Kleibacker: New York Designer to Ohio Curator
June 17th, 2008
Kleibacker: New York Designer to Ohio Curator
Through July 6
Riffe Gallery, 77 S. High St.
Produced by the Ohio Arts Council in partnership with the Columbus Museum of Art; Gayle Strege, the Historic Costumes and Textiles Collection, Geraldine Schottenstein Wing at The Ohio State University; and Cordelia Robinson.
Kleibacker: New York Designer to Ohio Curator will include designs and memorabilia from Kleibacker’s more than 20 years as a designer in New York, as well as a comprehensive overview of the 11 fashion-focused exhibitions he curated. In addition to original garments, fashion illustration and photography this exhibition features photo documentation of scenes from the original installations of Kleibacker’s exhibitions.
A retrospective of curatorial and design work by nationally recognized fashion icon Charles Kleibacker, this exhibition brings together original garments, photography, illustration and memorabilia to examine Kleibacker’s long career and his contribution to the worlds of clothing design and fine art.
Before there was Project Runway, Kleibacker was taking Ohioans behind the scenes for an up-close look at the intricate world of fashion design. Over the course of two decades, he produced 11 exhibitions that informed audiences about the expert craftsmanship that goes into engineering fine clothes. He also brought attention to the many ways in which other art forms-illustration, photography and film-are used to bring clothing design into the public consciousness.
Born in Cullman, Alabama, Kleibacker earned a degree in journalism and worked as a newspaper reporter before pursuing graduate studies in retailing at New York University. A job as an assistant to the entertainer Hildegarde took him to Paris for six months in the late 1940s and introduced him to the world of couture. Determined to become a designer himself, he employed an atelier head to teach him the basics of understanding fabrics, draping and design. By 1960, he opened his KLEIBACKER studio in New York City. In 1963, he moved from a one room studio into a seven-room suite on West 73rd Street, which the KLEIBACKER label occupied until 1983.
Kleibacker first came to Columbus in 1984 as a visiting professor in the Department of Textiles and Clothing at The Ohio State University, where a year later he became designer-in-residence. Kleibacker remained at Ohio State until 1995, where his primary responsibility was to build a collection of historical clothing for the university.
As the collection grew, Kleibacker sought opportunities to raise the collection’s profile in the Columbus community and soon discovered that the best way to do this was to create exhibitions. He became a curator, developing exhibition projects both on the Ohio State campus and at other Ohio institutions to showcase the collection’s resources along with works from private and public lenders.
The Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery is located in the Vern Riffe, Center for Government and the Arts, 77 S. High St., Columbus, OH. Admission is free. Gallery hours are Tuesday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 12-8 p.m. and Sunday 12-4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Monday and state holidays.
Visit http://www.oac.state.oh.us/riffe/exhibitions/2008/CK/Kleibacker.asp or phone 614/644-9624 for more information.
Free group tours are available Wednesday through Friday throughout the run of each exhibition. To schedule a group tour contact Riffe Gallery Director Mary Gray at mary.gray@oac.state.oh.us or 614/728-2239.
Entry Filed under: Exhibits Archives
