Belgium-born designer Diane von Furstenberg has been a fixture of the American Fashion world since arriving in New York in 1972 with her unique jersey dresses. She went on to not only sell 5 million of her signature wrap dresses, but also to succeed in the beauty, home, and publishing industries. Today, Diane is again at the forefront of the fashion industry. She designs from her atelier on the edge of the Meat Packing district. Her collection is sold in retail locations in over 50 countries, including Diane von Furstenberg Shops in New York, London, Miami, and Paris. Diane recently re-entered the beauty industry with the introduction of Diane von Furstenberg Beauty, a collection of color cosmetics and fragrance.

Diane von Furstenberg’s spirit of freedom and independence are an inspiration to all generations of women, and today her designs are sought and worn by celebrities, style-makers, and chic women worldwide.

Diane is the signature designer for DASS' full-length works; Diane also hosts a gala premiere for each work. Most recently Diane hosted DASS' 7th annual "Auction of Art & Curiosities" at her studio in the West Village. For more information on Diane please visit www.DvF.com

Datach'l
Composer

Datach'i (aka Joseph Fraioli) defies categorization. From a long line of musicians, his first curiosities with sound came at a young age. A broken refrigerator, a Jack-o-Lantern wind-up, a Black & Decker mixing goodness of milk and vanilla, mechanized hums and giggles plucked and locked in a trunk for later recall. Datach'i's unique understanding of sound manifests itself in tiny, maniacal anthems for the caffeine riddled and ethereal wanderings of the ADD-inflicted. The result has been two highly touted releases (both on former NYC-based label Caipirinha), and global adulation.

A deviously crafted patchwork of carefully sewn rhythms, sonic contortions and delicate melodies, his debut 10110101 = (Rec+Play), is information extracted, broken down, reworked and reassembled, tightly wound in a single thread. Called "One of the decades most impressive albums" (Dave Segal, Alternative Press), (Rec+Play) put Datach'i on the map as one of electronic music's most deft producers and most novel, demented, and fearless voices.

"A creative standard for electronic music." (Mike Wolf, Time Out New York) Weare resonates in its own space, flashing forward and looking back, bouncing off the walls and beating on the door. Sweeping portraits of fabricated identities, it sees things as they appear and discovers what they are. For more information visit www.datachi.com

James Martin
Visual Artist

James Martin started his career the same way a lot of aspiring painters do-by imitating other artists. During the 1950s and 60s, he nabbed imagery and mannerisms from Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, van Gogh, Picasso, Chagall, and Calder. But the real source of James's mature style isn’t buried in the mysticism of the Northwest School or the avant garde trends of European modernism: it traces back to his days at Ballard High School during the 1940s when he and a buddy used to cut class and head downtown to the Rivoli Theater on Seattle’s First Avenue to watch the burlesque.

The surrealism of those shows percolated into James's psyche, and his paintings--once he started to trust his own view of things--began to sprout the ambiguities of burlesque and the black humor of slapstick. Now when Martin paints a Northwest scene, it’s likely to be peaked with freaks and floozies. He stays up nights listening to the radical opinions on Art Bell’s radio talk show, and he considers the Jerry Springer show to be a new form of vaudeville. Martin transforms the daily input of the media into the wild stream-of-consciousness of his paintings-for him both a compulsive kind of storytelling and a way of escape. Like his heroes in the Northwest School, James still considers art-making a sacred endeavor--but he figures there’s no reason you can’t get a good laugh out of it, too.

Jeff Sugg
Lighting Designer

Jeff Sugg (Designer) is a New York-based artist, designer, and technical advisor. He is a co-founder of the performance group Accinosco with Cynthia Hopkins and Jim Findlay and co-designed their two critically acclaimed pieces, Accidental Nostalgia and Must Don't Whip 'Um. Other theater designs include: 33 Variations (projections: Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse), The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (co-set & projections: The Vineyard Theater), El Conquistador! (lights: New York Theater Workshop), The Thomashefsky Project & Let Them Eat Cake/Of Thee I Sing (projections: San Francisco Symphony), Trece Días (sets & projections: San Francisco Mime Troupe), Slight Return (lights & PM: John Jesurun -Hamburg). Jeff is also resident designer for theater companies: The Pig Iron Theatre Company (sets & lights), The Collapsable Giraffe (lights), Transmission Projects (co-founder: lights & projections), DASSdance (lights). His music design includes: Natalie Cole (lights) and Natalie Merchant (lights).

In addition to his work as an artistic designer, Jeff is regarded as a premiere technical consultant and system designer. Some credits include: The Wooster Group (technical artist), Laurie Anderson (video system design), Richard Foreman (video system design), Mikel Rouse (video system design), and The Baseball Music Project (video system design).

Jeff has also taught Media and Technology at Swarthmore College. He has led several workshop/intensive courses in media technology at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Rude Mechanicals Theater Company, and others.

For his work on Must Don’t Whip ‘Um, Jeff received a 2007 Bessie Award and was nominated for a 2007 Hewes Design Award. He was also nominated for a 2007 Hewes Design Award for his work on El Conquistador!. And in 2008 he received a Lucille Lortel Award, an Obie Award, and A Drama Desk Nomination for his work on The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island.

Lyle Starr
Visual Artist

Lyle Starr lives and works in New York. He recently showed a solo exhibition at the Alona Kagan Gallery, NY. His drawings appeared in a group show at White Columns, NY and his paintings will appear in a comprehensive book about camouflage from DPM, London.

Lyle's work is "a tender poetry of everyday, exploring the individual's fractured, patchwork experience of contemporary life."
Lyle's work in Religilistic was made possible by Alona Kagan Gallery, NY. To find out more about Lyle's upcoming openings visit www.alonakagangallery.com

MalPina Chan
Visual Artist

MalPina Chan is a visual artist who embraces and explores her Chinese-American identity and the immigrant experience using mixed media techniques, including the layering of patterns, pictographs, cultural icons, photographs, and text. By carefully juxtaposing metaphoric images and materials at varying degrees of opacity, Chan synthesizes memory and history, and delves into the transitory nature of the human condition and perception, along with the immigrant's struggle to both assimilate and preserve tradition.

MalPina has exhibited her work throughout the country and across the Pacific Northwest, including in Seattle at the The Wing Luke Asian Museum, the Phinney Center Art Gallery, and the Patricia Cameron Gallery. Her work can also be found in Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, 4CULTURE-Portable Works Collection, King County Courthouse, Portland's Regional Arts & Culture Council Portable Works Collection, Women Beyond Borders Collection in Los Angeles, and the Rare Books Collection at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. MalPina contributes unique water-themed visual art to Fighting Water.
To find out more about MalPina and her work, visit www.patriciacamerongallery.com/artists/mchan.htm

Kristin Tollefson
Sculptor

Kristin Tollefson is a sculptor with a focus on environmental installation and public art. Tollefson has served as the Education Director at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, and currently owns and operates flora/form. Tollefson will create water-themed sculptural work for Fighting Water, helping to establish the tactile 3-D water environment of the project's set.

For more information about Kristin Tollefson and to see samples of her work, visit floraform.blogspot.com.