I took a summer break from updating the blog but I am back! I like this place to be somewhere I can be pretty vulnerable through writing and this summer I was working on just being and taking care of myself quietly. This year has been very hard to start over and keep going with this upcycle project. I have been a full time artist for 3 1/2 years now so many magical things have happened and its also been the hardest thing I have ever done. Money is not easy to come by, stability is out the door, but I have never gotten so close to expressing myself authentically before. That is priceless and why I keep on the journey. It is very peaceful to just do you.
I have discovered this summer what direction I really want to keep moving in which is
Upcycling Clothes in Bulk
I spent 12 years as a professional apparel designer working in the fashion and outdoor industries. I have been doing some mental math and I am guessing that I am responsible for designing 100's of ideas that were mass produced into at least 100,000 units of clothing. That is insane to think about. I remember when I would design something and the merchant or buyer would talk about the units they were going to buy 300, or 1000 or 5000 and i would every single time think, does the world need 5000 of the shirt? This is one of the reasons I left the corporate design world to go out on my own and upcycle. WE DO NOT NEED ANYMORE NEW CLOTHES. There are a million ways to make something new again, new is what gets us. Just a new combination gets us excited. So I decided this summer what if I could upcycle as many clothes as I had created new? It is a big number. In my 3 years of upcycling I am guessing I am at about 1000 pieces, which is also an exciting number. I am stretching out on the ways in which things will be upcycled and where they all go. I don't have super specific rules but the main one is that an item of clothing that has been discarded in any way finds a new life.
The daily drop on my website will be anything that I have been making lately not just bow jackets to slowly build a merchandised upcycle collection that is large and constantly evolving.
I am doing other textile sculpture projects locally, starting with my largest scale project for the Jackson Hole Childrens' Museum. I have quilting together many articles of clothes to make pillows that look like Osprey eggs for kids to play in and feel like they are in the nest. Kids are going to have to deal with a lot of trash build up in the future and I want to show them they can make beautiful things with it.
The other decision that I made this summer is that teaching others how to sew and upcycle is very important to me.
I have been finding many places and ways in the community to gather together to pass along sewing skills and show how fun upcycling can be. I love watching people take something from their own closet and use their own hands to give it new life. In 2 hours you can change a shirt and at the same time see something in yourself you didn't know was there, you love your shirt a little more and hopefully yourself a little more.
Sewing and upcycling has helped me on my healing journey and I love passing that along and meeting special people throughout the process.
I'm pretty tired but not enough to give up, this is a wild journey but I know I'm on the right path. I am learning to take care of myself better than I ever have before, also to forgive myself, love myself and in turn forgive and love those around me. I can't wait to see what happens next but just one step at a time. So if you are feeling a little discarded give something in the back of your closet a little love and attention and see what happens.
xo Courtney