April 24, 2009

Architecture school to host Design Day 2009

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Design Day 2009 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale offers a unique opportunity -- the chance to see a condom dress, gigantic cardboard depictions of everyday objects, a fashion show, detailed architectural drawings and much more -- all in one place on April 30.

The SIUC School of Architecture is hosting the event at the Student Center in Ballrooms A-D and the Corker Lounge to showcase the talents and work of its students. Design Day is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

“The purpose of Design Day is to showcase the creative talents of the students in the three programs of the School of Architecture -- Architectural Studies, Fashion Design and Merchandising and Interior Design,” said Laura Kidd, associate professor in the fashion design and merchandising program and show organizer. “The works that will be exhibited demonstrate a wide range of the type of products that our students produce during the year.”

The exhibit is open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibit closes from 4 to 6 p.m. but reopens at 6 p.m.

During the public show, visitors will see everything from first-year student projects to works created by seniors. Some are fanciful while others are elaborate in their details. You can see the huge cardboard scale models of everyday items including an ice cream scoop, a wedding cake and guitars. First-year architectural studies and interior design students created the items two-and-a-half times their actual size.

Can an old purse or pair of shoes be a work of art? You’ll see the answer to that question in a fashion design and merchandising project where that was the goal. Meanwhile, upper-level architecture students will showcase models and plans they have created for private and public spaces. Some are regionally based architecture projects for the Cairo or Carbondale communities.

Interior design students will exhibit store interior floor plans they created. Fashion design and merchandising students will display original garments and fashion design portfolios. You’ll see a dress made entirely of condoms, created as a service project for AIDS Awareness Week at SIUC, along with a display of the iconic little black dresses.

The show culminates at 7 p.m. with student recognition and award presentations followed by a runway fashion show. During the awards segment, the School of Architecture will recognize the talents of juniors and seniors in each of the three programs. The school will also recognize students for other awards, honors and scholarships they collected during the year.

The runway fashion show kicks off with the 2009 Red Dress Collection. Junior and senior fashion design students designed and crafted these original garments as a service project in conjunction with the Heart Truth Campaign and annual red dress fashion shows conducted in New York City and throughout the country during February’s fashion week. These particular dresses were part of the Red Extravaganza event the women of Delta Sigma Theta presented during American Heart Month, February.

The last segment of the runway show who will feature the original works of senior fashion design students Randi Barnard, Maya Collum, Nicole Datzman, Jane Pivovarnik, Natarus Ramseur and Lana Weiss.