CARLA FERNÁNDEZ

Thanks to recommendation from Ginny, I attended the CARLA FERNÁNDEZ show at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston yesterday. The exhibit was small but well worth the effort. Carla Fernandez, who was a visiting artist at the Gardner museum about a year ago, integrates indigenous work with contemporary design. She produces RTW, I think, as well as runway pieces.

There were continuous loop videos running showing the indigenous artisans at work in Mexico, as well as models wearing Carla Fernandez' designs, in motion. Also there was a hands-on table where you could handle some of the very finely hand-woven fabrics, as well as flip through her sketch books. And there were a number of examples of her designs, as well as examples of the indigenous work with embroidery, weaving, leather and wood.

This piece incorporates hand-knotting by Mexican women.

Very fine hand-woven piece

Contemporary use of hand-turned wood

Leather accents combined with elegant simplicity of design