Elizabeth Wislar, a professional costume designer, brought her artwork to EMU on Nov. 14. Wislar, who currently lives in Staunton and teaches at Washington and Lee University, opened a show called “Celebrating Sustainability: The Costume Creations of Elizabeth Wislar: 3 hours and 30 years” at EMU’s Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery last Friday. About 20 students and more faculty attended the gallery opening, with students receiving an Engage point and many attendees enjoying refreshments. 

Wislar, assisted by Associate Professor Anna Westfall and student Jasmin Ruiz, was putting the finishing touches on the gallery at 4 p.m. as students started to arrive. The students chatted and snacked as they waited for the gallery to be ready. 

About 10 minutes later, attendees made their way in and started looking at the pieces, wandering around the transformed gallery. Some students took notes for art classes, while others took pictures of their favorite pieces.

Mickayla Clay, a first-year student, worked on an assignment for 3D Design with Westfall. She stated that she liked most of the pieces, and that “all the yellow and orange feels nice.” 

After several minutes of checking out the artwork, guests gathered in almost a full circle around the gallery, with Wislar standing in the middle. She was silhouetted against a giant dress that was suspended from the ceiling. 

Cyndi Gusler introduced Wislar as a costume professional before Wislar took over to give her artist’s statement. She spoke about her work designing costumes for theater and opera productions. All of the pieces displayed, she explained, had been used in productions before, so she encouraged the audience to touch and interact with the costumes. 

Throughout her presentation, Wislar emphasized her views on sustainability. “I do believe that everything we need has already been made and is out there in the world,” she said. Along with the costumes, which were made from repurposed textiles, the show featured a “Found Object sculpture” which was unique to the EMU show. All of the objects in the sculpture, which included a mannequin head and decorative spiders, were repurposed as well. 

“I thought it was pretty interesting,” junior Meaghan Dean said, referencing the presentation. Like Clay, Dean also enjoyed the colors as well as the patterns of the artwork. 

Wislar’s creations will be displayed in EMU’s gallery through the end of the semester, Dec 12.