Golden Needles
“Project Alabama” exhibit proves that clothing designs can be elevated to fine art
Cheekwood’s Temporary Contemporary Gallery usually hosts edgy art shows and video installations. Currently, however, the gallery is paying tribute to the ancient art of the needle and thread in a show called “Project Alabama: Stitch, Silence, Shine.” The show features handcrafted shirts created by a group of Florence, Ala., seamstresses from designs by Natalie Chanin, a trained filmmaker who worked for many years as a stylist for films and videos. Chanin’s company, Project Alabama, sells the shirts around the world, and the designs have been featured in major fashion magazines. Chanin’s documentary Stitch, about women who sew in small-town quilting circles, is also on view in the gallery.
Project Alabama seamstresses will be creating new shirts on site in the gallery 1-4 p.m. March 22. Chanin will also be on hand to talk about Project Alabama at 2 p.m. “The gallery will become an open house where visitors can drop by to view the seamstresses and quilters as they work,” says Terri Smith, curator for the Temporary Contemporary space. “I think if a fashion designer has a powerful concept behind a body of work and creates well-crafted clothes that convey that concept, fashion can be elevated to the realm of fine art. Project Alabama does this.” The exhibit runs through March 30.
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