Museum keeps abreast of art

BALTIMORE — Construction engineer Joe Wall is a vision in saw blades.

Wall, 38, of Laurel, Md., designed his own brassiere — or "manssiere" after the term popularized by TV's "Seinfeld" — from two 7 ½-inch round blades, which he displays proudly over his overalls.

The blades are adorned with red and blue battery-powered jewelry. The pieces are shaped like stars, and when they light up, the overall effect is one of tasteful patriotism.

Odd as it might sound, Wall and his manssiere probably won't look especially out of place tonight, when he attends the American Visionary Art Museum's first, and possibly only, Bra Ball.

The event aims to draw 500 guests and raise $20,000 for the museum's educational programs and mammograms for low-income women. It will feature a fashion show (with color commentary provided by Wall), an auction of about 30 bras created by area artists and a chance for participants to show off their own over-their-tops creations.

Museum officials guaranteed the ball will be an uplifting experience.

"Cross my heart," said Pete Hilsee, the museum's marketing coordinator. "So many of us wear our creativity on the inside, next to our underwear. What better way to bring your creativity out than to wear it on top of your clothes?"

Each year, the museum has a big, gaudy costume party, and each year, the theme is tied to a current exhibit. This year, the museum has a show on race, class and gender running through Sept. 3.

In addition, museum organizers were inspired by a new acquisition, the Bra Ball by Emily Duffy, a California artist. The sculpture consists of more than 20,000 donated bras, weighs about 1,800 pounds and is said to be the height of the average woman.

The Bra Ball isn't for sale, but other creations will be, including a bra formed from two yarmulkes and attached to a sock monkey; a bra made from pieces of orange, red, yellow and green mirrors; and a bra that appears to have been formed from the split shells of a bomb casing.

For at least 55 centuries, a brassiere of some type has been around to provide support for women's breasts, but it wasn't until elastic was invented in the early 20th century that bras became widely popular, according to "Bra: A Thousand Years of Style, Support and Seduction" by Stephanie Pedersen.

Pedersen's research prompts the question: Since when did a 44-DD become art?

Gavin Heck, 41, of Baltimore, who designed the sock-monkey bra, takes an economic approach to the question: "If you think about how much people spend in Victoria's Secret, they may as well be buying art."