Nine Colorado fashion designers drew inspiration from “Psycullesence,” the GOCA exhibit by Patrick Shearn, to create whimsical and wearable art for “House of GOCA: Psychedelic Garden.”
GOCA transformed The Ent Center into an “avant garde” runway and fashion show that spanned from the GOCA showroom to the Marie Walsh Sharp Galley on Feb. 28. “[House of GOCA] is something we hope will become an annual signature event for the Galleries of Contemporary Art,” Joy Armstrong, GOCA’s gallery director and curator, said.
Before the show began, Shearn explained “Psycullescence:” “What if you fell into a microscope and landed in a petri dish, and you were that small, and you were walking through that world? It transports you into this place where magic can happen … I’m so thrilled and honored to be put in this position. It’s really bizarre, but I’m really grateful.”
As the show began, couple Josh and John Fraklin-Wolfe from downtown “that gay bar with the singing bartenders” ICONS MCed introductions of each artist and their collection. The lighting dimmed to a colorful glow as music moved the audience into an immersive experience with the “Psychedelic Garden” collections.
GOCA selected local artists who created work inspired by Shearn’s exhibit. Artists Chelsea Boucher, Bespoke Cartomancy, K. Palma, Heather Clark Designs, Deco-Boco, The Art of Bridal and Couture Designs, Brigid Collective, Aaron Graves and LV Designs were chosen to present their collections on the runway.
Each outfit featured colorful designs, dramatic silhouettes and eye-catching details that awed the audience. The fashions captured the microscopic look that Shearn described his exhibit as. Some models wore fairytale-like outfits such as mushrooms, wolf creatures and spiders. Others wore unusual shapes and colors that told stories through each of the models, unlike everyday clothing.
The artists were also competing for designer awards, which included a $200 prize provided by the Bill Burgess Memorial Fund for Excellence in Contemporary Art. The first award was the people’s choice, selected by live vote from the audience, and the second award was selected by a representative from the Burgess Fund. The people’s choice winner was presented to Deco Boco, and the representative pick winner was K. Palma.
One of the artists, one of the LV Designs partners, was UCCS alumni Laura Elyse. Elyse’s collection “The Dreamweaver’s Garden” continued her inspiration of a mother spider from her “Sonder” spring 2024 senior exhibition. The first outfit to grace the runway was worn by a man in stilts, shocking the audience and bringing them into the world of the Dreamweaver as the rest of the models followed.
Elyse, who works for Shearn at Poetic Kinetics, says she was inspired by his work. “I wanted to show a magical garden and made outfits inspired by creatures and plants in there. I wanted each piece to feel like a part of a fairy tale,” she said.
This was Elyse’s first time working in fashion, but she was able to work through the challenge with her partner, Vika Welsh.
Aaron Graves is also a returning artist to the GOCA space. He has previously worked in several GOCA shows, such as the 2013 and 2016 show “BRILLIANT,” where he designed two dresses. His GOCA work also includes “Bright Young Things” in 2012, and other GOCA instillations.
In Graves’ “Psychedelic Garden” collection “Awake In A Dream (AKA Midnight Voyage),” his fashion played with sequence, vivid colors and symbols. Special to his designs, the models carried around flowers with large eyes that looked upon the crowd.
Graves says he took inspiration from the late 1960s psychedelic movement in art, fashion and music. “There is inner symbolism sprinkled throughout the entire collection,” he said. “References to song lyrics [are] hidden in everything from the dresses to the accessories. There are multiple nods to the psychedelic genre itself.”
Graves was empowered by having worked with Armstrong and GOCA before. He said the most challenging aspect of creating his collection was time management: “In this case, it was because I chose such a particularly ambitious collection to build.”
All outfits from “House of GOCA: Psychedelic Garden” are currently being exhibited in the Ent Center’s lobby. The inspiring exhibition, “Psycullescence,” by Shearn will be open in the GOCA center until Mar 15.
Photo by Mike Kelly for the Galleries of Contemporary Art at UCCS, 2025.