Maggie Adams (Truman State University)
I Won't Remember. Do You Remember, Can You?, 2021
8mm film, linen, fishing line, steel pipe, projected home videos, Tapestry (48" x 36")
This work touches on the overlap between objects, memory, and identity. I utilize unconventional materials such as film and fishing line. These objects are seemingly mundane to the viewer, but hold extreme value to me due to their connection to a late loved one who suffered from Alzheimers. Through acts of repetitive labor, I sit with myself and the emotional weight these objects hold; I am confronting my grief, my fear of loss, my mortality.
Lauren Allen (University of North Texas)
Tenere, 2022
Yarn/Cord/Thread/Photographs, crochet structure, embroidery, woven structure encasing it (24" x 60")
Part of a growing body of work reflecting on my experiences as a nuero-divergent person also facing mental health concerns. Within the structures are hidden photographs capturing moments of peace that have been found. Cradling these photographs are a created structure reminiscent of discarded trash found in natural water systems that also reference my body and the memories it holds.
Lexi Best (East Carolina University)
I'll Wear My Crown With Pride, 2022
cotton, hand-woven on TC2 (41" x 40.5")
This is the final weaving in a series about self-exploration. This weaving represents the work that I have done and will continue to do to heal from the traumas of childhood. In I’ll Wear My Crown With Pride, I take back my power and look ahead to the future.
Sinéad Cahill (Thomas Jefferson University East Falls)
Mo Chreag Bheag Féin, 2022
yarn, paper maché, cotton, dowels, weaving (24 Harness Dobby Loom), quilting, paper maché (72" x 96" x 120")
Tory Island lies 8 miles off the coast of Donegal, Ireland, but to travel there is to endure rough waves in a ferry boat, only to be greeted by a sparse outcrop of rock: No trees grow on this island that juts out of the Atlantic Ocean. Outsiders have taken to TripAdvisor to complain, “Never Again” and to “Stay Away” due to the strong wind, limited cuisine and the occasional danger that one may become stranded there for weeks at a time (a seasonal hazard). But despite the imposing sea and barren landscape, Tory is noted for its song, dance and poetry, and the small community of islanders that have toughed it out for centuries on a rock in the middle of the ocean. The textiles in this installation take inspiration from the water, the land and music of Tory Island. People and place are deeply tied to one another; the sea that pummels the shoreline features in local songs, while dances mimic the cascading crash of the waves. Paper maché rocks beckon and hold viewers inside the exhibition space, mimicking the jagged granite that encircles Tory, guarding the stubborn rock from rogue tides. Each element is marked by the other, yet bears its own rhythm and shape, bending and pushing against the elements that batter the shores.
Logan Connelly (Thomas Jefferson University)
Restaural, 2021
acrylic, lurex, Swarovski rhinestones, knitting (9" x 9")
A play on two words, restoral and aura, "Restaural" encompasses the rigid, adaptive, and self-healing nature of a crystal grown deep within Earth. The color palette draws from the "aura" coating used to then enhance their appearance by man. When worn, this knit effortlessly sustains the crystalline structure while simultaneously being able to adapt to the wearer.
Jill Cremens (Savannah College of Art and Design)
Fabricated Water, 2022
hand-dyed recycled cotton warp, deconstructed water-bottle weft, dobby woven (10" x 250")
Fabricated Water is one of several pieces in Plastic Refractions, a collection of sculptures and wovens inspired by the ocean as well as the very thing ruining it: plastic. Fabricated Water is made entirely of water bottle plastic that was cut into spirals and strips as well as second-hand cotton. This work mimics the energy, movement, and sound of falling water through the manipulation of the plastic.
Cam Cruz (Savannah College of Art and Design)
BeedleBum, 2022
felted wool, embroidery floss, assorted beads, yarn, Needle felt, tambour embroidery, hand beading, crochet (11" x 7" x 9")
"Beedlebum" is a piece from my senior thesis "Soft Nightmares", a soft toy and print collection based on nightmares and traumas. This piece is a beetle-esque form needle felted over a foam and wire armature with an embroidered outer shell. This character symbolizes overstimulation and anxiety, so she crochets a never-ending sweater to keep her busy at all times. Her outer shell is beaded and embroidered using a variety of sequins, glass beads, fabric, and plastic beads to create an overgrown garden-like scene with flowing cracks meandering throughout.
Hannah Cunningham (Savannah College of Art and Design)
Cavern, 2022
elastic thread, cotton, acrylic mohair, sewing thread, dobby weaving (13" x 24")
The works in the series Morphology seek to explore the outcomes of various manipulation tactics to create visceral sculptural weavings. These sculptural weavings represent the culmination of information gathered through experimentation and material research. The piece Cavern explores the effects of elastic weft woven on the back of a double cloth structure. By weaving the elastic on the back, the materials used on the face of the cloth are allowed to pucker and flow as the back shrinks, creating the overall sense of movement in the work. In addition to using elastic thread, acrylic mohair, cotton, and sewing machine thread were used to create the volume and textural effects of the work. Although seemingly filled, the floats on the face of the cloth provide a window to the hollow inside which holds nothing but space.
Maria Dawley (Kendall College of Art and Design)
Knitted Leather, 2022
leather cord, leather dye, knitted, Size 20 Jacket
This jacket is the result of a concept I have been wanting to try. Knitting leather, which I thought would be an interesting take on a knit fabric. I took natural round leather cord and knitted it into panels, I then dyed each of the panels with leather dye. Once the panels were dyed, I knitted them together to create the jacket. This was a part of my plus size capstone collection at Kendall College of Art and Design. The inspiration behind this collection was to give plus size women unique clothes that included cool textiles and surface embellishments.
Leah Defoort (Sheridan College)
Gather, 2022
Natural dyes on silk satin organza, screenprinting (49" x 79")
Gather is a surface pattern inspired by the Queen Anne's lace flower. The design is screen printed on fabric using dyes extracted from plants that I gathered near my home in Ontario, Canada. It is the culmination of research on 12 local dye plants that I undertook for my Bachelor of Craft and Design thesis project.
Dance Doyle (California College of the Arts)
Jingletown, 2022
hand-dyed wool, merino wool, cotton, silk, linen, vintage metal twine, and mixed media, Tapestry woven on a 4-harness floor loom (85" x 32" x .5")
This woman featured in my work, who is an extension of myself, is marching down the streets of Jingletown, a neighborhood in Oakland, CA where I used to live. I'm celebrating this other version of myself in this work to remember that I've been through hell, worked hard to get out of it, and then I received a full ride to graduate school which has far surpassed my wildest dreams. The figure in this work is positioned in a way that suggests movement along with the lines that surround her. Jingletown has become a visual reminder for me to keep moving forward and working hard because it's gotten me this far.
John Fifield-Perez (Kent State University)
Spindle Cloth, 2022
silk, cotton, aluminum wire, TC-1 digital Jacquard double cloth (60" x 13" x 2")
The weaving comprises a balustrade spindle and a red tablecloth from my grandparents’ home. I replicate the familiar form and pattern at an enlarged scale to externalize childhood memories. Weaving allows me to reembody and recognize early awareness of orientation as I consider my relationship with these objects and spaces.
Nathan Ford (Kansas City Art Institute)
Striptease, 2022
railroad denim overalls, mens undershirts, underwear, denim, quilting (78”x 50")
My quilts reevaluate history and suggest the possibility that queer voices have existed for years in both laborer and quilt communities. Striptease is constructed from garments that would be taken off in a striptease. The materials are pieced together using the technique strip-piecing to form this wordplay between the materials and technique.
Victoria Foster (Kutztown University of Pennsylvania)
Shibori Pocket Project, 2022
bamboo, cotton slub, and cotton carpet warp, hand-woven shibori, hand-dyed, machine sewing (Pants 42” x 25” Shorts 19” x 18” Shirt 14” x 17”)
All three pieces were created from a single woven warp using dye-resist techniques of woven Shibori. Large pockets sewn to the outside brings awareness to stereotypical fashion trends, especially in women's clothing. Being non-binary, I work towards bringing awareness towards the gendering of clothing and gender neutral designs.
Emily Hansen (University of Wisconsin - Green Bay)
Rupture, 2022
mixed fibers, cotton, manual needle-punch (33" x 68")
Rupture is a rug created to mimic the patterning and color of the wood paneling found in the basement of my childhood home. Garish, organ-like forms spill from the surface, showing the ugliness behind the façade while referencing themes present in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper.
ti hempel (Massey University)
transparency, 2021
cotton homespun, transparent print paste, dye, screenprinting (118" x 47")
transparency celebrates my beautiful queer, takatāpui and gender non-conforming community. I created this through kōrerō within my community about experiences navigating the world with queer identities, whilst exploring queer histories of Aotearoa. Critiquing western colonised gender, I adopt textile craft to share experiences beyond the binary.
Georgie Holbrook (Savannah College of Art and Design)
Bloodread, 2022
arious fingering yarns, machine knitting (72" x 68")
“Bloodread” is an evocative knitwear collection that aims to be bold and brilliant trough texture, print, and most importantly its color. A fashion experience, these garments are geared towards the innovative club performers of the night, who have embraced who they are through monumental feats of self expression. With the help of the expansive world of machine knitting, Dubied and Silver Reed Designa Knit programs have built these fabrics to be filled with a variety of motifs and surface design, patchworked together to build on top of each other. This fashion experience with “Bloodread” is a celebration of that colorful transformation from doubts and anxieties. Queer representation in the muse for the garments is an exhibition of the joyous fantasy within the surface design, creating the runway as the performance of that expression.
Cashay Johnson (Georgia State University)
Refreshing, 2022
nylon braided rope, nylon polyester twisted rope, yarn, coiling (74" x 25")
In my rope pieces I am using a technique called coiling. Coiling is the process of wrapping a smaller linear material around another, larger linear material—periodically attaching it to itself to create a dimensional form. In this technique I make emotional decisions about colors and textures. However, using long and tedious processes, which is common for Textiles, is a form of meditation for me. I commit to this process because it challenged me and expressed time; teach me patience, endurance, and intense focus, which gives me strength and provides perspective on other, more difficult aspects of my life. I want the viewer to see my patience, my endurance, and my strength through these abstract pieces
Bailey Knight (NC State University)
Make Time for Coffee in the Morning, 2022
indigo-dyed cotton, chenille cotton, TC2 Weaving (42" x 32")
I combine my technical knowledge in textiles and passion for the earth through hand dyeing and weaving yarns into visually oscillating artifacts. The softness of the chenille in the weaving brings comfort while the viewer finds shapes that may remind them of the thoughts that come to mind when trying to get out of bed.
Emma Langley (Savannah College of Art and Design
Opulence, 2022
beads, tambour, beading (10" x 16")
I created "Opulence" for a project in my 2022 embroidery class at SCAD. I used beading and tambour techniques, and used a wide variety of beads and embellishments. Sequins, rhinestones, vintage beads and findings, all sewn into silk organza. My concept is based on unnatural and elusive landscapes, inspired by orchids, deep sea creatures and otherworldly insects.
Emily Linstrum (Savannah College of Art and Design
Continuum, 2021
cotton yarn, digital print, hand knitting, projection (180")
“continuum” is a study of infinite loops connected with the body and the space around it. The loop is hand knit using cotton yarn and forms the body into a literal infinite loop, symbolizing the infinite life cycle of our physical form according to the law of conservation of mass.
Blanca Martinez (NMSU)
Family Tree, 2022
acrylic yarn, used clothing, punch needle and crochet (102" x 60")
Martinez uses her practice to explore the relationships with her family members and their connections in the construction of her personal identity. Her materials and techniques—fiber arts and textiles—act as a conduit through which she examines her own stories and relationships. For Martinez, crochet provides the missing link she feels with older generations and uses these mediums to talk about the missing presence of tradition and values in her upbringing
Nora McGinnis (Indiana University)
Spinning History, 2021
wool fleece, rubber, spindle, installation (50" x 60")
Spinning History looks at how storytelling spins a single, understandable narrative out of the chaos of the cosmos; the spindle creating a single yarn – something usable – out of the swirling loose wool, reminiscent of nebulas in deep space.
Breanna Mitchell (University of Missouri - Columbia)
Transcend, 2021
abaca base, abaca pulp paint, shibori dyed silk organza, handmade paper (37" x 73")
Working around the large mould and deckle, washing the abaca across the surface, I find myself in a trance. Transcend is a part of my larger body of work centering around my relations to memory; a documentation of my time spent reflecting on the atmospheres I grew up in.
Eileen Morley (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Dollhouse, 2022
muslin, batting, ceramic stoneware, quilting, wheel throwing (48" x 36")
This quilt contains the tiniest of tableware sets—wheel thrown ceramic teacups, saucers, plates, bowls. Sealed into a silhouette of a dollhouse, they give it a small weight that, when lit, creates a new nightlight-esque heirloom evoking the warmth of a home. The domestic toy has a winding history of display, play, and training children to keep house. Dollhouse is an obfuscation of these memories and moments, now locked away but still lending something—comfort? Morley leans into her knowledge of crafts like knitting and sewing to interpret ideas around the making process, identity, isolation, and the meditative and restorative act of mending. She uses primarily fibers and ceramics to translate these ideas, making quilts and cups and cups in quilts and weavings and embroideries and alterations to found materials, hard and soft. Like a complicated translation, the problem is finding the most eloquent way to define experiences through material. Some loose ends are ok.
Sadaf Naeem (UHM)
Knotted Body, 2021
mesh wire, cotton threads, weaving through knots (Size variable)
Knotted Body, makes visible the connection between physical labor and women's unseen emotional work. I try to utilize cotton cords in an intensive method of knotting and braiding which emerges from everyday acts like making hair braids or tying a knot to get dressed. My method of crating is a confrontation of childhood memories and a metaphor for healing.
Saira Netto (Savannah College of Art and Design)
Adapt, 2022
roving, felt, yarn, binding by hand, felting, cutting (53")
Textiles have often been used as camouflage to fit in or even stand out. This installation offers this idea of camouflage, a place to resort to, whether it be that its viewer is drawn to its texture and color visually or through an interaction that stimulates the mind and soul.
Kayla Powers (Cranbrook Academy of Art)
Self Preservation, 2022
cotton, linen, bamboo, silk, wool, polyester, beeswax, bubblewrap, plastic, seeds, flowers, hair, plant dyes, wood, dyed with locally foraged plants, quilted (74" x 52")
Beginning in the center and moving outward in a spiral, I sew together a variety of fabrics and found materials that reflect the everyday ephemera of our lives. These materials demonstrate temporality, the cycles of life, and gesture towards our place in the family of things.
Aaron Pozos (University of North Texas)
Technouroboros, 2022
toned cyanotype, dyed fabric, appliqué, quilt (84" x96")
This quilt uses the old Nokia phone interface with the game "snake" as an ouroboros, with an exit right within reach. This combination of technology and quilting creates a dialogue of past and present in order to imagine an ideal future. The time is 11:58, a nod to the doomsday clock, as we are 100 seconds to midnight due to recent military conflicts. With burnout at an all time high due to economic recession and COVID fatigue it seems difficult to create change in the current political climate. "BE NOT AFRAID" is what the angels tell those they are revealed to - it takes a biblical amount of strength to act in these times.
Kendall Pulido (University of North Texas)
Trophy, 2022
fleece, plastic, polymer clay, hand sewn and hand sculpted (14" x 6.5" x 9.5")
This piece is the first of my plush monster heads, melding together cute and quaint, and macabre. What is most important to me is creating creatures with personality and life. Each creature has a story, and with this piece I ask the viewer to decide what this monster's story was.
Laurel Rennie (Concordia University)
Crabapple Cathedral, 2021
hand-dyed cotton and velvet, found fabrics, reactive dye printed cotton, cotton batting, acrylic ink, wood supports, piece-work, quilting, drawing (65” x 78")
Crabapple Cathedral is a kind of spiritual altar to uglier processes of human transformation. Like plants, humans experience cycles of decay, alteration and regrowth. At times frightening, painful, and beautiful, these cycles of change are the core of human experience. There is a necessity to discomfort; a processing of sour hard fruit into sweet jam.
Katy Rodden Walker (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth)
Enmeshed, 2022
clay slip, glue, cheese cloth, wire, string, lights, I rip and tear swathes of cheese cloth fabric and dip them into a clay slip and glue mixture. The wet material is placed over handmade armature, taking on the form of the armature once dried. Then the forms are moved to the installation space, suspended intuitively to work with the architecture of the space. Small wire hooks are used to connect the forms together, growing in different directions. Warm lighting is installed behind the forms to create a welcoming environment and shadows that extend off into space (144" x 168" x 120")
Growing and withering, constantly evolving, Enmeshed embraces Rhizomatic and Feminist theory, and is inspired from microscopic images of mycelium (fungal spores and roots). Embracing the diverse ways that life cooperates together, Enmeshed evolves and merges with the installation space, expanding in all directions, non-hierarchically, allowing for new offshoots and possibilities. The gauzy material is light and airy, suspended from the walls and ceiling, like atmospheric clouds. All parts play a role and have value in the structure. Using microscopic images of mycelium, I use scale to increase and heighten awareness of these forms, play with perception, and use warm lighting and shadows to expand the form into space, enticing the viewer to step inside.
Lauren Romedy (Appalachian State University)
Defilement, 2022
yarn, wool filling, crochet (12” x 5.5” x 4.5”)
This piece is one segment of a body of work I am currently working on that uses animal viscera to address the impact that mental illness can have on a person. The use of animal bodies as surrogates for human bodies represents the separation from society and oneself that happens.
Thanaporn Rujirawanichtep (Savannah College of Art and Design)
The garden of in-between, 2022
threads, free-motion
The garden of in-between is a needlework construction, highlighting how culture are woven together from the perspective of an Asian living in America. Thousands of yards of thread are sewn together to create a construction that shows the differences and parallels between floral arrangement and astrology in both East and West.
Anna Stuffelbeam (North Carolina State University)
Ripples, 2022
cotton, natural indigo dye, woven (10" x 12")
I am fascinated with transitions where chaos meets calm and patterns emerge. The woven structures may look random but also form an image. Creating order from a mess of threads I try to capture a wild nature through the patterns of ripples in water and interlocking threads.
Abigail Tankersley (Savannah College of Art & Design)
To Truly See And Be Seen, 2022
machine-knit mohair and acrylic yarns, plastic bags, recycled textile waste, air duct, machine-knit, hand sewing (66" x 48")
"There is one thing they will never forget... To Truly See and Be Seen, is a beautiful feeling.
Anna Vescovi (Savannah College of Art and Design)
Chrysalis Garment, 2022
laser cut acrylic (designed as dipped gradient), silver jump-rings, joinery (16" x 16" x 52")
A “Chrysalis” symbolizes the transformative stage in the birth of a butterfly; an allegorical relation to the juxtaposition between past and present, growth and development. Chrysalis is a couture design statement which resolutely demonstrates bespoke textile innovation. Joinery’s adjustable one-size-fits-all approach unexpectedly merges luxury fashion and material revolution.
Christina Villamor (California State University Long Beach)
In Fragments of Color and Light, 2021
hand-dyed cotton, silk, acrylic, monofilament, neon|weaving / multi-media (240" x 48" neon is 22" diameter)
This installation serves as an altar to the goddess of the ocean in the Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria. Altars to her feature aquatic iconography. Using the leno weave technique, I wove half a dozen nets and connected them together through knots and coiling. It was arranged with cascading layers of monofilament.
Simone White (Cornell University)
Ni de aquí, ni de allá, 2022
bamboo and acrylic yarn, cotton rope, shima seiki 2 & 3 color bird's eye jacquard knit and jersey pointelle short rowing
This collection Ni de aquí, ni de allá, which translates to neither here, nor there is a self exploration of imposter syndrome around the artist's Latinx identity. The work focuses on Cumbia Colombiana performance which is traditional dance from Colombia. The skirts, which reference traditional costuming, are worn wrapped around the body in different ways to reflect a lack of formal transitions, almost like a child playing dress up. the entire collection consists of pieces that the artist shima seiki programmed, knit and assembled, using 2 and 3 color jacquard and jersey pointelle structures. These allowed her to create textiles out of her self portrait drawing that move through the stages of empowerment and disassociation, accompanied by quotes from Latinx poets, such as Sandra María Esteves and Yesika Salgada, as well as the artist's writing. The collection was worn and performed in by the members of Cornell’s latin dance team Sabor Latino Dance Ensemble. Overall the collection is meant to capture a sense of overcompensation in cultural expression as a means of justifying oneself in their identity.
Emma Wilson (Savannah College of Art and Design)
A Moment to Think, 2022
merino wool, bamboo fiber, needle felt (10.5” x 14”)
The objects of this still life were intricately chosen to express this moment of contemplation. The book is a copy of Goethe’s The Faust, a legend telling of a man dissatisfied with his life leading to a bargain with the Devil to find fulfillment in ultimate knowledge and worldly possessions. At the end of the tale, Faust remains distraught in his discontentment as he loses all of his gains. This book was chosen for this still life to call the viewers to question the vanity of their desires. What passions do we pursue, yet are left with meaningless treasures that are only temporary? The deer skull is a memento mori, alluding to another aspect of reflection in the viewer by reminding them of the futility of life. The third and final object is a heart shaped, glass ornament. This ornament reflects brightly even while in the shadows. The heart is meant to suggest relationships. Those we care about are precious; easy to break or crack if not cared for. It is foolish to place ourselves and our desires over those we admire. This collection of objects is nothing more than a compilation of clutter that is stockpiled from my journey in life. Yet, when considered, small details reveal larger concepts that unsettle and ignite contemplation. This piece was created to draw the viewer in to ask questions regarding their own haughty desires that will lead to restlessness in life.
Emily Zarse (Indiana University)
Contained, 2022
silk, latex, madder, pomegranate, oak gall, chamomile, alum, prenatal vitamins, dried slime, used single use coffee cup, stroller, Plant-based dyes, shibori (23”x 53”x 44”)
My fiber installations explore the entangled states of motherhood as an institution and the embodied sensibilities of birth and caregiving. Working within the visual language of femininity, domesticity and childhood, I question stereotypes of patriarchal motherhood and sanitized depictions of birth to open space for a more expansive phenomenological experience. Embracing the vulnerable messiness of reproduction, fantastical combinations juxtapose the primal process of birth and the consumerized spectacle of mothering. Reproduction and care are defined beyond the binary of joy/burden, cloth bearing the simultaneous embodiment of comfort and suffocation. The pressures of care find tangible form in the making: Intense compression of silk creates a resist to the dye, marking textures of wear, stretch marks, wrinkles. The fleshy translucent tones are created through decoctions of plants used historically for fertility support and birth control. This specificity of color-making highlights symbols of reproductive agency and a potential nutritive antidote to depletion.
