Queer. 

Queer, queer, queer, queer, QuEeR, queer, QUEER!

Ever notice how if you look at a word long enough, it starts to lose meaning?  The word QUEER is starting to lose its meaning; away from being just about gay males and morphing into a word that is a bit more inclusive.  An umbrella term, if you will, for all of us who don’t fit into the neat little boxes of gay, straight, lesbian, and/or bisexual.  A term that embraces all and shuns none.  A term that challenges one to think outside of the box of tradition and embrace your inner weirdo. 

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Expression

back in 2004, my sister was going through the coming out process.  she wasn’t having the easiest time of it, since most of the lesbians didn’t see her as being ‘legit’.  she looked like a girl, talked like a girl and walked like a girl.  so they just figured she was some straight girl who wanted to play gay.  as you can probably guess, she took it pretty hard.

i was in Ireland at the time, recovering from my foray in normality.  she called me up in the middle of my night after she got home from lesbian bowling, upset because of the way she was being treated.  jokingly, i told her that i was going to make her a shirt that said “Hey, I’m gay… how are you?”  not only did the idea make her smile, but she insisted i print them up when i got back and take them to the local Gay Pride festival.  so i did. 

now more than six year later, i’m still making shirts and she’s out in California with her fiancee, Melissa.

Devotion

devotion is the name given to the line of apparel that i created the summer i spent in California.  i named it such after realizing that no matter what i do, as long as i do it with devotion it is a work of God as well as a work of Art.

Devotion is where the spiritual meets the mundane.  where we have the opportunity to enter into a discourse with a living deity, no matter how that might manifest in our lives. i choose the word God because, limited though it may be, it is the closest word i have to express the feeling of awe that overcomes me whenever i think of the vast universe that exists outside of my small sphere of influence. 

Re:construction

reconstruction is, in a nutshell, where i hack apart a garment and put it back together in a more pleasing manner. i use scissors, ribbon, grommets, hammers, glue, pins, needles, thread and whatever else might be handy in order to accomplish my goal.  the end result is a one-of-a-kind piece of clothing that i have poured blood, sweat, tears and probably a curse word or two into.