This hands-on studio is an introduction to the fundamental language of weaving —the warp and the weft—and the implications of weave structures as they relate to image, pattern, materiality, language, spaces and the body. This course will introduce students to equipment, weave structures, and materials in conversation with multiple weaving practices and histories across time and space. The range of equipment used will encourage students to explore the cultural narratives, socio-economic motivations and the histories of peoples and places embedded in the act of weaving. A variety of techniques including hand-manipulated tapestry and loom controlled patterns are taught and explored as a vehicle for the translation of ideas in this medium. The emphasis is on invention and developing a personal approach.

Readings, lectures and discussions will address the textile industry’s complicity in slavery and the environmental crisis as well as how past and present weavers, artists and designers embed stories, histories, and legacies of knowledge-making into their woven textiles.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

Starting with making their own screens, students learn various stencil making and printing of repeats using water based dyes and pigments. The focus is on an imaginative stencial (usually the repeating unit) and its application in creating continuous surfaces. Instead of considering the screen a tool merely to reproduce an existing design from paper, students are encouraged to think of it as a flexible means for creating totally new designs through experimentation at the print table. Engineered designs combining repetition and singular images is also explored.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

Starting with making their own screens, students learn various stencil making and printing of repeats using water based dyes and pigments. The focus is on an imaginative stencial (usually the repeating unit) and its application in creating continuous surfaces. Instead of considering the screen a tool merely to reproduce an existing design from paper, students are encouraged to think of it as a flexible means for creating totally new designs through experimentation at the print table. Engineered designs combining repetition and singular images is also explored.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

This course is an investigation of the technical, formal and material potential of multi-harness weave structures on 24-harness dobby looms. Through extensive sampling on the looms, students expand their skills in areas of pattern development, woven structure, color, material and fabric finishing while further developing their design concepts and their visual and material vocabularies. During the second half of the semester, stipulations derived from the intended end use of the fabric as well as production methods become a strong part of the design considerations in the development of fabric collection for an intended application. Exercises in drafting, both by hand and on computer, as a means of understanding woven structure in a three-dimensional way, will be an important part of the course.

Prerequisite: TEXT-4804

Elective

This course emphasizes the design process - how to come up with an idea and how to develop it into a finished design - as well as technical skills. Using tools, techniques, and materials from professional studios, students work on paper exploring and analyzing layouts, color, and other design elements within repeated patterns. As students develop their individual styles, they are exposed to design requirements stemming from production methods and the intended end use. Successful work from this course becomes part of students' portfolios.

Please contact the department for permission to register.

Elective

This intensive course moves from concept to design development and then onto digitally printed fabrics. Students start by creating presentation boards for color, pattern, and application in order to establish direction in their work. With Adobe Photoshop serving as the primary tool, the traditional techniques of drawing, painting, and collage are integrated with new design technology. Class instruction will lead students through the Adobe software in the development of design for extensive experimentation on the Textiles' Mimaki fabric printer. Students will be encouraged to go beyond the boundaries of traditional textile design to meet the possibilities of this exciting technology.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Elective

Students in this introductory course will learn the basic techniques of machine knitting and explore the possibilities of structural effects, color, pattern, and material quality within those techniques. They will also learn about finishing methods--such as felting, dyeing, and simple printing--that can be used on knitted fabric. Students will create a knitted fabric or finished piece for an end use, be it apparel, furnishings, or art pieces.

Elective

Students in this introductory course will learn the basic techniques of machine knitting and explore the possibilities of structural effects, color, pattern, and material quality within those techniques. They will also learn about finishing methods--such as felting, dyeing, and simple printing--that can be used on knitted fabric. Students will create a knitted fabric or finished piece for an end use, be it apparel, furnishings, or art pieces.

Elective

Through drawing and painting we will investigate different subject matter in the development of a personal vision and point of view to create meaningful and moving work. We will work from live models, still-lifes and objects, and explore the use of icons, symbols and images through experimentation with a wide range of media and processes including charcoal, pen and ink, acrylics, objects and collage. Beyond this, the main goal of the course is the development of a working process to strengthen conceptual and expressive abilities. This approach will allow students to communicate concerns with originality and creativity in ways that can later be applied to work in any discipline and medium.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

Through drawing and painting we will investigate different subject matter in the development of a personal vision and point of view to create meaningful and moving work. We will work from live models, still-lifes and objects, and explore the use of icons, symbols and images through experimentation with a wide range of media and processes including charcoal, pen and ink, acrylics, objects and collage. Beyond this, the main goal of the course is the development of a working process to strengthen conceptual and expressive abilities. This approach will allow students to communicate concerns with originality and creativity in ways that can later be applied to work in any discipline and medium.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Sophomore Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

This course, a major component in the student's can entail two types of activity: 1. Participation in sophomore, junior or senior level courses to strengthen technical skills and design vocabulary; Including Design for Printed Textiles and Fabric Silkscreen and 2. Individual projects undergraduate advisors to clarify personal concepts and format of the work. This semester's emphasis is on enlarging and solidifying the student's background and defining direction for the work.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

This is an elective course for students who want to continue studying woven pattern. Using the NedGraphics software for pattern and Point Carre jacquard software for drafting woven structures, students will develop patterns through experimentation with material and color. The intended end use of the fabric will be a consideration throughout in the design decisions.

Prerequisite: TEXT-4820 and TEXT-4826

Elective

This course approaches the development of machine knit fabrics and forms as one process, where aspects of form are developed along-side fabric patterns and structures. Students learn advanced construction techniques and knit structure drafting and shaping, in order to further develop their design processes and ideas for knits. Emphasis is placed on experimentation, careful consideration of materials, and research. Ideas about color, pattern, texture, drape, concept and working large scale are explored. Fully-fashioned garments are the primary three-dimensional forms to which students apply their ideas. Throughout the semester, students bring their experience of garment building and shaping, their range of knitting skills and techniques, and their ability to express ideas in knitting to a higher level of resolution. Hand knitting, embellishment, dyeing, printing, finishing, felting and other processes are encouraged and can be integrated into the fabric design and construction.

Prerequisite: TEXT-4820 and TEXT-4826

Elective

This project represents the culmination of a student's study in the Graduate Program. The design projects can encompass various textile fields in the areas of interior or apparel textiles. A specific architectural context, an area of apparel design, an investigation of a particular technique, or a visual design sensibility and language can provide a framework for the project. The work, executed using any established textile techniques or technique that a student has developed, should manifest advanced original concepts, high quality of execution, and a strong commitment to the field. Written documentation and analysis of the sources of the work, how it relates to the textiles tradition or larger field of art and design, and of the development of the project should accompany the studio work.

Estimated Cost of Materials: varies depending on student projects.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

This advanced knitting course investigates the design and creation of knit fabrics using specialized software and a computerized, industrial knitting machine. Students deepen their understanding of a wide range of knit constructions, learn new structures, and experience a different method of creating knit fabric and forms through weekly sampling work and then a final project that is a collection of fabrics for interior or apparel applications, or art pieces. The intended end use will guide students' pattern and material studies. Students are introduced to the knitting industry and exciting examples of contemporary and historical knitting and encouraged to forge new paths in the medium.

Prerequisite: TEXT-4832 and TEXT-4826.

Elective

In this course you will learn about the material properties and design possibilities of fiber. We will explore how sustainable design practices are integral to the eventual end use of textiles, be it as yardage, fully fashioned garments, interior applications, structural use, or sculptural material. Via case studies from regional and international sustainable designers, we will investigate fibers. As a guidepost for our syllabus we will learn about the 17 sustainability goals articulated by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. With our focus on the textile industry, this course will introduce the theory and practice of circular design, regenerative agriculture, TEK, biomaterials, and manufacturing processes with reduced environmental impacts. Lectures and readings will be enlivened with in-class experimentation, guest speakers, weekly design assignments, and a materials journal. Over the semester we will investigate opportunities and solutions for creating art with a more positive legacy for our planet.

Elective

This course continues from Textile Seminar I and focuses on issues in the professional textile field, such as the effect of production parameters and end use on design decisions. While helping students become more familiar with the wide ranging textile market, from traditional work to the most highly innovative, this course aims to provide an awareness of how one's personal expression fits in to this context. Lecturers include professionals from the field, who advise on the studio work required in this class.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

The student's project, designed in consultation with the faculty, can be in one of the textile areas or in combination with other disciplines at the school. The project, which will be evaluated by the faculty and visiting critics at the end of the semester, can entail a collection of designs or fine arts work representing the current conclusive state of student's work or an investigation of a new area. The level of concepts, skills, and commitment constitute a major part of the criteria in the evaluation of the work.

Mid-year graduates should seek department permission to fulfill 9 credits in Fall and Wintersession.

Estimated Cost of Materials: Varies based on use of advanced equipment; additional fees may incur.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. This course is a requirement for Senior Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Textiles

This written portion of the Thesis Project helps students to analyze their working process and its results, as well as inform future work. While the length and style of the written thesis may vary, the paper should contain: an identification of the project goals and an analysis of the sources of inspiration; the context in which the work fits into the textile area and larger field of art and design; a description of the working process, techniques, and materials used and their connection to application and end use; and finally, an evaluation of the project. Accompanying the paper will be visual documentation of the project.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

Rugs and floor-coverings from different counties and cultures, both historical and contemporary, will be shown as examples of how material and design are developed within a cultural and functional context. This will serve as a foundation for students to develop their own vision and sources of inspiration. Each student will design and execute a woven rug intended for a specific use and/or space. Students will learn to set up the loom and will experiment with a variety of rugmaking techniques for both flat and pile surfaces. Exploration with a wide range of materials, from wool to reeds to plastics, are encouraged to find new solutions for each project. Special yarn dyeing techniques will be taught as a way to expand the range of color effects.

Elective