I'll have three bracelets on display this weekend at
Project Runway: Detroit
Lots of fun to be had this weekend at the JCC. This is a beautiful gallery with a countless stunning exhibits throughout the year. Stop in to take a look at this exhibit when you get a chance. Many great artists and emerging fashion designers here this weekend through March 8th. You won't be dissappointed...
Located in the D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building in West Bloomfield, the Janice Charach Gallery hosts exhibitions of Jewish art and works by Jewish artists. Exhibitions include glass, ceramics, multi-media, painting, fiber arts, photography and more. Educational programs also are offered. As a tribute to Janice Charach's relationship with the College for Creative Studies, the Gallery also hosts annual shows in cooperation with CCS. The Gallery is endowed by Natalie & Manny Charach, in their daughter's memory.
Opening reception:
Sunday, January 22, 2012
West Bloomfield
JCC fashion project to display new talent
Teens’ ‘upcycled’ designs to be displayed
By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer
» Click on image to view full size « 
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes Dana Keaton displays fashion model sketches at her Detroit studio. Keaton has taught 12 teens about the fashion industry at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, and those students will present their own fashion designs at a new exhibit at the Janice Charach Gallery this month. 
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes Dana Keaton displays fashion model sketches at her Detroit studio. Keaton has taught 12 teens about the fashion industry at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, and those students will present their own fashion designs at a new exhibit at the Janice Charach Gallery this month. |
WEST BLOOMFIELD — The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit is clearing the catwalk and making its Janice Charach Gallery more fashionable this month.
Starting Jan.
22, the gallery will host a new exhibit called “Project Runway: Detroit” that will run through March 8.
Gallery Director Terri Stearn said it will display clothing designs from local artists and young fashion students. The exhibit could be the ticket to getting discovered and developing a career in the competitive fashion industry, she said.
“A few of these are emerging fashion designers,” Stearn explained. “A lot of them are really up-and-coming people working in Detroit trying to get discovered. They own T-shirt companies that support them while they work on their thousand-dollar dress.”
Although the art exhibit has no official ties to the “Project Runway” TV show, Stearn predicted that “Project Runway” runner-up Joe Faris of Motor City Denim Co. will contribute to this show, as he did with a past bra exhibit. The exhibit will also show off approximately 400 wooden bracelets that have been decorated by artists, she said.
Stearn said the exhibit idea came from Dana Keaton, a Detroit-based fashion designer of 11 years whose educational background includes fine arts, business management and marketing.
Since October, Keaton has been teaching an ongoing fashion class to students from West Bloomfield and Detroit at the JCC in West Bloomfield. The class of 12 teens has learned about fabrics, sewing and more, she said.
The girls have been busy making dresses and designs for the exhibit’s Jan. 22 opening so that fashion models can wear them on the runway. The students’ projects will be eco-friendly and “upcycled” from used items into wearable garments.
“We have a young lady that is making a dress out of potato chip bags,” Keaton said. “They’re taking old ties and sewing them together to make a garment. … A young lady actually took a bunch of tea bags and is sewing them individually on a skirt.”
Keaton said all of her students want to join the industry in some way, be it as a clothing designer, a wardrobe stylist or a model. But she warns them that it is hard work.
“They are being very creative with this, and I’m always pushing the envelope,” she said. “If (a design) is mediocre, they have to go to the drawing board. I always tell them it has to have a ‘wow’ factor.”
The Janice Charach Gallery, 6600 W. Maple Road, will host the upcoming exhibit, “Project Runway: Detroit,” from Jan. 22-March 8. The exhibit will start with a runway show at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 22. To learn more, visit www.jccdet.org or call (248) 432-5448
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