July 29 Event Illuminates Final Days of Ruth Funk Center Exhibit on Fine Arts and Fashion
MELBOURNE, FLA.—Cool off in style at a special, free evening event at Florida Institute of Technology’s Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts Thursday, July 29. The center’s galleries will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. for a look at the art scarves in the current exhibit, Styling the Modern: Fine Art Meets Fashion.
Director Carla Funk will offer a Gallery Talk beginning at 6 p.m. and docent tours. There will also be light refreshments and a cash bar.
The only textiles center in Florida is featuring limited edition screen-printed scarves created by the famous London-based Ascher textile workshop until Aug. 21.
The 41 scarves on exhibit were designed by well-known artists of the 1940s, including Cecil Beaton, Alexander Calder, Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse and Henry Moore. The Aschers were among the first textile companies to invite Modernist artists to design wearable fabrics, thus breaking boundaries between the worlds of fine art and fashion. The scarves, referred to as “Ascher Squares” because they are all 3-feet square, are now rare and coveted by collectors around the world.
The silk scarves also became popular as skirts, turbans and wraps, inspiring other designers such as Christian Dior to incorporate Ascher fabrics in their collections. Pieces from the Aschers have dressed the likes of the Queen of England and Princess Diana. Two dresses designed with the artists’ fabrics printed by the Aschers will also be included in the exhibit.
Styling the Modern: Fine Art Meets Fashion was organized and curated by guest curator Shanna Shelby from the Collection of Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III.
Regular hours for the Ruth Funk Center are Tuesday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m. It is located on the Florida Tech campus in Melbourne at 150 W. University Blvd. Admission to the exhibit is free.
For more information, visit http://textiles.fit.edu, or contact Carla Funk at (321) 674-8313, or cfunk@fit.edu.
