Ruthie's Uniform

Cropped Blouses

ruthie — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:54:36 +0000

Wondering what to wear with your cute, high-waisted pants, skirt or shorts? These blouses are just right, because they don’t hide, but accentuate the details of any high waisted bottom piece. They are also great over dresses, or with a camisole underneath. Something fun to ease us toward Spring, because it can be worn as a layer now, then just as a cool top soon, (I hope!)

Button Front Skirts

ruthie — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:34:47 +0000

There are three new skirts in my shop, all featuring a row of vintage buttons down the front. If one of these styles appeals to you, (or anything else that you’ve seen on my site, for that matter), but it doesn’t look like it is your size, and you would like to order a piece that IS your size, send me an e-mail, ruthiesuniform@gmail.com, and we will figure something out. I collect my fabrics from all over, and use whatever I have, so for that reason, many of my pieces are one of a kind. If I don’t have more of a specific fabric, I will try to find something else you might love!

Beauty and New Life

ruthie — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:13:51 +0000

Yesterday I listened in wonder as the music of Dvořák Romance for Violin and Orchestra was performed by the Philharmonia Northwest. The soloist was Victoria Parker, a dear friend, and one of the most skilled and talented artists I have ever encountered. Victoria’s sound, the musicians’ performance, and the experience of the music was absolutely full to overflowing with beauty, romance and emotion.

I was commissioned by Victoria to make her gown for the performance, and as a sweet extra joy, she is pregnant with her first child! It was a delightful and unique experience to make something that would fit and be comfortable with her new shape. I have made several performance gowns for Tori, who is just gorgeous and wears everything with grace, it is always such a pleasure. You can see her wearing several dresses made by me on her website.

After the concert, I went to the park to picnic with friends, on, I think, the sunniest day we have had yet this year in Seattle. We, of course, spread out our blankets beneath the blossoms, ate good food, toasted, drank sake, chatted with sweet friends and played with their adorable puppies and children! I was happy to see that not one, but two little baby boys were wearing handmade RU newsboy caps! It inspired me, so I made a couple more this morning, and posted them in my shop.

Here is a photo of the sweet little buddies in their caps with their daddies!

Aw! I love it! It was a perfect spring day, full of love, beauty, and new life!

Romantic Skirts

ruthie — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:36:27 +0000

Each year, as they do in Japan, with my sweet friends hosting a picnic at Green Lake Park in front of their home, I celebrate Sakura, the passing of Winter, and the welcoming of Spring! Here are two sweet skirts with scalloped lace trim, perfect for sitting on a picnic blanket, under the falling cherry blossoms! Kanpai!!

Theresa Andersson, Street Parade

ruthie — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:16:26 +0000

I am so, so thrilled to have been a part of Theresa Andersson‘s magical ride in the Muses Parade for Mardi Gras this year. What a brilliant performer, and also an amazing curator of creative minds. Not many could pull together so many talented people to make such a beautiful spectacle occur, and also give an unforgettable performance (literally) on top of it all. I was honored to design and make her costume, as well as the river spirit dancers’ costumes. (Though I had to pull them together in a bit of a hurry!)

This beautiful video by Petter Ringbom is of Theresa performing “Hold On To Me“ in the Mardi Gras Muses Parade, atop a sculpted puppeteer-ed bird, designed and created by Arthur Mintz and Jacques Duffourc with her marching band (wearing sculpted hats depicting the swamp and city, also by Mintz and Duffourc), and her dancing river spirits, choreographed by Vanessa Van Vrancken. My sweet husband, Cameron Nicklaus, designed and managed the sound and sound systems during the parade, while I drove the van behind it all! What a way to experience Mardi Gras for the first time. Needless to say, it won’t be the last time!!

Theresa will be performing here in Seattle on May 31 at the Triple Door. It will be a night to remember, and I can’t wait!

Maybe I’ll see some of you there!

Spring Fever

ruthie — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:20:01 +0000

It is, with-out a doubt, the time of year that is most exciting, and also most frustrating to me here in Seattle. We have at least half as many, (maybe more), rainy days as sunny Spring days. So, though I just can’t wait to get outside every minute and work in the yard and plant the garden, I have to go back inside, because it is certainly mostly still cold and wet out there. It’s actually one of the things that we North Westerners say contributes to our creativity and productivity.

Since we have no choice but to be inside and out of the weather, we might as well get busy on our projects, not be distracted by the need to get out and enjoy the day. That said, when it IS sunny, we like to drop everything and soak it up. Oh, the smiling faces you see when the air is warm and the sun shines here! So as I dream of spring and summer, I am going to try to post some photos of new creations that I am stitching up, and also try to figure out the “shop” aspect of my website. New products will be appearing on it each day. If you try to purchase something, and have problems, please e-mail me. Also, if you would like to arrange a personal fitting for something I’ve posted, that can be arranged!! Happy Spring!

Weeble Wobble Princess at the Frye Museum

ruthie — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 04:00:14 +0000

Thank you very much Bruce Tom, for the gorgeous photographs of the Weeble Wobble princess. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to go the exhibition at the Frye Museum, or attend the DAE performances last spring, you can view more images on the projects page of the Degenerate Art Ensemble’s website. Haruko Nishimura is wearing another costume that I designed and made for her dance in the fountain at the Frye with “The Swan”. Also on the page, are beautiful photographs that feature the costumes I created in collaboration with Adriana Collins for the Red Cat Theater performance of Cuckoo Crow in Los Angeles. It is always a wonderful challenge and extremely rich experience to work with the DAE. They have great talent for bringing together amazing artists, and creating huge, inspiring imagery. Congratulations and thank you, Degenerate Art Ensemble!

Frye Museum DAE Exhibit is still up, until June 19

ruthie — Mon, 30 May 2011 20:02:45 +0000

The Degenerate Art Ensemble Exhibit at the Frye Museum is still on view.

It is a wonderful opportunity to experience the work of the many imaginative artists and collaborators of the Degenerate Art Ensemble, and the Frye Museum is always Free! The exhibit features a dress that I designed and made for the Weeble Wobble Princess, and several videos and photographs featuring costumes that I designed and made in collaboration with Adriana Phillips, for the 2007 Red Cat performance of Cuckoo Crow.

Here is an article in the Seattle Times about the Frye Exhibit.

The beautiful photo in the article was taken by Bruce Tom, and is an image of Haruko Nishimura of the DAE performing in the 2007 Red Cat Theatre version of Cuckoo Crow. The costume she is wearing is by Ruthie Nicklaus, with deer legs and accoutrements by Adriana Phillips.

The Lamby Show!

ruthie — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:20:16 +0000

Ok, now Lamby, do a spin……

Since I was a child myself, I have loved the mystery and strangeness of the imagination. I think I have always wanted to, and thought I would, write children’s books. I did write a few as a child… I had something of a medium grayish, dark sense of humor. “Windy day”, in which a little girl gets blown away by a jolly cloud of wind being one of my earliest “books”…

So then one day, sometime in my college years, “the Lamby Show” happened! It is an entirely true story, I just tried to capture it as it was experienced. We were at my parents-in-law’s house, visiting with friends of theirs who had young children. Their adorable little three-year-old daughter was playing in the other room with a large, decorative stuffed lamb. When the parents started getting ready to leave, the little girl was all worried and excited, and she insisted we see the LAMBY SHOW!!!

So, thus it was written and illustrated, based on true events. I’ve printed it a time or two over the years, and now as siblings and friends are starting to have young children, I am bringing it out again!

This edition is a spiral bound, 8.5X8.5 black and white (coloring) book. The words to the story and the cover page are hand written with crayon. There are 15 original illustrations in the Lamby Show. (It also might be fun to take the book apart, before or after “coloring” and decorate a child’s room with some of the pages.)

If you would like to have a copy, while supplies (and motivation) last, and before they are all distributed to nieces and nephews, e-mail me: ruthiesuniform@gmail.com, to make an order, (I’ll try to put it up for sale in my “shop” too). The cost will be $25, (including shipping if needed). A lot for a coloring book, I know, but it takes me a little while to put them all together and to hand make the cover page, and I like to give each one a personal touch! (Young audiences be warned, the story is funny, but also a little bit sad).

Also, let me know if you know someone who can help me to actually get this book published! Thanks!!

Much love to you and to all of your imaginative little ones,

Auntie Ru

Frye Art Museum presents Degenerate Art Ensemble

ruthie — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:24:23 +0000

Degenerate Art Ensemble Exhibition

FRYE ART MUSEUM

Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: March 19-June 19, 201

Degenerate Art Ensemble has been known for ambitious collaborative projects with the most inventive interdisciplinary minds anywhere. This year’s collaboration with the Frye Art Museum represents the most important and ambitious undertaking yet.

The first art exhibition and museum project showcasing Degenerate Art Ensemble is the culmination of a year-long dialogue between Frye Art Museum curator Robin Held and the artists of DAE. The survey of the group’s work will fill almost the entire museum, featuring 14 artists and five large scale works inspired by the ambitious all-sensory productions the group is known for creating: a Weeble Wobble princess that battles ninjas, a surgery ice cream truck, a tuning nest in a listening forest, and the Slug Princess that devours cabbages in a microscopic world.

For many, Degenerate Art Ensemble is a performance group that has been elusive, performing one-night huge extravaganzas packed into a two-balcony theater or sometimes an undisclosed location. This is an opportunity to see Degenerate Art Ensemble as no one, newcomer or long time follower, has ever seen them before. Degenerate Art Ensemble exhibition runs for three months from March 19 to June 19 and there will be four performances of Red Shoes in May and June giving audiences an epic evening long, neighborhood wide presence.

It has been a tremendous honor for me to collaborate with this astounding group of artists. They have inspired and challenged me and my work more than any other. As part of the exhibition at the Frye Art Museum, I have created the dress and wig for the Weeble Wobble Princess. Costumes that I have designed and created for past performances will also be part of the show in photographs and video installations. It will be an unforgettable experience to attend this multifaceted, interdisciplinary project, participate in the public events, and behold the performances.

A giant thank you to the DAE, the Frye Museum, and to my family and friends for supporting me in making the work and giving me the opportunity to be a part of this momentous project.

~Ruthie