Glow Stick

The garments flaunted in tonight’s In the Dark fashion show will be glowing, but it’s won’t be from the gleam of silk or the glint of sequins. Some of the pieces will literally light up as part of the 7 p.m. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland event that showcases wearable technology pieces created through collaboration between six Cleveland Institute of Art students and two Case Western Reserve University engineering students. 

“It’s trying to blur the lines between analog in digital, especially in art culture today to find a complex between what should be analog and what should be digital,” says Graham Baldwin, a participating designer and Cleveland Institute of Art student.

Back in October, Baldwin began working on his avant-garde garment titled “Compendium,” which is a crinoline dress made from 4 pounds of 3-D printed nylon filament that will allow light to shine through it.

“In this piece, I’m hand-sewing 3-D printed structures together, and the 3-D printed structures reference smocking [a way to embroider and fold fabric] used in old-time dresses, so it’s kind of this back and forth balance between the two ideas,” Baldwin says.

The competition is an opportunity to connect arts with engineering, says CIA adjunct professor Barbara Chira. The designers are using 3-D light refraction, glowing LED lights and motion sensors to make one-of-a-kind, futuristic pieces.

“We are very proud of these students' passion for and aptitude in emerging technologies, and in their desire to collaborate across disciplines and work toward creative outcomes that are innovative and new,” Chira says.

The students will also present their high-tech creations at the Brite Winter Festival Feb. 15, the Cleveland Mini Maker Faire March 29 and Great Lakes Science Center’s Yuri’s Night Space Party April 12. Designers will have a chance to revise their pieces throughout the competition until the April show, which features a judging of the garments with one lucky winner taking home a cash prize.

By Cassie Neiden

Crime, darkness abound in film noir series

Frank Bigelow has been poisoned, and he’s been told he has about 24 hours to live.

Journey to the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque’s screening of D.O.A. Jan. 26 and 27 to watch as Bigelow, played by Edmond O’Brien, desperately tries to determine who wants to kill him before his time runs out.

The film is part of Cinematheque’s “Noir Town” series. It features ‘40s and ‘50s black-and-white films categorized as “film noir,” or black film, by French critics. Characterized by shadows — and packed with killers, detectives and femme fatales — the genre has remained popular.

“(The films) speak to a contemporary sensibility in that they are a little bit jaded and cynical,” explains Cinematheque director John Ewing.

 Wade Williams Films

Ewing focused on choosing acclaimed, underplayed films Cinematheque has never shown.

“One of my ongoing crusades is to keep all of film history from being reduced to just a handful of over-shown and over-familiar titles,” Ewing says.

Although he is “looking forward to all of them,” Ewing’s been wanting to see Lady in the Lake for decades.

The movie follows writer-turned-detective Philip Marlowe, played by famed Robert Montgomery, as he searches for an alleged murderer. Because the film is shot from the point of view of Marlowe, viewers only glimpse Montgomery a few times, as a reflection in a mirror.

“Could you imagine casting Brad Pitt or George Clooney in some big film, and then you only see them two or three times in the whole movie?” Ewing muses of the film that will be shown Feb. 9 and 10.

Ewing confesses he’ll be watching some of the films for the first time with the audience.

“I figure if I haven’t seen it, a lot of other people probably haven’t, either,” he says.

The films will be screened every Saturday and some Sundays through Feb. 23. For the full schedule, visit www.cia.edu.events.

Reason #29 To Love Google Alerts

Sometimes it's like getting a letter from a friend buried in a pile of junk mail. These two showed up yesterday.

The Francis Blog takes on our Sexy Singles issue: "I was looking through the latest edition of Cleveland Magazine ... which is profiles of some of Cleveland’s most famous (and sexiest!) singles. I only got two in and realized that I could write a fairly epic blog about them so I decided to cap it there." Honestly, it is pretty epic.

And then I got an alert on LAZ, Lazaro Gamio, a student at CIA. His Cosmonaut Kid sketches — and the finished book spread — are really cool. The character (at left) reminds me of something my kids watch, but I can't put my finger on it. At first I thought it was the main character from Disney's Atlantis, but that's not it. I can't wait to see what his little truck sketches turn into -- or what gem my next Google Alert brings.