About this project

...a video will be posted in the next few days!

In the Spring of 2010 (february/march/april) I want to begin building multiple prototypes and a series of 3 life sized armored dresses out of my favorite inspiration, the agave plant - combined with other mixed media, interactive robotics and computer vision technology. I will spend 4 weeks on each set of prototypes and final sculpture design + implementation. This funding will enable me to begin the first 3 sculptures of a full set of 12 sculptures to be completed by February 2011... 12 months, 12 sculptures. The momentum begins now!

This projects combines my love of alchemy (elevating ordinary objects to extraordinary beauty), desert growing flora, haute couture fashion, armor, technology and the vision of transformation + freedom through flight. The armored dresses will be interactive and transform themselves, through engagement with the audience, from well-crafted skirts/dresses into large winged sculptures.

Why do I use the agave plant leaves?
Because the agave maintains a tender sweet center nectar filled center within its beautiful radial structure of barbed and pointed stalks. When approaching the agave plant, one must be aware and respectful of this armor. Similarly, we all need to be loved and touched yet also respected and honored. In my own life, I lacked the ability to protect myself. Not insisting that others treat me with reverence, I allowed my center to be handled indiscriminately. My struggle to strike this delicate balance of armor and amor (love) in my life, as represented by the agave plant, informs this body of work.

With this funding I plan on:
- renting an art studio in Brooklyn/Bushwick
- shipping agave stalks to NY from my contact Chad Davis at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona
- other materials, motors and hardware
- paying a technical advisor for help with robotics + computer vision
- promotional postcards + printing costs

You will get to watch the well documented process of the building of the prototypes and dress series on the AGAVEART.COM website.

You can see previous art + design projects on my website CARRIEMAE.COM or on my blog DIGITALDEITIES.INFO.