[Past Winners] 2007 | 2006

A quick search on the Internet will bring you a world of history and ancient culture, as the Headdress has been an important cultural icon since man established a communal society. Headdresses are used in tribal ceremonies, to crown kings, to establish the aristocracy, when we get married, when we die. Headdresses make a statement about the occasion, about who you are and what you represent.

A headdress is anything that is worn on a head. The Wearable Art Awards is not really interested in the common anything. So we are not looking for a hat or a tiara, or anything that you could see walking down the street even in the most bohemian of neighbourhoods. We are looking for the headdress that takes you beyond the ordinary.

The Helmet of Laocoon
Ryan McCourt
Edmonton, AB		 2009 Category Winner

Brass, aluminum, lead, tin

Laocoon was a Trojan priest of Poseidon, God of the Sea. Laocoon warned his fellow Trojans against the wooden horse presented to the city by the Greeks. In the Aeneid, Virgil give Laocoon the famous line “Do not trust the Horse, Trojans/Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts”. Minerva, who was supporting the Greeks, sent sea serpents to strangle Laocoon and his two sons. The death of Laocoon was famously depicted in the famed sculpture “Laocoon and His Sons”, which stands in the Vatican Museums, Rome.

“The helmet of Laocoon” features a nose and cheek guards in the form of the feathers of a sea bird, a brow of crashing waves, clamshell ear pieces, a fish at the forehead, the pate covered by an umbrella, a rearing orca, and more seashells on the back, with hinged strands of seaweed streaming down around the neck. A pair of candles placed in sockets on the front improves night vision.
Up a Tree
Carol Funnell
Agassiz, BC		 2009 Runner Up

Felted wool, wire, silk leaves, ribbon

I was inspired by a news story about a “Jack Russel Terrier” that had treed a small bear cub. I then thought of the possibility that there might be other citters being held at bay by the feisty canine; a cat, a bird, a squirrell. While at the back of the tree a rabbit makes a hasty escape.