21 Dresses Composite

Green Wardrobe

During this project each dress was photographed at its freshest and this is a composite image of all 21 of them. They never appeared that way in the installation of course because they were all created on different days over 2 months. This composite represents a true green wardrobe!

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Fall arrives at the garden

Dawn in the trees

One dress will be kept outside for a year in Dawn’s garden and it’s seasonal changes will be documented

Wear it and Compost it- is not just a snappy tag line for this series, the dresses will indeed be turned into compost. Seen here is the pile of organic materials from the garments that will help other plants grow someday.

Barbara, still beautiful. A metaphor for accepting our own aging process

21 dresses weathering in the garden

The ensemble of 21 dresses weathering gracefully in the garden. The summer and fall were quite warm with a lot of sunshine, so the dresses dried well but then the weather turned and we had heavy rains. Most of the dresses still held up and some of them even started to sprout new growth!

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The 21 dresses are now completed! The last one was Jérémie, which was made out of Crab-apples. Her favourite colour is red and she is the curator of a Land Art project in Quebec which is held in an apple orchard. I participated in this a few years ago with an installation called Pommes Maison– a skirt for a tree made of apples.

Jérémie: Crab-apples, Ligularia leaves and buds, Smoke Bush leaves, Maple leaves, Sweetgum seed pods, False Indigo seed pods, Hemp and Linen thread.

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Sustainability Marchers

The other day while installing a new dress on site in the garden, the growing number reminded me of one of my favourite parts in the Greek myth of Cadmus where he plants dragon’s teeth into the ground they grow into an army of fully equipped soldiers! My hope with this project is that we are indeed marching towards sustainability.

View of dresses as of september 1st; 16 dresses completed.

View as of September 1

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LGD Perennial Garden Site

Installation in the garden as of August 18, 2010.

To date there are 11 Little Green Dresses installed in the perennial garden at VanDusen Botanical Garden. The eventual formation will be a triangle, with the first and decomposing dresses at the back moving forward in decreasing number as each fresh dress is added. Many of the early dresses have lost leaves and have turned colour, which does not deter from their beauty and presence.

Mountain Ash berries dry out

Millet turns golden yellow

Huchera purple still vibrant where protected from the sun.

Once bright green Bamboo leaves are now a soft pale yellow as they curl and add another dimension to the sculpture

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Cat

The  2nd little green dress is for Cat (short for Catherine) who is a filmmaker working on a documentary on eco-fashion. Her dress is made from Cedar branches and Butterfly Bush Buddleja flowers from my garden along with Walnut tree leaves, which they were trimming at VanDusen that day.

Cat’s little green dress

Buddleja flower

Collar and Walnut leaves

Cedar branch skirt

Butterfly Bush Hem

 

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First prototype completed

I have completed the first prototype for the armatures of the dresses. Right now the front and back are separate pieces for easy storage. I will begin working onsite at VanDusen as of July 16 and with the help of friends i hope to make at least one per day. I am located at the Lathhouse in the garden. (click on map for larger view)

First Prototype for dress. This dress is flared at the bottom but i will also be making others that are more form fitting.

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