eTextiles Spring Break Group // electronic textiles
My latest research considers the relatively new field of electronic textiles and examines their use as activity trackers, wearables, and art. This research began with my residency at Prairie Ronde with eTextiles Spring Break Group. It continues with studio visits to the Social Body Lab at Ontario College of Art and Design and with designers based in LA and NYC.
Photo credit: Prairie Ronde
Liz Williamson and Australian Modern Craft
Liz Williamson is a weaver based in Melbourne, who has been central to the emergence of modern textile design and studio craft in Australia. Part of my research with Australian textile design examines Williamson’s work with wool and the preservation of local traditions.
Arthur Ramon Penfold and the Collection of Synthetic Fibers at the Powerhouse Museum
A fellowship at the Powerhouse Museum (MAAS) in Sydney led me to study the work of Arthur Ramon Penfold, whose vast research of synthetic fibers in the late 1930s and 1940s paved the way to the Museum’s fascinating collection of early plastic materials. My research at MAAS is part of a larger project, which examines the affects of synthetics on textile design in the twentieth century.
Modern Weaving in the United States
Based on my dissertation research, this book project focuses on shifts in textile design resulting from the ubiquitous use of advanced machine looms and synthetic fiber in the postwar period (1940s - 1950s). It develops in case studies of weaving at Cranbrook (Marianne Strengell); Black Mountain College (Anni Albers) and New York studios (Dorothy Liebes).
