Collaborations
Julia Kunze and Sophie Turok (photos by Madison Raye)
Sophie Turok and Julia Kunze have been collaborators since becoming friends at Bard College in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Julia’s hometown. Graduating together in May 2020, they both received their art degrees from Bard. Part of their studies included learning how to conduct expressive arts outreach programs.
In a nutshell, expressive arts refers to using the emotional and intuitive aspects of ourselves in various media. It's something they’ve been collaborating on for a while. At Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center in Austin, Texas, the location for Imagine Art’s satellite site, they figured out a way to incorporate expressive arts that benefit this particular community.
Horse Misterys
“There's a third thing that we’re always trying to be, and it's a thing that exists between joking and serious. And that’s what Horse Misterys is.”
Sophie Turok, from a fashion show speech
Another collaborative initiative is Horse Misterys, a kind of anti-fashion clothing brand, or as Julia insists, a lifestyle brand. They agree that everything they collaborate on is under the Horse Misterys umbrella. It encapsulates their similar sense of humor, shared mantras, creative ideas, as well as their world views.
Wearable Art
Rick Hernandez, posing in his gorgeous, exquisitely finished one-of-a-kind Horse Misterys coat.
They make art that people can wear. It's just like making a painting or a sculpture, but it just so happens that people can wear it. Soon after moving to Austin in 2020, they got the idea of having a fashion show.
Fashion shows, by nature, require a lot of collaboration to make a production successful. Julia made the clothing, most often from re-purposed materials; Sophie the accessories, and their friend Victoria created the props. And all their friends were the models.
The fashion show production felt really perfect and right to them. They could use a space they already had, all the materials were accessible, and based on what was going on at the time, it was the perfect thing for them to work on together.
Sophie and Julia at Conley-Guerrero wearing their Collaborative Thinking Hats (photo Vic Martinez)
Every fashion show Julia introduces themselves by saying, “I’m Horse and this is Mistery, and Mistery has a speech prepared for you.” Sophie then reads her speech followed by the fashion show.
Watch the 2nd fashion show: Horse Misterys supergoddess (average everyday sane-psycho). A Liz Phair inspired line.
“We have so much fun doing it,” Julia says, “because we think it's so funny. But we also think we're making work that's impressive and that we're proud of.”
Collaboration Creates Opportunities
“Our goal is to make art that kills many birds with one stone,” says Sophie, who is originally from Salt Lake City. “We get to hang out with our friends and correspond a lot and pass things that we’re working on between each other. By collaborating, we get to talk to somebody about our ideas.
“Sharing creative ideas,” she believes, “is a valuable part of being an artist.”
Final project at Bard College: A collaboration between Julia, Sophie, and Victoria (courtesy Bard College)
As collaborators, they hope to use each other’s skill-set to express themselves through their clothing line in exciting and interesting ways.
Their collaborations can range. For instance, they have passed a dress back and forth several times and done different things on it. By the time it was finished, they had made maybe 50% of the material.
Or, there was an outfit where Julia made the pants and Sophie made the shirt. Or even a whole fashion show where Julia made the clothes and Sophie the accessories. It’s unlimited the opportunities they have to collaborate.
Future Events
Sophie and Julia look forward to working together on more expressive arts workshops and teaching new art techniques they've learned. They just had an event where they invited all their friends to paint shirts. Documenting their past work in a more professional manner is in the works.
Trend Watch is the name of their podcast where they will elaborate on how everything can be true at once. While ideas for their Horse Mistery fashion line keep expanding, this dynamic duo is planning another fashion show for August.
