What is this about? How does it work?

In a nutshell, each member choose a garment to be altered/embellished and passed it off round robin to the other members via the mail to be further altered. It is an art project and an experiment really. The garment could be almost anything, old or new, a 3-piece suit, a sari, your grandmothers fur coat, a sweater, a hat, an old cocktail dress, a straight jacket, plether bondage wear, etc. etc.

The sky is the limit in terms of what one can do to alter the garments. We ask that if the original owner requests the garment be kept to its original size - so that it is still wearable.

Right now we try to send the garments on to the next person once a month - on the 15th. It is a slow process but we are getting there. We are about 1/2 done with the cycle.

Once we are done with the circle we plan to exhibit the garments in LA and NYC sometime in 2005.

• If you are interested in getting on our mailing list or getting involved with a future project of the AGC please let us know. You can email pattylundeen@yahoo.com

We are the *AGC*

Andrea Silva: Home grown on a flower farm on Martha's Vineyard, Andrea survived the wrath of three older brothers to become the kind of girl who scales ladders in stilettos and perceives potlucks as competitive sport. Generally Andrea has too many interests for her own good. Her current and standard favorites include knitting, shopping on line (looking not buying), designing jewelry in her head (I make it when I can), flea markets, the beach, and scouring Los Angeles for its hidden assets. She is currently applying her landscape architecture education at RISD to the design of fancy water fountains.

Patty Mönster Lundeen:
Basically I design fountains with Andrea. I have a BFA in Fiber from the Cleveland Institute of Art an MLA in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. I apprenticed at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philly a few years ago. I travel a whole lot - but when I am in Los Angeles, I spend my free time painting, bowling, sewing, shopping and drinking - not always in that order. I have recently moved my art studio to a loft in downtown LA. Taska's altered book circle, which I belonged to, was the initial inspiration for the AGC.

Jenne Patrick: I teach knitting and fiber arts classes, sew lots of stuff, maintain my archive of photographs and wrangle cats. My website is http://www.lixolux.com My favorite breakfast is 2 blueberry waffles with butter and honey drizzled on top, 3 morningstar fake sauseges cooked in butter so its crispy and a glass of pulpy organic orange juice. I eat this breakfast 3 + days a week. I went to college at UC Santa Cruz, and have lived in San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and now LA. In my past life I was a freelance photographer. I play music solo with my mini disc player and I hate driving.

Kate Harvey: Graduated from Architecture school in 2001, living and working in LA since. Many times my mind has wandered to other possible careers, ornithology, textiles, gardener for the Huntington. Got my first Singer sewing machine for christmas and have been working on a series of bags as well as doing much thinking about hats.

Taska Sanford: I wake up every morning and reinvent myself. I try to be the strongest, bravest woman I can be. I live. I touch the earth. My heart beats. I search for the core of my existence.

Melissa Mance: Melissa Mance is a substitute teacher living outside of Buffalo, NY. She is a major bird nut and often uses that subject in her artwork. Someday she dreams of having a full-time job.

Tony Luib: I am a mixed media artist who makes abstract sculptural paintings that often resemble microscopic images of biological organisms. I also draw a lot of very simplistic life forms with Japanese Art-aesthetica eyes and limbs with a slight sloppiness edge; more of that at http://www.bioticbucket.com - Patty suggested that I tell you what I eat for breakfast but I am going to decline comment on that.

Karen Clancy: After having graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Karen Clancy is presently working as a landscape "designer" in Philadelphia. However, as her job has very little to do with actual designing, she is happy to be included in the A.G.C. She lives outside the city with her boyfriend, a large cat, and several plants. She also lives with a loom and a sewing machine, which one might think would come in handy for this project, except the loom is in pieces and she doesn't know how to use the sewing machine. She is excited by the challenge of getting over these hurdles, and making a satisfying contribution to this creative endeavor.

Owen McCormick: Owen McCormick presently lives in Bucks County Pennsylvania and works as a Junior Product Designer for Michael Graves in Princeton New Jersey. Much to the surprise of his High School classmates in Rochester New York, McCormick Graduated from The Rhodes Island School of Design in 2003 with a BFA major in industrial design. Long before he studied ID McCormick was a bicycle enthusiast and worked in a variety of fields in the bicycle industry in Philadelphia and Manhattan. Actually, he needs to ride his Bicycle more. Since working at Michael Graves his life is now more sedentary and this change in metabolism has caused a general sluggishness and a slight weight gain. McCormick's work is inspired by flea market finds, simple mechanical objects like wind up toys and clothes pins, his cat Mary Todd and his lovely girlfriend Karen Clancy.

Phoebe Sung: I live in Boston in a veery tiny apartment with two veery large cats. I am getting my BFA in Fashion Design from MassArt and because it is my second undergraduate degree (my first was in sculpture) I think I may be the oldest person in my school, or at least in my program. I do all my work on my regular kenmore sewing machine instead of my nice serger, because I am absolutely terrified of the serger.