BRUNSWICK

I f life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans, then bursts of community-centered creativity are what happen when you’re busy making a living. Especially if you’re an artist.

Christine DeTroy Jr., an artist who works with vintage and collectible fabrics, was washing windows and sweeping floors when she came up with her idea to start the Midcoast Altered Couture Fashion Show, now in its third year.

She works out of a shared studio in Fort Andross and also runs a solo housecleaning company called Fay Sweng’s Cosmic Cleaning Co. in Brunswick.

“I have a lot of time to think when I’m cleaning,” DeTroy said Monday as she met ArtVan Executive Director

Jamie Silvestri at Little Dog Coffee Shop to review details of this year’s show.

The event is 7 p.m. Thursday, April 4, at Frontier Cafe & Cinema.

With a week still to go before the big night, DeTroy decided to add a second show: 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, at Frontier. Proceeds benefit ArtVan.

Silvestri was quick to point out that “Chrissy is so amazingly talented and so professional … her work has an amazing funk to it.”

That “funk” is what has inspired themes such as a $7 challenge to design clothing from local secondhand stores.

The contest this year — “Re-Purpose”— asks contestants to use packaging materials.

Twenty-five creative souls, including three local businesses, paid the $25 entry fee for their chance to be appraised by a panel of five judges for a $100 cash prize.

The criteria is to use recycled packaging materials and whatever artists need to hold the whole get-up together. Then they get to pick their own music for the walk down the runway.

“The show is all about local community for resourcing and purchasing,” DeTroy said. “You don’t have to run off to the mall.

“We went to businesses this year and tried to convince them they could enter as a group. Midcoast Shoe Repair,

Wilbur’s Chocolates and Maine State Music Theater got on board,” she said. “We’re really excited about that.”

In a conversation sparkling with collaborative excitement, Silvestri added, “And the show asks on a very basic level, ‘What in your life would you like to alter?’ It’s not just about the clothes.”

Artistic village

“The very first person I shared my Altered Couture Contest idea with was Gail Michael, former owner of Second Hand Rose,” DeTroy said. “Gail was supportive and encouraged me to speak with Diane Vella, owner of Blessings. The three of us met on and off to discuss the show’s direction and format. Diane and Gail were both very enthusiastic and helpful right from the get go.”

“… It takes a village to boost creativity,” DeTroy said.

She never imagined back in 2010 the show would be such a hit that it would sell out, including this year.

“It was just word-of-mouth, artist-to-artist. We haven’t really done any publicity,” she said.

The artistic grapevine is very good news for Bath-based Art- Van, a “free mobile arts therapy program” that brings a colorful painted van to kids in Bath, Brunswick, Lewiston and Auburn, according to its website.

Proceeds from the Midcoast Altered Couture Fashion Show go directly to the program, and the Jane B. Cook 1992 Charitable Trust is matching all donations through April up to $5,000.

“We always do this for ArtVan,” DeTroy said as she munched on a California bagel. “There can be protocols with school-based programs, but ArtVan just takes it to the people who need it most, like these kids, who might not get to do art any other way.”

Two kids who participate in ArtVan are contestants in the show. Silvestri said she will bring more youths just to watch it.

“I hear it all the time. Someone says they’re not an artist and I always look at them and say, ‘Do you have an imagination?’ This show inspires that.” Silvestri said.

A little inspiration

Erika Hewitt, a Unitarian Universalist minister and yoga teacher who moved to Bath nine months ago from Santa Barbara, Calif., answered the call to compete.

“I saw the (informational meeting) flier and I didn’t even know what I would do, so I just went to hear about it. But I knew if I just went to the show, I would think, ‘Why didn’t I just do this?,’” she said.

Hewitt joined the conversation at Little Dog after overhearing the laughter from her seat on a couch.

With no background in art, Hewitt will fashion a dress out of a dozen cardboard boxes by “making rings like a Slinky.”

“I watch ‘Project Runway’,” she said, but it’s less about making the perfect altered garment and more about meeting people.

“I’ve really fallen in love with the people of Maine and I want to do things to be connected and get to know people. I can’t think of a better way to get to know 24 people than while everyone’s wearing a conversation piece,” Hewitt said.

She will parade her final creation on Thursday to the tune of “Little Boxes,” by Malvina Reynolds.

It’s all in the spirit of DeTroy’s show.

“This is a celebration where there’s no right way or wrong way,” she said.

rshelly@timesrecord.com