A través de los años: Costa Rican History through Conceptual Apparel Design, Katherine Rodriquez Thesis Exhibition

Monday, March 13, 2017 to Friday, March 24, 2017

“A través de los años: Costa Rican History through Conceptual Apparel Design”, a graduate student thesis exhibition, runs from March 13^th through March 24^th in the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery on UNL’s east campus. The general public and the university community are invited to attend an opening reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 13^th, 2017.

"A través de los años" represents the socioeconomic transformation of Costa Rica over many centuries. Through the appropriation of information and knowledge about the country’s evolution, Katherine Rodriguez classified Costa Rica’s history into five socioeconomic periods, emphasizing the most relevant and inspirational elements from each one. Those elements were translated into digital design prints that, in combination with other textiles and mixed media techniques, were used for the development of five conceptual garments.

The evolution of Costa Rica as a nation has been determined by major events such as the region’s colonization in the fifteenth century, and by the abolition of the national army in 1948. The periods represented in this exhibition are classified by socioeconomic activities and political models of development that have been responsible for shaping the country’s contemporary social dynamic. Costa Rican culture today is idiosyncratic, an amalgam of many historic and socio-political influences. The Pre-Columbian Period, the Coffee Oligarchy, the Banana Enclave, the Welfare State, and, more recently, the Costa Rican “Green” and Eco-tourism movements define a nation that evinces increasing self-confidence as one of Central America’s strongest economies.

Katherine Rodriguez is a Fulbright student scholar pursuing a Master of Arts degree in the area of apparel and textile design in the Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences. For her thesis project she created a collection consisting of five original conceptual garments under the oversight of assistant professor Dr. Sandra Starkey, Rodriguez's major professor.