Scissors, Paper, Art.
Each Thursday, when Artist-in-Residence, Stephanie Smart arrives at The Regency Town House in Brighton’s Brunswick Square, a small posse of women help her to unload her car. Boxes, bags, parts of Styrofoam mannequins, rattling tins are carried into the Town House — the tools of Stephanie’s trade.
A group of volunteers from the RTH have committed to learning from, and helping, Stephanie as she prepares for the Installation she will exhibit in 2020. This is the group who are responsible for making the Regency costumes which are worn for re-enactments, entertainments and tours at the Regency Town house. All our ‘vollies’ feel they are being stretched and expanded as they are instructed in the ways of recreating the fabulously intricate embroidery, the tucks, the panels of the Regency items that are being constructed.
Last week Stephanie took a couple of her Town House helpers with her when they went to visit Past Pleasures — an enterprise established in England in 1987 by Mark Wallis.
Working with Mark from this extraordinary facility is Stephanie Selmayr, whom “our” Stephanie got in touch with, when she heard about the “Tyvek” dresses (which look somewhat like paper dresses)which Ms. Selmayr made for Hampton Court.
The two Stephanies got in touch with each other, became friends, and even went to Venice at the same time.
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Though these two very talented women approach costume from different backgrounds they found that their enthusiasm, skills and background knowledge were complementary. As Artist Stephanie says:-
“ I would like to do a project with her one day, she’s expertly trained in the dress cutting/making, historical accuracy front. Whereas my pieces are artistic interpretations that draw on other factors, … [such as] information about the inhabitants of the building they will be situated in.”
It’s easy to see how much each of these two creative women could both learn from, and with, each other. And to ponder the impressive and unique result that could come of such a project partnership.
I’m beginning to get an idea now, of how vast are all the componants of Stephanie Smart’s work. Witness her BA(Hons) in Decorative Arts at Nottingham, while her Masters thesis was in the field of The Cultural study of Cosmology at the University of Kent. It’s obvious that her formal studies were wide-ranging, and that her art is constantly being influenced by a plethora of different sources.
Strikes me as a wonderful way to work.
To access Stephanie’s site: — http://stephaniesmart.wixsite.com/stephaniesmart/cv
La politesse: both the image of Mark Wallis and of Stephanie Selmayr are from the Past Pleasures website: http://pastpleasures.co.uk/
