I spent a good part of the late morning yesterday on the phone with Adam Arnold, talking about his upcoming F/W '14 show tomorrow at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. It comes on the heels of an impromptu residence Arnold undertook in the "Fashion Safehouse," a small, conceptually crafted space-within-a-space that's part of the about-to-wrap Fashioning Cascadia exhibit that's been featured at the museum all summer.

Although his idea, and something he was really excited about, the reality of picking up out of his (huge, gorgeous) inner SE studio and actually getting shit done proved rather difficult, and he wound up clashing with some of the institution's rules—which, to be fair, don't seem very out-there: He couldn't keep his fern with him in the safehouse, or drink his customary pots of tea, or advertise his show on the outside of the building. "I'm not proud of it," he remembers about having flung a banana peel on the floor in frustration.

One of the reasons talking to Arnold about his clothing is so interesting is that it usually takes a long time before he gets around to mentioning fabric or silhouette. He tends to start with his emotional state, often designing his way through challenges, whether it's grieving his grandmother's passing or teaching himself Esperanto.

This time he was reacting to being pissed off at having been told "no" by the museum administration, and he maybe not-so-coincidentally posted this rather amazing photo of himself as a child in the midst of it. #tbt and all that.

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  • Adam Arnold's mom via Facebook

"Working against that feeling of hopelessness… 'You can’t do this, you can’t do that,' kind of reinforced, 'Well you can do this… that resistance created a certain ability in me to be able to push past challenges in what I actually made for the show. It’s big and heavy and dark and there’s so much you can do with that."

Arnold is also thinking about transformation, and now that he's in his 40s he's considering the first half of his life and how it may differ from the second:

"I want to invite the parts of that first half that work for me into the second half, and let everything else just transform into whatever it needs to... The museum tells me 'no' and I just turn into that redheaded bowl-cut brat. It’s recognizing that when somebody tells you 'no,' leave the five-year-old at home. That reaction is not invited to the second half of my life.

"You have to work towards happiness. It’s like a muscle you have to flex. So I’ve been going to places I think are beautiful. I tell myself I have to leave the city once a week and go hiking for two hours. It’s surprising how all that stuff isn’t mandatory, it’s like at the bottom of the list. Someone was like, 'Well it’s really great that you have the time to do that, because I’m so busy.' And I can totally related to them because I used to just hate the fact that people could go to the river and, like, drink beer and eat fried chicken.

This show is about the balance between restriction and freedom, light and dark. It’s about transforming and balancing and just how to live and enjoying your life while you are working. The relaxation you think you are going to have when you are living that dream is actually a conscious relaxation. When I’m working on a show I’m pretty fucking alive, but it hurts. You’re tired! You have to pee in a fucking vase! Someone just called me and said they want to come by and take photos in the studio and I’m like dude! There’s a dog bed on the floor where I’ve been sleeping and a vase full of piss!

There you have it, folks, the glamorous world of an artist working in fashion. Vases full of piss. I wouldn't miss it. Adam Arnold Fall 2014, Museum of Contemporary Craft, 724 NW Davis, Wed Oct 1, 6 pm, FREE (register at adamarnoldfall2014.eventbrite.com