RIMA DAY is a talented fiber artist who came to conquer the United States from «the land of the rising sun». With her background in fashion design, she found her own way to express herself through art. Rima uses needle and thread, as a writer uses his pen and ink, to create artwork that is inspired by nature and the human body.
I think lots of them are about strong feelings that cannot be contained on the pages. They might be negative or positive feelings, I leave it to the viewer to imagine.
I am fascinated with the similarities between them. They both are supported by the similar structure that absorbs and distributes nourishment. Tree branches, roots, or blood vessels split into thinner appendages from thicker parts. I find those shapes beautiful. Therefore I make the thread matrix that looks like them. By doing so, I feel like I can draw energy from nature and it also reminds me of our vitality and fragility. It is my attempt to connect with nature.
I consider my thread matrix as written words. If the viewers could reflect their own stories on it, I’d be happy.
I was working at the costume shop at Vanderbilt University. Costuming in a theatre is all about upcycling. We always take used costumes from previous shows to alter, embellish, and modify. We were trying to start an initiative for fashion sustainability on campus, and I wanted to make something that suggests the possibility of upcycling. Used jeans are very recognizable as reclaimed material and I decided to make dresses from the Rococo period that I love, because it is so opposite from what jeans represent.
The patterns were based on thorough research into fashion history of the 18th century. Then, the jeans are either taken apart at the seam or they are cut and then sewn together into a larger piece of fabric to build the dresses. I didn’t make them to be worn. I made them to suggest a possible use of used material. So I applied to some shows with these pieces, and they were shown in several galleries.
If you look at the used piece of clothing as material, you realize there are many interesting parts – I really enjoyed working with the faded parts of jeans, The darker lines inside of seams, the marks that were made with pockets, or even the torn parts. I felt like each piece had history and I was helping to extend it.
I started to make the 18th century style organza corsets with red thread matrix. It is very interesting to research the history of undergarments. I wonder how it was to live in the era – wearing corsets and living with more constricted conventions.
