The Hudgens Displays Pulp Fashions

Paper dresses featured at Duluth’s recent Barefoot in the Park Fine Arts Festival will be on display at the Hudgens Arts Center for the Arts through the summer. Made from recycled books and other paper materials, the dresses were created by Gwinnett County Public Library employees and volunteers. Modeled in a fashion show on the Festival Center Stage at Barefoot in the Park, they are now part of the “Pulp Fashion: The Novel Art of the Paper Dress” exhibit at the Hudgens.

“Library staff handle print material everyday as we add new books to the collection, direct customers to needed resources, and recycle titles no longer current or usable by the public,” said GCPL Branch Services Division Director Barbara Spruill. “As a former administrator prepared to retire, she proposed the idea of transforming discarded print materials into paper fashions. Since each branch has a team of very creative staff members who enjoy developing those library displays that catch your eye when you enter, we weren’t surprised when the idea of making paper dresses caught their attention.” 

Teams were formed across the branches to come up with unique creations, some of which include jewelry, hairpieces, and even shoes made out of paper, according to Spruill. The names of the dresses are equally creative, including “Manga Fury,” “Butterfly” and “Library Phoenix,” among others,” she said.

Staff from the Duluth, Norcross and Lilburn library branches created the “Manga Fury” outfit from discarded graphic novels and Manga pages. Kari Evans from the Five Forks Library Branch modeled the dress in the Barefoot in the Park fashion show. The bodice was covered with Manga pages and punctuated with depictions of female action heroes from graphic novels. The paper ‘shingles’ on the skirt were sewn on by hand in a graduating color scheme. The dress was accented with silver lightning flash earrings, bracelets and boot decorations made by team members.

The team from the Snellville, Centerville and Five Forks library branches crafted a Garden Party Dress with criss-cross gold trellis decorating the bodice in adult and child versions. “Memoirs of a Grayson Geisha,” a dramatic kimono, was created by the Grayson branch.

“Library Phoenix,” which features a bodice made of folded paper squares and an embossed phoenix on the front skirt panel, was the result of teamwork by the Collins Hill and Suwanee branches. The gown is accessorized with a parasol. A Roaring Twenties Flapper Dress was a combined effort by the Buford and Dacula branches. The boa is cleverly made of coffee filters strung together. Two volunteers from the Dacula branch were responsible for a paper dress decorated with colorful butterflies.

“Pulp Fashion” is one of four exhibits featuring print and paper works currently on display at the Hudgens. The paper dress exhibit is a companion to the GCPL’s Love Your Library Week Third Annual Altered Book Exhibition. Other exhibits include the Pressing Matters: Atlanta Printmakers Studio Annual Members Exhibition and the Book Arts Invitational Exhibition, which was inspired by the library system’s Altered Book Exhibition. The four exhibits opened with a reception June 9 and will be displayed through Sept. 3. 

There will be a free Family Day on Saturday, June 18, during which members of the Atlanta Printmakers Studio will lead a hands-on art activity for children from 10 a.m. to noon. General admission, normally $5 for adults, $3 children, students and seniors, will be free throughout the day.

The Hudgens is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and is located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Bldg. 300, in the Gwinnett Center complex in Duluth. For more information about art exhibits, events and classes at the Hudgens, visit the website at www.thehudgens.org or call 770-623-6002.