left over from a Naked Lady Party.