MICA Students Repurpose J SHOES

By Bret McCabe City Paper- Baltimore

A few weeks back J Shoes, whose corporate offices are based in Owings Mills, offered the Maryland Institute College of Art's Fibers Department the opportunity to re-purpose single shoes left over from its design samples. The proposed question:"Could a contemporary shoe be transformed into an entirely different object with an entirely different purpose?"

Sixteen undergrads accepted the challenge, and their resulting creations debuted last night in the Rosenberg Gallery on the second floor of the Brown Center. And what the students came up with--which range from the fashionably practical, such as gloves and hats and corsets, to entire dresses and even some outlandishly imaginative pieces--are fun, inventive, and witty. Personal faves include Samuel Shea's "Animal Mask," which looks like the patchwork rococo attempt of an okapi to camouflage itself as a camel (and was named the contest winner), and Cassie Gretshcel's "Eye Protection," which brings to mind what a Readymade-reading Penelope Pitstop might wear to match her handmade driving gloves in a road race around Iceland. The show runs through Oct. 15.