Style Imitating Art: “Count On Me” by Ryan McAllister

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Terri of Meadow Tree Style, and Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Terri, and Shelbee or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

That would be me! I stumbled upon images of this sculpture on Facebook a few weeks ago and I have been obsessed with her ever since. Isn’t she so beautiful?!

The Artwork

“Count On Me” by Ryan McCallister

About the Artist: Ryan McCallister

Ryan McCallister is a sculpture artist from Louisville, Kentucky, who currently resides in Cave Creek, Arizona, where his studio and his wife’s horse training facility, River Horse Ranch, are located. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Tampa in 2012. As a lover of story telling and its power to move the imagination, McCallister’s subject matter leans heavily toward fantasy and mythology. With the goal of carrying on story telling traditions through creative works of art, McCallister transports us to the other worldly places that exist only in legends and myths.

During his time at the University of Tampa, McCallister studied ceramics and bronze casting but immediately fell in love with welding once he was introduced to the craft. Working with steel was much more conducive to the kind art of art he wanted to produce as it is rigid, can hold a lot of weight, can be manipulated into unusual forms, and allows room for error without waste.

Upon graduation with his BFA, McCallister initially tried to establish himself as a sculpture artist in Jersey City, New Jersey. But with limited space and smaller properties, he found very little interest in the larger works that he wanted to create. He relocated to Arizona where his parents had moved and found the location much better suited to his style of sculpture work from the warmer weather which allows for outdoor creating as well as more space and larger properties to accommodate his massive works.

About the Art: “Count On Me”

“Count On Me” is a sculpture of a winged warrior goddess inspired by the Valkyries and angels. Constructed from stainless steel, river rocks, and stained glass, she stands 8 feet tall and her wingspan measures 8 feet wide. “Count On Me” just placed in the top 25 at ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan, two weeks ago and it looks like she may have just been sold to a very lucky buyer. I need to know where her permanent residence will be because I would love to gaze upon her beauty in person!

Resources/References:

• McCallister Sculpture
• Facebook: McCallister Sculpture
• Turning Metal into Magic
• McCallister Sculpture: Media Portfolio

About My Outfit

When I chose this sculpture as the inspiration piece, I really had no idea what I had in my closet that would work for it. I knew I wanted something in the muted neutral grays and tans of the stones that form the statue’s body combined with something green. The only green I really had in mind were my green stone earrings which were recently acquired on clearance from Target and my green stone tree of life necklace that my husband gifted to me this summer. So I started with my jewelry and built the outfit from there.

As I usually do when I am stumped on an art challenge, I panned an image of the artwork across my racks of hanging clothing until I settled on this old gray thrifted sundress which has a sort of stone washed look in the fabric dye. I thought it was perfect to represent the river stones in the sculpture. Also, the white and brown feathery design on the dress reminded me of the shape of the goddess’s wings.

Once I settled on the sundress, I still needed a more substantial focal point of green than just my earrings and necklace. The gorgeous green stained glass wings of the sculpture are the main focal point, after all. So I added my newly upcycled green paisley duster. This duster began as a high neck dress which I liked well enough. I wore it for a previous SIA challenge in its original form with the same belt I am wearing here, but I quickly realized that I really do not like this high neckline on me so I added the dress to my pile of upcycling projects.

Because the dress had a tiny button closure at the back of the neck, I ended up cutting it up the center of the back and then wearing it backwards as a duster. It worked out perfectly except the pockets are going in the wrong direction! But that’s okay. I don’t use dress pockets for much other than posing my hands for photos.

I accessorized with my favorite hat and studded black cowgirl boots to pay homage to the artist’s southeastern (Kentucky) and southwestern (Arizona) roots. My jewelry incorporates various stones to represent the creative rock display in the statue’s body and little metal studs on my boots represent the stainless steel frame of the goddess’s body.

This is yet another outfit combination that I would have never thought to put together if not for this art prompt. It’s an unlikely combination of colors and prints, but once it was all put together, I absolutely loved this outfit!

Y’all should know by now that I love to incorporate relevant props into my photos when I can. Since my children have a lovely collection of replica swords, I initially borrowed two for this photoshoot. But then I realized the goddess is holding a sword and a staff, not two swords. We have no staffs lying around the house so I made my own with the extension handle for a paint roller and crystal bud vase. It was the perfect prop for this challenge combined with a replica sword. And boy, did I have fun posing with my goddess warrior weapons!

This was one of my favorite SIA photo shoots ever! If you want to join us with your own art-inspired outfit and be featured in my gallery post on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, please send your photos to me at shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com by Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at 10:00 p.m. EST. In the meantime, be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation as well as Terri’s take on this artwork. 

Happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Dress-Thrifted / Duster-Upcycled by me from a Target dress / Boots-Durango / Belt-Torrid / Hat-Gift from a goddess friend / Earrings-Target / Tree of Life Necklace-Gift from my husband / Crystal Necklaces-Black Forest Trading Post / Sword-Borrowed from my son / Staff-Created by me from an extended paint roller handle and a glass bud vase