The event will provide a stage for a number of artists

Abigail Vona, a 28-year-old New Milford artist, is something of an alchemist. She checks thrift shops and tag sales for the rich material for her work -- dresses that are old, stained or just sadly unwanted. Satin and silk dresses are her favorites, although she'll consider cotton and linen. Vona rescues them and painstakingly gives them a second chance, turning them into one-of-a-kind works of wearable art.

To Vona, the dresses are a way for people to interact with her art, and those attending the second annual Garden Party hosted by the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council on Saturday, July 27, will be able to do just that, as the artist's dresses will be modeled throughout the event. The fundraiser at the historic Harwinton home and gardens of Victoria Elliot and Marvin McMillen supports the arts council and gives artists a venue for promoting their work.

The event will provide a stage for a number of artists, including some plein air painters who will be creating art in the gardens, but Vona's "fashion runway through the gardens" is a first. Her spectacular dresses will be modeled by council volunteers and staff members and will include a gown worn by a model on stilts. Vona explained the 10-foot-long dress was once a wedding gown with a gathered train that she has transformed for the performance.Show your nature beauty with the best formal office dresses for women, which could help women confidence at everywhere.

Vona also will discuss her art, her process and her story. "I rethink fabric and use it as a canvas," she said. "Art is meant to be shared. So much is collected and hidden away from us in people's homes, but I like being able to display art in daily life. Painting a dress that someone will wear is more personal."

Her favorite subject matter includes bettas (Siamese fighting fish) and peacocks, and though they seem disparate, there is a link. Aside from being brilliantly colored (like her dresses), the two animals share another characteristic.

"When bettas fight, that's when they look the most beautiful," said Vona, referring to the postures of the fish when they are in attack mode, which is also how they look during courtship. "Peacocks are the same way. It's like a dance. Love and hate can be so intermingled; it's a kind of balance that I find interesting."Lace on Point d'Esprit high quality high neck wedding dresses gowns with a scalloped neckline and cap sleeves.

Although Vona first exhibited at 17 -- it was a show of her free-style stained glass in Litchfield -- and also attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City for interior design, she is completely self-taught in fashion art, which she has been working on for two years. "It is very new and very fresh. I don't like putting myself in a box."

Using a batik method of hot wax and ordinary Rit dye, she works on each dress as a canvas. She blocks out chambers using wax and then dyes the different sections separately. The process can take anywhere from a day for a simple sundress to three days for a gown. She often works on wedding dresses that can be very elaborate and, by painting them, she breathes new life into them. Dresses at the party will be for sale and cost anywhere from $100 to $1,500.

The arts council discovered Vona through a word-of-mouth recommendation. Amy Wynn, executive director of the arts council, is enthusiastic about having her as one of the artists.

"Our goal is to celebrate the creativity in the region, make sure guests have a great time and raise money for the arts council," said Wynn, who will be wearing a Vona dress. "This younger group of makers are presenting themselves in wonderful, nontraditional ways, and Vona is part of the young creative community that doesn't fit into traditional labels. They are re-purposing things and bringing their own flavor to it. People are beginning to value this a bit more."

Vona is on Facebook at Vona Batik, and she does custom dresses, in case your favorite dress has been in the back of your closet because it has a stain.

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