Ritual Union

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The bride and groom in avian form

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Over the past few months my buddy Rebekah and I have been working on a wedding dress for our friend Brooke. (Andytoad bridal…?!)

I designed the dress I hoped to make and together with Rebekah, and her amazing tailoring skills, we set out to build it. (Also cap, veil and masks.) Not wanting to reveal anything before the special day I’ve been kind of mum. However the wedding was this past weekend so I’m spilling the beans…

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Brooke waiting to walk the aisle

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Years ago Brooke, knowing what kind of work I do, asked if I’d make her wedding dress. Thinking she was joking or just being nice I said yes. Flash forward five-ish years.  I get a call from Brooke. “I’m getting married! Remember you’re going to make my wedding dress.” She was serious. So excited and nervous we began.

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The bodice with it’s many pieces

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Brooke found a nutty bride’s dress from the 70’s that was mostly tulle and beaded applique, a friend of mine donated a white satin dress he had around the house, I fell in love with a WWII silk parachute – we had our materials.

Where we began:  the puffy 70’s dress, the satin dress, silk parachutes

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Rebekah models the parachute

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Parachute preparation

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We stripped apart, reworked, and reconfigured these materials and fashioned a dress (loosely inspired by the white peacock.) The wedding had a myth/ storybook theme to it  with a masked ball reception afterwards. Guests were given masks to wear when they arrived and the bride and groom entered the hall after the ceremony wearing peacock masks.

A lot of the work I make is used for art and performance purposes (costumes, masks, set pieces…) And honestly you don’t have to stretch the imagination much to see a wedding as performance art. It’s been exciting making the centerpiece costume for an ancient ritual. And Brooke was awesome and open to me making the dress in a way that was interesting to me.

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Brooke and Jeff

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The silk train / The wedding party

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Using these material harvesting techniques is appealing to me. They give one a set of limitations to work within that often leads to unexpected results. Sometimes those results can be quite wild but I don’t think that’s the case here. I think Brooke’s dress is unique, flashy, and lovely in a subdued way (for me.) Knowing where it came from I think we streamlined and reworked well.

Brooke looked beautiful and she was happy. And I’m very pleased with what Rebekah and I made together. Mission accomplished.

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Bride and bridesmaids

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All photos by Andytoad except for aerial parachute image by Bettmann/CORBIS

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5 Minute Photo Shoot: Showroom Dummies

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Photo: Andytoad

_________1 2 3 4
_________We are standing here
_________Exposing ourselves
_________We are showroom dummies 
_________We’re being watched
_________And we feel our pulse
_________We are showroom dummies
_________We look around
_________And we change our pose
_________We are showroom dummies
_________We start to move
_________And we break the glass
_________We are showroom dummies
_________We step out
_________And take a walk through the city
_________We are showroom dummies
_________We go to a club
_________And there we start to dance
_________We are showroom dummies


_________Kraftwerk
_________Trans-Europe Express (album) 1976

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Your Autumn Lips

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It’s been busy around here.

I crammed a lot into the end of October (a little too much I’m over worked and under the weather).

On October 21st I participated in an performance event at the Location One Gallery.

The evening was curated by my friend David Quinn who asked various people from around town involved in the performing arts to participate in a fundraising event for Location One. I took it as an opportunity to flesh out some ideas that I’d been kicking around in my head. The result was three short solo performances in which I performed, choreographed and designed (costumes and projections.) All of this was only possible because of the amazing people in my life who agreed to work with me on the project – My artist muses/collaborators – Cori Olinghouse, Christopher Williams and Mike Andrews. Composer Derek Piotr built gorgeous soundscapes for each of the three chapters. The fantastic costume and knitting skills of Craig Hunter and Kit Lee helped me realize the looks for the pieces with some rad accessories by Sam McFadden. And generous friends gave of their time to form the video projections – Grant Worth as editor and performers Ananda Keator, Betty Chen, Felipe Vasquez, Kit Lee, Nathan Crislip, Raja Kelly, and Will Penrose. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. You all amaze me.

Unfortunately because I was quite distracted I didn’t arrange to have someone document the performances …  I plan to re-stage these pieces for documentation. More on this project soon. In the meantime more info can be read here.

Below is an excerpt from the video projection, which acted as my set, that ran during the third sequence – “Raven”.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/31707180 w=700&h=394]

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Below are photographs I shot for my friend and collaborator Christopher Williams last week. The photographs are for the Wolf-in-Skins opera project that we are working on together. The dancers pictured are Burr Johnson and Kira Blazek . Choreography by Christopher Williams.

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Then of course it was Halloween, and it’s hard for me to just brush that off. A delightfully successful collaboration with the exquisite Jordan Isadore led to a Dia de los Muertos couple (all paper and and paint). ¡Guapísimo!

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In the moments between the aforementioned projects I tried to put in as much time as I could at my freelance job at Izquierdo Studio (which is always busy at Halloween). Martin Izquierdo has designed Heidi Klum’s Halloween costume for years and this year was no exception. Actually this year he designed her two! The Skinless Woman and The Missing Link between man and ape.
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