THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502230145
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
When Lizianne Blervaque Calfe came to America 14 years ago, she brought with her the French love for elegance and fashion.
Calfe, 44, born in Normandy, is the embodiment of grace. Her elegant manner is evident in her speech, in her gestures, in her dress, and profoundly in her art.
Calfe hand paints on silk, an art that she says probably blossomed in France through the availability of the silkworm coupled with the country's rich history of fashion.
``Look into history,'' Calfe said. ``We had Marie Antoinette and Josephine, and they just looked superb.
``They had the money. They had the best artisans working for them. It trickled down to the commons, and people would try to copy that queen.''
In her native country, tucked away in a small part of a textile design company where Calfe worked, she discovered silk painting.
``Their forte was silk in that little unusual section,'' she said. ``What they did was handmade textile painting. I liked the richness and smoothness of the fabric, and I decided I would like to be transferred.''
Prior to this discovery, Calfe was creating designs on paper. A fine art graduate of Beaux Arts in Paris in textile design, Calfe had already worked at two design companies. It was difficult for her to accept that the designs she created were whisked away so quickly, most times never to be seen again. Calfe never knew what colors, what fabric, or even what products they ended up on.
But it was different in that little department filled with silk.
``I was very happy,'' Calfe said. ``I really like all the intricate little designs you could do. Obviously the nice thing is you could see what you'd done. Here - your own design, your own colors - what a feast! ``That's where I started to do my first hand-painted silk scarves. It took me three days to do the first one.''
While the silk was luscious, it was also unforgiving. ``Silk is very volatile,'' Calfe said. ``It's a process that doesn't give you too much control. They have not come up with yet a silk eraser.''
From the first silk scarf, Calfe went on to paint her designs on blouses, more scarves, ties, purses, earrings and hair clasps.
Hanging in her 8-year-old daughter Magali's bedroom - Magali is named for a flower common to the French countryside - is a silk painting Calfe designed and Magali painted.
An elegant woman stands in the breeze hanging laundry on a clothes line. It is a memory Calfe has of her mother doing that very chore.
It is her French women that the artist is most fond of drawing. Long silk scarves portraying a woman's profile with hair that flows upward filling the lengthy rectangular cloth. If you tie it just so, the hair resembles a ponytail.
These unusual drawings are her favorite because they echo the classical beauty and grace Calfe was surrounded by as a young girl. A quarter-century ago in France, Calfe says, elegance was the norm.
``I never saw my mother in pants, except in the garden,'' she said. ``Elegance is not always what you wear, but the way you put things together.''
Calfe remembers the hats, gloves, dresses and silk blouses that adorned the French ladies as they walked past the outdoor cafes with their ornate prams wheeling ornately dressed infants.
Calfe returns to France each year to see her family.
``We have a town, Lyon, that has a special kind of silk, very thick, very very expensive,'' she said. It is not unusual to see a woman in a silk blouse.
But here on the Outer Banks, and especially at the beach, Calfe says comfort rules.
``Women are jeaned and Reboked,'' she said. ``We don't want to trade comfort for elegance. This region makes you feel relaxed, so you dress relaxed. I can't see myself in heels in Food Lion.''
For the time being, Calfe is concentrating on accessories rather than clothing, in order to focus on raising Magali. In the past she's shown her work at trade shows in New York, Atlanta, D.C., Norfolk, and Raleigh, and at many boutiques throughout the United States. And she has operated a thriving business.
Calfe shudders to think about today's textile design industry, which is controlled by computer. ``I wonder what this does to all the creativity,'' she said. ``The personal touch is lacking. It is a shame that a computer has done this to art.''
It's tough creating one-of-a-kind wearable art that is both tedious and time-consuming to produce. Costs are high. Time is money. Silk is expensive. As with many handcraftsman, Calfe looks to create the unusual in order to compete with the large department stores.
``I love to paint the French ladies,'' Calfe said. ``I could do this the rest of my life.''
On surviving the battle of technology and art, Calfe's mother weighed in with an option. ``My mom gave me very good advice,'' Calfe said. ``Lizianne, you should go into the T-shirt business.''
With 100 kinds of silk to choose from, and the rich French dyes to paint with, one would suspect a Calfe T-shirt would also embody elegance. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
Lizianne Blervaque Calfe, 44, whp paints designes on silk, shows off
one of her unique earrings.
by CNB