Textile Arts Center, NYC

The vibrant window display catches your attention as you walk along 8th Street in Greenwich Village.

The moment you step into Textile Arts Center's workspace you feel the passion and energy of people who love textile.

You see the pots heating special dyes.

Looms with projects in various stages of completion as if you were weaving along with them.

Colorful, textured threads and yarns that invite you to look and touch.

Then you are greeted with the smiles.

Joey Casey preparing for his felting class.

The staff is ready to show you around, answer your questions, and even give you an impromptu demonstration like Joey Casey, one of their talented instructors, did.

Joey Casey demonstrating a felting project

I arrived around 2:15 pm on Wednesday, and Joey explained, "Wednesdays are for felting and soft sculpture." Enthusiastic and kind, Joey patiently explained the felted soap projects he was going to teach that afternoon from 3-6pm.

Very modest with his credentials, I later learned that Joey was educated at Parson's School of Design and is a fiber and textile designer in his own right. Specializing in fashion design, everything textile, and knitting, he works with New York City designers as well as teaches at Textile Arts Center.

Holding a completed "felted soap"

All the students were going to go home with one of these felted soaps.

Felting at Textile Arts Center

Comments

Surviving my Teen Years with Shakespeare

I became passionate about poetry in high school when I desperately needed guidance. When I needed something to make sense of the chaos others called life. There was no IG, no FB, no Internet, no cell phones, no "reach out and touch" when life quickly crumbled, leaving you alone with just the clothes on your back. Earlier this year I revisited all 154 Shakespeare Sonnets and began making textile books inspired by them. Here is Sonnet One -- Don't Get Twisted by the Bling of Youth.

Born of Love, Shakespeare's Sonnet 151

Over the summer I worked on new artwork, Born of Love , inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnet 151. The book offers a translation of the sonnet to the language of textiles and embroidery. Working on this book allowed me to explore the beauty of textiles from four continents. Its construction is inspired by the poetic structure within the sonnet. This book, along with two other of my art pieces, will be on exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library from 16 Sept 2024 - 9 Feb 2025.

Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan

Art is Life I was introduced to Candy Jernigan's art and book when I was going through cancer treatment more than a decade ago. Her meticulously arranged collages, paintings, and drawings have had a profound impact on the way I view art, life, and visual storytelling. Before reading her book, I had never seen how powerful art journaling could be -- that it could also be an artistic tool for social commentary. Candy Jernigan (b. 1952- 1991) attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Soon after graduating she became a painter, set and costume designer in Provincetown, MA. In Evidence , Stokes Howell wrote, " By the time she returned to New York in 1980 she was starting to develop the themes and methods she would work with the rest of her life." Candy described the transformative process of taking found objects, "trash," and discarded materials from life and turning them into art: "In 1980, as I set out on my first trip to Europe, I decided...

Baltimore Sonnets

Search This Blog