Christchurch Finalists Announced for 2010 Montana WOW Awards Show [WOW Ltd]

The reality of time’s incessant drag on us all features among the Canterbury entries in the Montana WOW® Awards, balanced by tales of books and birds that can lift the spirit with journeys of fantasy and feather.

The Montana World of WearableArt™ Awards Show is in its 22nd year and is a world-renowned design and art event attracting ever-growing interest and amazing works of art from across the globe.
A stunning exhibition of creative ingenuity, the Montana WOW® Awards Show brings to life artworks designed for the human form, showcasing a near-boundless display of imagination that builds on the anthropological aspiration to be more than we are.

Highlights from the 2010 Montana WOW® story so far…

• The 191 garments chosen for the stage is the largest contingent ever

• The level of artistry grows year on year with incredible materials ranging from hundreds of individually styled metal parts to 17,900 metres of yarn.

• One in three garments chosen for the show are from international designers across four continents, including a record 23 from India.

• WOW® designers range from dentists to architects, jewelers to sculptors, fashion designers to business analysts, students and retirees

• Designers compete for $100,000 in prizes including the Supreme Award and the highly coveted Weta Award selected by Oscar-winning designer Sir Richard Taylor

The 2009 Supreme Award was won by an international designer, David Walker from Alaska, who received more than $25,000 in prizes for his classical gown entry Lady of the Wood.

With the initial selection complete the 2010 Montana WOW® Awards judging continues on two more occasions in September before opening night on 23 September at TSB Arena in Wellington.
Joining WOW® Founder Suzie Moncrieff on the panel this year is New Zealand kinetic sculptor Phil Price, and former fashion designer Doris de Pont who is synonymous with the New Zealand fashion scene.
"The judging process for WOW has been totally captivating,” says Phil Price. “It is a privilege to witness the sophistication of this art genre and the designers are really demonstrating the synthesis of elements that any good design requires. We are seeing really inventive solutions that are playful and intelligent.”

The choreography for the 2010 show will showcase approximately 190 finalists who have been chosen to compete in the Montana WOW® Awards Show from an array of more than 300 entrants from all over New Zealand and the world.

International designers from 25 countries submitted entries for the Montana WOW® Awards and 61 garments from Germany, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, and USA were selected to join local entries on the WOW® stage.

First time WOW entrant Kate Hellyar, from Leeston, takes a book and blows it apart with an erupting dragon in A Bid For Freedom. The entry in the Mainfreight Duffy Books in Homes Children’s Section: The Magic of Books takes the thin line between a child’s imagination and reality and runs a roaring red dragon through it, a take on the potential from a character in a book to “reach out and grab you”. Made from calico, dacron, plastic and foam, the painted monster has no doubt been part of many a youngster’s book-inspired imaginary world.

The unobtainable illusion of light in its various forms is the theme behind Wired Women, by Christchurch designers Amit Gupta and Robyn Martin. Penetrating every aspect of life, light is a mix of art, science and utility which brings about different effects in different people.

The Gen-i Creative Excellence Section: The Art of Light entry takes merino wool and blends it with LEDs to create an intriguing shape representing the influence of light on each and everyone of us.
Designing and building a WOW garment takes some people two years, but for Ashburton theatre designer and wardrobe artist Julie Brawley it was number 801 on her to-do list, alongside 800 costumes to be created for a Broadway-themed stage show she was working on.

The futuristic entry in the Gen-i Creative Excellence Section: The Art Of Light is as far from the traditional theatre boards as it can be. Tempus Fugit (Time Flies) is made from Suntuff roofing engraved with clockwork mechanisms and put together with nuts and bolts. Inspired by the inner workings of the Ashburton clock tower, the garment is a reminder of time’s inevitable passing and the need to appreciate every moment.

Bronwyn Knutson’s Flight of the Godwit (Kuaka) pays homage to the human link to the migration of bar-tailed godwits from New Zealand to Alaska and back. The Christchurch human resources manager spent 300 hours on the design and creation of the garment, entered in the Gen-i Creative Excellence Section: The Art of Light, and points to a local love of the itinerant bird flock as more than 600 people farewell them each year. Making the garment from polypropylene, wire and rubber, Knutson says the circular design signifies the linking of continents the annual migration achieves.

Christchurch’s Mark Crocker has spoons on the brain and revives the theme of a previous WOW® entry with Flying Bustresses in the Bizarre Bra® Section. Creating the metallic garment from cooking and dining utensils, leather belts and table mats, Crocker has likely left his kitchen cupboards bare. Comprising eight spoons, two butter knives, two corkscrews and a pair of salt and pepper shakers, the retro-looking contraption is reminiscent of crazy gadgetry from old science fiction novels.

Another Christchurch entry in the Bizarre Bra® Section designed by Judith Clemett and Anna McNeill, whose Salvador Dali-inspired garment represents the toll time takes on our physical appearance. As Time Ticks By is made from polymer clay and tells the unfortunate tale of the breasts of time, one young and perfect at 4 o’clock, the other less so seven hours later. “We are all chained inescapably to the effect of aging.”

The effort and inspiration that goes into the incredible garments that make it to the final stage of the Montana WOW® Awards is the backbone of the event.

WOW® then creatively weaves these painstakingly crafted garments of a world’s worth of designers’ dreams and epiphanies into an eleven show season (including the newly released matinee at 2pm on Saturday 2 October) opening 23 September. This choreographed dramatic live performance is seen by an audience of more than 43,000 people in Wellington, New Zealand’s creative capital and the ultimate place to tell the global story of the weird and wonderful World of WearableArt™.