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Cheryl Donegan's Art And The Story Beyond The Surface

Christin Kay
/
Aspen Public Radio

This summer, the Aspen Art Museum commissioned its first fashion line from multimedia artist Cheryl Donegan, who calls her work “re-fashioned readymades.” She takes a garment, then dyes, prints, cuts and re-sews it to create something new. She also uses pre-made items in her paintings, on display in the new exhibit GRLZ+VEILS.  Donegan’s collection debuted via fashion show earlier this month. Her art challenges viewers to look beyond its surface.   

 

There wasn't a catwalk on the rooftop of the Aspen Art Museum for the GODZ+GRLZ fashion show. The models, Roaring Fork Valley locals of varied ages and body types, moved all around the patio.  They kicked, threw their arms over their heads and held onto each other. Their hoodies, shirts and dresses were slashed, fringed, or paired with track pants or leggings and the models’ own tennis shoes or sunglasses. This was not delicate couture.  

 

But Cheryl Donegan does not consider herself to be part of the fashion industry.  She’s never been to a conventional fashion show. She’s a huge fan of clothes, but her fascination goes beyond just appearances.  

"For me, it’s less about fashion than it is about clothing, and the stories clothing tell, and how we tell stories through our clothing, and what we choose to wear," said Donegan.

Donegan creates many of her garments through something called upcycling. This means taking an old item, like an extra large t-shirt, and transforming it. Donegan hopes audiences question the treadmill of consumerism in the fashion world, with each season bringing a new line of must-have items.

A lot of the slips I dyed, I cut them in two and re-sewed them back together.  Just really simple sewing techniques, a lot of which I learned on Pinterest," she said.

Donegan also pieces together inspiration by looking a little more deeply at things that may seem ordinary.  For the Aspen Art Museum’s fashion line, she based one motif for her prints off of graffiti on New York City air conditioning grills.  

Donegan says she sees creating clothes as a kind of problem-solving.  

"Just to kind of challenge your mind to think of, you know, ways to get the job done, variations on themes, iterations of ideas. I found that really exciting,” she said.

But in one of Donegan’s other mediums, painting? It’s quite a different story.  

"I have to say, painting...it’s more like the existential dread of it all," said Donegan.

For her, painting is less about solving a problem, than about interaction and even intuition.  Donegan has a specific way of knowing when a painting is finished. She puts it on the wall, turns her back and walks away, then turns back around to face the canvas.  

"It’s kind of like a duel.  It’s sort of like trying to get to the point where, as I say to myself, the painting looks back at you. Where it sort of sees you, instead of you just telling it what to do," she said. 

This process means that some of her pieces at the Aspen Art Museum are simply fabric glued to a canvas.  But Donegan saw how the glue created shadows and patches and ridges on the gingham print. She did her thing-- walked away, turned around, looked at it-- and, she says, it looked back.  

"It really was sort of unnerving, but I’m like, wait, I don’t need to do anymore. It just did it.  And I thought, ok. I guess that’s a painting. I have to accept it.  And it was very invigorating to accept something so raw," she said.

Donegan knows that some of her pieces are the kind of contemporary art that makes people say, “My kid could do that.”

But it doesn’t matter if you’re looking at Donegan’s paintings or clothes.  It’s not about the appearance. It’s more about the stories behind their creation.  And the questions they raise about what really makes something art, or fashion.

“So it really from the very beginning challenges your notion of what it’s going to take for you to do this, do you know what I mean? Like as an individual, rather than accepting other people’s definition of painting,” she said.

And Donegan is trusting her own definitions above all others.  

Cheryl Donegan’s paintings and fashion line are on display in the exhibit GRLZ+VEILS at the Aspen Art Museum through December.

 

Contributor Christin Kay is passionate about the rich variety of arts, cultural experiences and stories in the Roaring Fork Valley. She has been a devotee of public radio her whole life. Christin is a veteran of Aspen Public Radio, serving as producer, reporter and interim news director.
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