Update as of January 11th: The talk has been moved to room 7514, on the 5th floor.

Some information about the Toronto Wearables meetup:

The Toronto Wearables Meetup is a gathering of people interested in wearable technology, fashion, wearable electronics, soft circuits, electronic textiles, emerging materials, and other creative and innovative approaches to things that live on the body.  This Meetup is a gathering artists, fashion designers, industrial designers, textile enthusiasts, engineers, researchers, students, and anyone interested in these emerging and intersecting fields.

You can register for the talk on EventBrite.

Here is a link to the blog post on the official Toronto Wearables website.

I’ve added a project that I finished a few months ago and finally got around to taking photos of:

The Glowworm is an object that can be worn in many ways. It is commonly worn around the neck, similar to a scarf or a tie. It can also be worn around the waist, arm, or in your hair.

When the two silver parts of the Glowworm are touching, it will emit a soft glow. The battery is small and easily replaceable, and is held in by a magnet located at one end of the Glowworm.

I will be producing these in small batches, and I plan to begin selling them shortly after I relaunch my shop. It will be available in dark, earthy colors. I’m aiming to have the shop completed by July 2011. More pictures are available under the Textiles section, here is a link.

I’ve added photos and videos from my show to a website that I made specifically for the show, siphonophorae.com. The show went pretty well, although making the mannequins and setting up the hanging system was a lot more work than I had expected. Thanks to everyone who helped me set up in the gallery!

I’ve also added a new piece to the Textiles section called Mimicry. It was one of the pieces that was in my show. Here is a short description:

Some sea creatures, such as flounders and octopi, are able to camouflage themselves, mimicking their surroundings. This defense mechanism makes them invisible to their predators, allowing them to stay safe. Using this concept, I have created a dress that changes to match the color of its surroundings.

I’ve added video for Hybridization, Under the Surface and Mimicry, showing the interactiveness of each piece. I’m so glad to finally be able to share these videos for these pieces. My favorite video is definitely the one for Under the Surface.

Marisa Ranalli is a textile artist who incorporates electronics into her artwork. She works with human interaction and how it relates to themes of deep sea life, human biology, and light. Marisa uses felt and silk to create three dimensional, wearable forms. Siphonophorae is the culmination of Marisa’s research over the past 5 years.

Siphonophorae’s opening reception is on December 6th, from 5:30-7:00pm. The show is viewable from December 7-11th, from 11am-5pm daily at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, NS. I will be showing the Crumple Shirt, Hybridization, Under the Surface, and one other pieces that I have been working on that are not on the website yet.

I will be having an artist talk on Wednesday December 8th at noon, in the gallery.

Google Maps Link to the Anna Leonowens Gallery

Facebook Event

Many different types of creatures have innate defense mechanisms to help them to survive. My inspiration is drawn from sea creatures – most specifically, jellyfish, sea urchins, and puffer fish. Puffer fish are known for being able to fill themselves up with water or air to produce sharp spines that cover their bodies.

I have incorporated wool covered nitinol wire into this outfit to show how a person with a similar defense mechanism might involuntarily react if their personal space was invaded. When someone touches the spine or shoulders of the outfit, the ‘spines’ on the front of the outfit recoil.

This piece consists of two layered dresses. The dress underneath has been hand painted with dyes, mimicking patterns and colors found underwater. The dress overtop is translucent, but weighted at the bottom to cause the fabric to flow like a moving jellyfish.

The textile processes used to create this piece are dyeing, knitting, felting, and sewing. The dress underneath was sewn together and then hand painted by using a process called polychromatic printing. Parts of the dress overtop were knitted and then attached to the silk. The dress was then dyed and felted. The ‘spines’ are nitinol wire covered in wool. An Arduino powers the nitinol wire. The electronic components are powered by a rechargeable battery.

You can view more images and more information about this on the main site. I’ve also posted some extra pictures from the shoot, and process photos that didn’t make the cut on Flickr.

Photos were taken by me. My sister is modeling the dress, and helped quite a bit with figuring out a name for this outfit. My favorite part of the dress is definitely the layer underneath, it was hand painted using a polychromatic printing method.

This piece (as well as a few other of my pieces) will be shown at my solo show called ‘Siphonophorae’ at the Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax, NS)  from December 7th-11th, 2010. I will be making a post in a few weeks with more information about it.

I’ve made a few changes and added some new things. The Illustration section has been merged into the Design section. I’ve added an entirely new Web section to show my web development and design work. The shop has been removed temporarily. I added a new project to the Textiles section, which I will be making a blog post about shortly.

The shop is currently under construction as I work to create a better shopping cart system, one that will match the new layout of the site. Some older products will be removed to make room for newer ones.

Other than that, I have a lot going on currently. I’m graduating in December, and I have a solo show at the Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax, NS) coming up as well. Hopefully that means that this blog will be updated a bit more in the next few months.

Working on a new project dealing with interaction between two garments. I love working on knitting machines.

My work tends to be derived from my fascination with the inside. The inside of machines, the inside of the human body, the inside of our thoughts; these are all things that are generally hidden, intentionally or otherwise. The necessity or possibility of destruction frightens us away from ever really being able to see these things. Some deep sea creatures, such as jellyfish, break this convention by exposing their insides through a transparent body, inspiring me to do the same through my outfit.

This piece consists of imagery influenced by internal biological elements of deep sea life and human anatomy. The lights mimic bioluminescent (emission of light by a living organism) sea creatures and their natural defence system. The ropes on the dress represent a jellyfish’s tentacles. The dress’s texture depicts muscle tissue. The flexing on the upper body of the dress suggests breathing.

Many different textile processes were utilized to assemble this outfit. Through felting, knitting, crocheting, dying and machine stitching, I have created the appearance of internal imagery. These materials were dyed with a combination of powdered drink mix and acid dyes, giving the fabric its vibrant colors.

Interwoven into the outfit are many conductive threads and wires. These wires provide energy to the LEDs (light emitting diodes) and nitinol (shape memory alloy). The nitnol and LEDs are both powered by a Lilypad Arduino (microcontroller), which also controls the flexing of the nitinol. Another Arduino, as well as a motion sensor, tells the lights on the skirt when to turn on.

There are more photos available on my flickr page. This piece will be shown at the Lennox Contemporary Gallery from April 30th-May 10th 2009. More information available in this post.

This is my graduation show, where I will be showing a project that I have been working on since January. This is a pretty important show for me.

INmaterial
An Exhibition of Emerging Craftspeople

On at the Lennox Contemporary Gallery April 30th – May 10th 2009
Opening Reception: April 30th 2009. 7-10pm.

United by a love for all things Craft, INmaterial serves as the culminating exhibition of work made by the graduating students of the School of Crafts & Design at Sheridan College.

INmaterial combines the efforts of the textiles, ceramics, glass and furniture students, as they present an engaging look into the objects being made at the forefront of contemporary Canadian craft and design.

This grouping of work may provide a forum for which to expose a larger public to such practices, as the work challenges the application of traditionally learned skills to expand upon a greater definition of craft.

The grouping of objects presented here may act as a showcase in the ongoing dialogue that exists for the each of the makers, as they continue to create meaningful objects that celebrate a common love for the materials and processes respective to each of their practices.

The breadth of work offered up within the context of this show serves to chart the accomplishments of a group of emerging craftspeople whose work demonstrates the shared values and commitment to a specified craft expression, one which will carry each of these artist forward as they enter into their own professional careers.

We invite you to come and join us for the opening of INmaterial, Thursday, May 30th from 7 – 10 pm, as we explore a body of textile, ceramic, furniture, and glass work that is of-the-moment and vital, charting out a larger discourse into the ever evolving landscape of contemporary Canadian craft.

-Google Maps Link to the Gallery

I finished this project a few days ago. It’s knitted and crocheted, with electrical wire and normal wool yarn. I’ve uploaded some finished pictures, and some pictures from the making of it as well. I called it the Cyborg Scarf because I wanted it to look like a really elegant scarf from first glance, but when you look closer, you see ‘holes’ that peer into the inner machinery.

The inside wires are hidden by a piece of felt that I made. The scarf is powered through two 3v batteries and the light sequence is programmed on a Lilypad Arduino. It cycles through several blinking and fading lights, which I wanted to seem erradic, like a failing piece of machinery.

I plan to take better pictures of this when I have access to a proper photography studio.