Dystopia is inspired by the Millenial generation’s dependence on social media as the primary system of self-expression. As a generation seeks endless reinforcement from these personalized yet generic structures, one's existence only appears to be an illusion. This collection asks viewers, by building artificial beings as a means to communicate with one another, are we creating dystopia within ourselves? How does this affect us as a society?
Materials: custom digitally printed silk de chine, silk organza, sequins, neoprene, Plasti-dip
Photography: Sam Gold
SHIFT // A SENSORY MOVEMENT is a month-long artist residency, based out of Nashville, TN, transforming music venue, The East Room, into a world of energy. To awaken the audiences' senses to contemporary visual art, SHIFT consumes the space with a feeling of electricity and organic movement. Exposing the crowd to experience various mediums of creativity, SHIFT utilizes a single location to combine three-dimensional effects in paintings, installed visualizations, and video projection to provide a multi-media effect of movement to complement the audible performances.
Art Direction: Sadie Monroe
Music Curation: Kelly Ruth
Photography by: Angelina Castillo and Martin Cherry
Large Scale Painting // Acrylics 10' x 14'
Large Scale Painting // Acrylics 10' x 14'
foam, el wire, cardboard, acrylic paint
iridescent film, yarn, vellum and paper shapes
large scale painting // acrylics 10' x 14'
folded paper, sheencoat finish, iridescent film
11" x 14" poster design
{City} Meets Nashville is the first of a series of dining experiences hosted by POP Nashville where well-known chefs from around the world bring their culinary expertise to locals. Dominique Crenn brings her French-influenced, modern cuisine from San Francisco by way of her restaurant, Poetic Culinaria. Through intricate plating and poetry writing, Crenn guides a story through a nine course tasting menu.
Atelier Crenn's use of color and her narrative style of plating her cuisine inspires the idea of walking through a dream garden. Using Kokedema (the Japanese art form of enclosing plant's roots in moss) and suspending plants, exotic flowers, handmade cocoons, and abstract webs to float in mid-air bring Crenn's food to life. The dream becomes more vivid as guests celebrate the experience in the after-party lounge as waves of oversized grass shoot up in the corner of the space. A conceptual oversized plant cell hangs above the couches, a hand-dyed silk parachute drapes over the bar, and massive, hand-crafted foliage cascades down the walls - coalescing to form the Kokedema Dream.
Materials: linen, muslin, silk, silk organza, knit, horsehair, boning, candles, wood, dowel rods, paint, yarn, paper, dyes, stems, plants, twine, soil, sheet moss,
Art : Sadie Monroe
Event Curation: POP Nashville
Chef: Dominique Crenn
Oversized, pleated silk organza
horsehair, knit, boning
Inspired by growth and exploration, The In-Between is an experimental work depicting the phases of development. Specifically considering the concept of uprooting oneself from its known habitat, traveling into unfamiliar territories as an act of progress. Inevitably change happens both internally and externally in order to thrive within a more complex state. During these progressive stages, nothing is definitive. Everything is a discovery and processed as one naturally transforms into a more advanced being. The In-Between peers into these abstract phases, exposing the seductive journey into the unknown.
During the summer of 2014 this piece was exhibited at the Willis Tower, Chicago, IL as a part of a fashion retrospective curated by Columbia College Chicago.
Materials: canvas, fabric dye, acrylic paint and mediums, aluminum wire, papier mache, latex tubing
A co.lab project in collaboration with Philadelphia based artist, Wesley Kloss, this outdoor installation challenges society's urban relationship to nature in Chicago, Illinois' industrious West Loop neighborhood. Drawing inspiration from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, Nature, the piece explores the poet's provocation that most adults cannot see nature. They are rather seeing the superficial. With emphasis on the commonplace desire to substitute inorganic technology as a means to fill the lack of natural interaction in metropolitan areas, "A State of Transparency" asks the viewer to consider the state of manufactured nature.
Materials: Custom designed, digitally printed canvas, vellum
Design / Production / Direction : Sadie Monroe, Claire Henry, Wesley Kloss
folding vellum
making prototypes
Co.lab was founded in 2012 as an outlet for artists Sadie Monroe and Claire Henry to collaborative explore artistic expression. Drawing from different strengths they united to form a fusion of uniquely experimental work. Subjecting themselves to a variety of media, co.lab aims to reach a wide range of viewers through their work. Heavy focus is placed on installations, fashion design, and performance based art.
A photographic series, to be published as a book, portraying inspiring individuals through their internal creative spirit supported with fictional writings. Collaboration with Annie Novotny, Jason Robinette, Ina Weise, and Colleen O'Sullivan. Assistance in concept development, costume design, and photo shoot styling.
Through craftsmanship Slash challenges commodity culture and asserts the idea of quality over quantity. The piece is handmade using five yards of organic knit cotton.
Co.lab teamed up with production artist, Josie Davis, for Wake Up! Waltz - a month long, site-specific dance and design production. Through the mundane process of the daily commute, the project was inspired by un-utilized space as a stage for performance and beauty. Throughout multiple Chicago neighborhoods, during high commuting hours, Wake Up! Waltz formed a temporary dance troupe performing on rooftops adjacent to Chicago's El. Through the practice of community engagement, this troupe brought art to the everyday commuter. Every Monday through Thursday between May 13 and June 7, 2013, performances of modern interpretations of waltzes appeared on the rooftops of Chicago's Logan Square, Uptown, and South Shore neighborhoods. Working with Davis in production and choreographers, Katherine Hill, Garrent Kling, and Liana C. Percoco, co.lab designed, produced, conceptualized the image of the dancers.
Direction : Josie Davis
Design and Production: Sadie Monroe and Claire Henry as co.lab
Co.lab was founded in 2012 as an outlet for artists Sadie Monroe and Claire Henry to collaborative explore artistic expression. Drawing from different strengths they united to form a fusion of uniquely experimental work. Subjecting themselves to a variety of media, co.lab aims to reach a wide range of viewers through their work. Heavy focus is placed on installations, fashion design, and performance based art.
