RECYCLING ON THE RUNWAY

PALMER — The inside of the old Palmer Depot was barely recognizable on Saturday as amateur models in recycled clothing danced down a stage in the darkened room.

The occasion? The Valley Arts Alliance’s 10^th annual Wearable Art Show, where dozens of artists and costumers presented their creations in runway fashion. Materials ranged from old handkerchiefs and ties to balloons and Christmas lights.

“There’s some very creative stuff here,” said Nancy Cameron, modeling Niki Pease’s latest “tarp-n-tape” piece. “It’s amazing what people come up with.”

Cameron walked the runway to the theme song for the Discover Channel show, “Alaska: The Last Frontier,” by the Homer-raised singer Jewel, to complement Pease’s “Palmer Colony Kuspuk.”

For many artists, the show is as much about the music as the outfit.

Mixed media artist Tamora Harding-Childs and Wasilla High graduate Alexandra Overway said they were both “huge fans” of David Bowie, and after his January death decided to pay homage to the rock icon in their presentation.

“We wanted to channel his large shoulders,” Harding-Childs said, gesturing to Overway’s shoulder pads, made from silver spray-painted paper towel tubes.

Overway strutted about the stage to Bowie’s “Fame” on Saturday afternoon, her first time participating in the show.

Currently attending Glenda’s Salon and Training Center in Wasilla, she said she’d be around to participate in the event again next year, and would love to work with Harding-Childs again.

“I just think she’s so awesome,” Overway said of her family friend.

Though she doesn’t specialize in wearable art, Harding-Childs said she’d found a good hobby in the show.

“I costumed in college so this is fitting for me,” she said.

But again, sometimes the music is what drives the performance.

Anchorage resident Margret Hugi-Lewis said she designed raven-like costumes for herself and her husband, Rod Sisson, to match Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire,” to which they danced the Argentine tango Saturday afternoon.

“I have to make them very simple so we can dance,” Hugi-Lewis said.

Originally from Switzerland and Israel, respectively, Hugi-Lewis and Sisson now experience other cultures through the various forms of tango they’ve learned from experts based in Los Angeles, South America and the Middle East.

Hugi-Lewis said she and her husband had entered competitive dances and wearable art shows before, but were glad to be invited to the more relaxed Palmer event this year by arts alliance president Carmen Summerfield.

“It’s fun because it’s not a competition,” she said. “People out here are very creative, more than in the city.”

Houston 15-year-old Gabriel Camacho expressed his creativity in balloons.

After watching his father and brother make balloon animals and things for a local fire department fundraiser, Camacho decided he wanted to give it a try. The next year he fashioned a life-size fireman holding a fire hose out of balloons for the fundraiser, and for Houston Founder’s Day made his older sister Jasmin a dress of balloons.

“It’s just like any regular dress, you can slip it on and you’re good to go,” said their mother, Veronica Camacho.

Jasmin Camacho said she can even sit in the dress without any of the nearly 100 balloons popping because of the weight distribution.

Rather than sitting for the show, though, she sashayed to Demi Lovato’s “Neon Lights” in her blue balloon dress, complemented by a white balloon top hat.

Burchell High School student CourtneyLynn Cox actually wore lights, though, for an act titled “Treasure,” created by veteran designer Linda Lockhart.

Cox and future classmate Talon Hill dazzled audience members when she emerged from a treasure chest and he threw off his coat and pirate hat to reveal lighted lapels and a beaming skirt and bodice. They then danced up and down the stage to dramatic seafaring music.

Cox said she got hooked on wearable art when she dressed as “Tarpolina” for Lockhart in the show last year, adding yet another type of performance to her list of loves.

“Acting and performing has always been my dream,” she said. “It’s my passion and what I’m going to do in college.”

But if she hadn’t gone looking for a prom dress at Top Drawer, Lockhart’s recycled clothing store in Big Lake, Cox might not have picked up modeling as a hobby.

“I’m just so glad that Linda saw something in me when I walked into her shop,” Cox said.

Kiley Shanaberger also wore a piece of Lockhart’s at the Saturday show, one of 23 Lockhart has had modeled at Palmer’s Wearable Art Show over the years.

“The only year I missed was 2012 because I was in the hospital, but my pieces were still there,” Lockhart said.

To learn more about the show and upcoming Valley Arts Alliance events, visit valleyartsalliance.com.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.