Exhibit of Kealy-Mayton's work

Designer -- Kelly Kealy-Mayton will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, in Brown Auditorium, Parkinson Room 124. The public is invited to hear the SIUC alumna and winner of the 2008 “Macy’s Design a Dance” costume contest for television’s “Dancing with the Stars.” An exhibit of Kealy-Mayton’s work is on display now through Oct. 16 at Quigley Hall on the SIUC campus. (Photo provided) Download Photo Here

October 09, 2009

Fashion design graduate to discuss her career

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- You saw her and her grand prize-winning costume designs on the popular television show “Dancing with the Stars” and now, you can see Kelly Kealy-Mayton and some of her stunning creations at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

She’ll speak at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, in Brown Auditorium, Parkinson Room 124. The free lecture is part of the ongoing fall Fine Arts Lecture Series at the School of Architecture. The student fine arts fee is funding Kealy-Mayton’s distinguished alumni lecture.

The event is open to students, faculty, staff and the community at large.

Kealy-Mayton earned a bachelor’s in fashion design and merchandising in 1992 from SIUC. A Waterloo native now living in Allen, Texas, she creates competition dance attire and she owns DanceSport Designs (www.dancesportdesigns.com).

Her black and white piano keyboard-inspired designs took her to the top in the national “Macy’s Design a Dance” costume contest held in conjunction with the TV dancing competition a year ago. Online voting tabulations showed that she topped the second-place costume design by 3,000 votes. Her prize included a trip for she and husband Jim to see a pair of the show’s stars wear her costumes as they danced to “Great Balls of Fire.”

A new gallery at Quigley Hall features a temporary exhibit highlighting some of Kealy-Mayton’s work. There are four of her handmade dancing gowns, along with photos of additional creations. The exhibit will remain in place through Oct. 16.

For more information about the fall lecture series at the SIUC School of Architecture, call 618/453-3734 or look online at www.architecture.siuc.edu/.