hilltopics images people features friday, may 4, 2001 for comments, contact kristielliott at 864-4924 or features@kansan.com
8A
function follows form
Jon Swindell's design class had to create wearable art with a practical purpose. From fruity to freaky, cool to clanky, students came through with the goods.
photos by joshua richards
Samantha Peters, Sabetha freshman, wears a large banana mask to let other people know how crazy she is, harking to the phrase, "I'm going bananas." Peters also used two distorting lenses for eyes to peer out of the mask, further intensifying the effect of insanity.
Andrea Baron, Canon City, Colo., senior, accepts a deluge of Nerds candy, spewing from the hidden tube of Super Nerd — otherwise known as Travis Tillberg. The Newton freshman said that in regular street garb, he was just another guy, but when he put on glasses and a cape, special nerdy powers appeared. "I dispense Nerds to all those in need," he said.
Andrea Baron, Canon City, Colo., senior, waddles in her designed skirt with wheels. Baron said people could hang items they loved on the inside of the skirt — in her case, saxophones. The skirt also is supposed to protect people from being robbed.
Randi Young, lawrence freshman, reveals that her clanking "addiction cape" can turn into a skirt. Young said the cans represented addiction. People who wear the art as a cape are trying to hide the addiction from the public, but the ruckus of clanking aluminum gives them away, she said. People who choose to wear it as a skirt instead, with the cans outward, are acknowledging the addiction. Either way, she said, addiction couldn't be hidden.
Randi Young, Lawrence freshman, attempts to grab a pen using another student's project; a helmet to aid people with no arms. The wearer of the helmet flicks sticky and stretchy appendages to retrieve items and snap them back toward their face at high velocities. The helmet also protects the wearer from injury in a fall.
Julie Searcy, Overland Park freshman, clamps in place her personal isolation suit. Searcy said the suit was a satire on the isolation of modern day society. The suit included a ventilation system in the cap so she could relax to the soothing air or just dry her hair.