High-tech clothing, theatre design topics

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Imagine a garment that can stiffen to a thin protective shell as one enters a crowded subway, or a dress that gradually changes to a more flattering color as one moves through sunlight to incandescent or fluorescent light.

Costume designer and international educator Annie O. Cleveland will address the evolving relationship between technology and our everyday lives as the next speaker in Bowling Green State University’s Tech Trends series. She will also present a daylong workshop on computer-aided design.

In her talk, “Armor or Adornment: Hi-Tech Clothing as a Visual Expression of Self and a Catalyst for Social Interaction,” at 12:15 p.m. Thursday (Nov. 3) in 201 Bowen-Thompson Student Union, Cleveland will look at some of the ways clothing communicates and demonstrate how advancements in clothing manufacturing have given us new tools to enrich our self-expression and facilitate social interaction. Her talk is free and open to the public.

A faculty member at California State University-Northridge, Cleveland is on the cutting edge of costume design utilizing modern technology. She balances teaching with a very active freelance profile that has taken her around the world.

The theatre workshop, “Computer Aided Design for Theatrical Designers and Technologists,” is for anyone interested in getting hands-on experience with design and technology. It will be held from 9 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. Friday (Nov. 4) in 1026 Fine Arts Center. Participants are welcome to attend either the morning or afternoon sessions or both.

The BGSU Department of Theatre and Film collaborated with the School of Art to arrange Cleveland’s talk. Michael Ellison, an associate professor of theatre and film, applied for the Tech Trends grant to bring her here.

“In the Department of Theatre and Film, we are constantly being invited/encouraged/challenged to address that interface of our humanity and our technology,” Ellison said in an email. “I hoped to find a guest artist who might help us bridge that gap.”

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(Posted November 01, 2011 )