Day 170 - Students Proudly Walk the Runway Thanks to Rep. Ken Gordon - BHS Art Department

This post originally appeared on Ms. Chang's Blog

On Tuesday, May 31 the State House filled with young artists and fashion designers! I was delighted to see students who work so hard all year honored with a show  that highlighted their hard work and properly showed what public school education is producing and was spectacular!

Thanks to Rep. Ken Gordon the students had the FIRST fashion show at the state house! Thanks to the vision of his aide Mary Guay we created a wonderful runway in the Great Hall, set up an art display of 2d and 3D art. Visionary Teacher Keith March Mistler started the fashion design class four years ago and has worked to build and grown this wonderful class.

The hall filled up with proud students, parents, community members, school committee members, house representatives and others who saw an ad or the WCVB Eye Opener and came to support the students and the show.

Special thanks to all who attended and our amazing sponsors:
Whole Bunch of Flowers
Lexi Photography
BirchNine
David's Tea
True North
​
Thanks to NECN, the Boston Globe and BCAT for covering the event! Thanks to the BECCand Deborah Clark for including her wonderful students in the show modeling the adaptive clothing that the fashion students created.

Thank you to our wonderful alum who generous let us model and feature their designs:
Rachel Faller of Tonle
Erika Landry
Maya Russell
Gaju Carole Niyonzima
Kailee Abeshaus

and thank you to Rep. Ken Gordon, Vanessa Ovian, PR Manager, Mary Guay, and the invaluable Rosalyn Minassian, parent volunteer and President of the Friends of the Arts- we could not have done this event without you!

Day 145 - Lord & Taylor Charity Day - Mr. Mistler - BHS Art Dept.

Lord & Taylor is having their annual Charity Day on Saturday April 30th where Fashion Design students are exhibiting their dresses in the store.

Charity Day is a day of events, raffles and refreshments. Proceeds from any $5 shopping passes purchased benefits local Habitat for Humanity chapters. The fashion design class is exhibiting their recycled dresses on the first floor.

If you go to charity day, hashtag your favorite dress with #MyDesignLTburl on Twitter. The winner will get a prize. Follow Lord and Taylor on Instagram. 

Thank you to General Manager Rose Meade and Visual Merchandising Manager Terri for this opportunity for my students. The designs will be up for about a week.

Below is a visual preview of the exhibit:

Day 41 - Adaptive Clothing Design - Mr. Mistler - BHS Art Department

Students buying supplies at Joann Fabrics in Burlington

Last year Ms. Kennedy came up to me and suggested that we design clothing for students in the pre-school who have physical disabilities and/or global developmental delays. She noticed that the pre-school teachers had trouble putting coats on and off the students for recess. I thought, "what a great idea!" The fashion class raised money selling tickets for a chain department store and my students mentioned that they wanted to use that money and create something for others.

With limited experience creating children’s clothing, never mind adaptive clothing, I looked online for sources. The article, Design and disability: fashion for wheelchair users by fashion designer Rebecca Paterson really helped myself and my students to understand what it’s like to design adaptive clothing for people with disabilities. Rebecca was inspired by her sister, who has Cerebral Palsy, and created a line of adaptive clothing for her. She included flat garment drawings of her adaptive designs, allowing students to understand the needs of someone in a wheelchair.

We met with the pre-school teacher, Ms. Shannon Conroy, and inundated her with questions. What type of clothing do these kids need? What fabrics do you think would be best? How about the best type of clasps? We realized that the best course of action would be to design fall and spring coats that Ms. Conroy could use in her own classroom for recess. I took my class of 8 students down to visit Ms. Conroy’s classroom.

Working in groups of 2-3, students researched adaptive clothing designs and collaborated to create 2 different designs per group. We brainstormed as a class to refine the designs and then we made our pattern pieces, using current sewing patterns and altering them to suit our own needs. One final design was chosen per group and students worked together to complete the garments.

I can not be more proud of my fashion students! Their big hearts coupled with positive attitudes and ambitions helped this project succeed. I am very lucky to be able to work with these students on a daily basis.

Thank you to Shannon Conroy and Deborah Clark from the BECC! And thank you to the administration here at Burlington who continually support the students and staff here. 

---

We met at Joann Fabrics to buy supplies on a Friday after school

Students plan out their designs using muslin

Students consulting with Shannon Conroy regarding their preliminary mockups

The students presented their designs to the school committee, speaking eloquently about their experiences working on the garments

From left: myself, Melanie Sunnerberg (17), Amanda Wagreich (16), Samantha Marchese (16), Kailee Heffler (17), and BECC teacher Shannon Conroy