President's NYC Reception Showcases Textile Student Work

On Wednesday, November 16, 2016, President Spinelli hosted the NYC alumni reception. It was a beautiful New York evening where alumni and current students mingled and networked. Textile Design Graduate Students: Ananya Bevinakatti, Becky Flax and Mimi Spasov attended and displayed their work. 

Alumni from the graduating class of 1974 all the way to May 2016 attended the event! Being able to share experiences had at PhilaU and memories of classes, professors and events, made this evening one to remember. 

A massive thank you to Philadelphia University's Future Alumni Association for putting on such a lovely event!

Textile Design Immersion @ MTL

Joy Alaoui (left) showing students MTL's jacquard looms. 

Graduate students had the opportunity to visit MTL, a high-end jacquard manufacturing company on November 18th. MTL's design director Joy Alaoui, an alumni from the Textile Design graduate program, gave us a tour of their facilities. Students got to learn about the company's design process, from concept creation and exploration to manufacturing.

Textile Design Workshop with Rowan College

Marcia Weiss showing students how to weave on the floor looms. 

On November 11th, students from the Rowan College at Burlington County's Fashion Design program visited our studios to learn more about opportunities in Textile Design. The students got to explore knitting, weaving, and print design hands-on by working on the looms and knitting machines in the studio.

Thanks to Rowan's fashion coordinator Lisa Steinberg for working with us to visit, and for the great photos from an exciting day!

Rowan students picking out yarn to knit and weave with!

Seeing how the Jacquard looms work! 

Students try out knitting on our v-bed machines.

Students learning about computer aided design. 

Rowan student trying out weaving on the floor loom. 

Study Abroad Session for Textile Design Students

Alison Ervin shows off her woven and print work created while she was at Heriot-Watt

On November 10th, the Textile Design undergraduate and graduate students were visited by Study Abroad director Madeline Wilcox to learn about exciting international study opportunities. Two of the main semester-long Textile Design programs are Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, and Massey University in New Zealand. Past students have also studied in places like Rome, Central Saint Martins of London, and many other places throughout the world. Students also learned about shorter study abroad opportunities like summer short courses at Heriot-Watt and PhilaU Nexus Abroad in Europe.

PhilaU students who have studied abroad at in the past talked about their experiences and showed some of their beautiful portfolio work in weaving, knitting, and printing that they completed while abroad. We even got to Skype with two of our students who are currently studying on exchange at Heriot-Watt to hear about how their experience has been so far! Two Scottish students from Heriot-Watt who are currently on exchange with us at PhilaU for the semester shared their opinions about the benefits of experiencing different ways of learning and new ways to work through the design process.

I think it was fair to say that all of the students who have studied abroad said it was one of the most rewarding and exciting experiences for them, and they encouraged all of their peers to consider an study abroad opportunity!

Jess Thies shows off her work done at Heriot-Watt 

Textile Design students participate in Ann Hamilton: habitus

Textile Design M.S. students Becky Flax and Emily Olsen were selected to work with artist Ann Hamilton in her exhibition Habitus with The Fabric Workshop and Museum.  This amazing installation was held at Municipal Pier 9 in Philadelphia.  According to FWM, "Habitus weaves text, textile, and image together as mediums for an imaginative and tactile exchange between artist and audience". 

Becky and Emily responded to a few questions regarding their experience:

Becky and Emily, how did you get involved in this project?
Becky:
Nami Yamamoto, Project coordinator at the Fabric Workshop and Museum and Philadelphia University Textile Design Faculty member, knew I spin yarn and invited me to apply. I immediately contacted Tracey Blackman part of human resources at the Fabric Workshop.

Emily:

Habitus opened about two weeks after I moved to Philadelphia and a week after I started at Philadelphia University. The whole installation and corresponding exhibit at the Fabric Workshop and Museum is focused on cloth, and knowing that I would be devoting my next two years to the study of textiles and textile design I thought this installation would be a great introduction and starting point for me in this new field. Spending so many hours at the pier surrounded by the large spinning curtains, 500 pounds of wool, and scraps of yarn from unraveled sweaters served as a great inspiration and allowed me time to think through some ideas I hope to make realities during my time in school.

Emily spinning wool.

Becky deconstructing sweaters.

What were your responsibilities?
Emily:
During the habitus installation I split my time evenly between making and unmaking. The making half of my day involved carding, then spinning wool using a drop spindle, resulting in yarn. The unmaking half was made up of snipping stitches in a knitted sweater, and using my hands to make these small holes larger, then cut out the loose bits of yarn. Both of these tasks were done in silence, while gallery guides around me intercepted visitor questions.

Becky:
My role was as a performance artist in the installation down at Municipal Pier 9. As part of the performance, I spent equal parts of my time carding and spinning yarn from scoured, raw wool and unraveling children's sweaters. We used top whorl drop spindles to create the yarn; it was very interesting to see that many of the spinners preferred clockwise rotation of the spindle as opposed to anit-clockwise which is my preference. The unraveling process was meant to be in direct opposition to the spinning process, as a sort of "making" and "unmaking". To unravel the sweaters, I would cut individual loops in body of the garment and pull at the break to create a hole, then from the hole unravel small sections. 

What surprised you about the work or the installation?
Becky:
My greatest surprises came from people's reactions to the two performances. The spinner was set up behind a screen a few yards back from the rest of the exhibition. So many asked if that was a separate installation or if it was part of the habitus​ piece. Both acts, the spinning and unraveled elicited many questions, but as performers we were not supposed to engage with the people around us. The unraveler, because they were set in the installation, caught the majority of people's attention. People asked me many questions that I could not answer and were either embarrassed or enraged when I didn't respond.  They took photos of me and with me, like selfies with a statue, a living statue. Some sat around me and had very personal conversations ignoring that I could hear them. I found just having the luxury of sitting in a space, surrounded by people, some friends and some strangers, was wonderful. I tend to be someone with a lot on their plate at all times, but the hours I worked as part of habitus​ gave me a freedom to just be and perform a meditative and mindful, repetitive task.
Working with Ann Hamilton was such a joy, in addition to the entire Fabric Workshop and Museum staff. I was thrilled by the experience and would jump at another similar opportunity.
Emily:
When habitus began I was not sure what to expect during an eight-hour day of spinning and unraveling. It was much easier to be focused and dedicated to my work, with so much action happening around me, than I anticipated. The process of spinning required concentration in each of the steps to ensure I was making strong yarn, and I was surprised by how involved the process of unraveling, by making holes in sweaters, could be. Though the placement of the holes in the sweaters was mostly random, I found myself strategizing where to snip to get the most effective holes.

Congratulations to Becky and Emily for being selected to participate in this fantastic exhibition!

Becky deconstructing sweaters with the installation swirling behind her. 

Congratulations to Marjorie Bertrand!

While studying abroad in Galashiels, Scotland at Heriot-Watt University Marjorie Bertrand has had a weave design chosen to go into the Trend Bible (https://www.trendbible.com/) Autumn/Winter '18/'19! Samples of her fabric will go into their trend books for that season. Please take a look out for Marjorie's work in the coming seasons!

Here is Marjorie with her collection from May 2016 Sunbrella Competition.

Textile Design Program hosts Workshop for Home Schooled Students

The PhilaU Textile Design program hosted a 4-session workshop for home schooled students, in conjunction with Totall Envolvement.  Six students participated in: drawing/design development, screen printing, hand and jacquard weaving and knitting on Dubied equipment. The workshop introduced these creative students to the possibilities of Textile Design for their academic and professional careers.  Please see the images below for a glimpse of some of the work.  Congratulations on the successful workshop! 

Fashion & Textiles Futures Center Events for Design Philadelphia 2016

Please join us in the Fashion & Textiles Futures Center on Thursday October 13th as we celebrate Design Philadelphia 2016.  Come try your hand in the textile design studios, see demos of the latest digital technologies, join us for an alumni panel discussion and celebrate with us at a reception.  Please see the chart below for additional details.  You may access a campus map at:  http://www.philau.edu/undergrad/PlanYourVisit/directions.html

PhilaU Fashion & Textiles Futures Center	Hands-On Design (try your hand at the following activities)	Open Studios (drop in to observe students in action)
2pm to 4pm	Screen Printing/ Hayward Hall 004	Digital Printing Demos/ Hayward Hall 101A
	Hand Weaving/ Hayward Hall 005	Jacquard Weaving Demos /Hayward Hall 028A
		Shima Seiki Knitting Demos/Hayward Hall 028B
4pm to 5pm	Alumni Success Panel: PhilaU Alumni will share their careers in the fashion and textile worlds.  Location Hayward Hall 012
5pm to 6pm	Fashion & Textiles Futures Center Reception. Location: Kanbar 3rd Floor Balcony

Study Abroad Experience: Jess Thies goes to Gala!

Jess Thies told us about her experience studying abroad at Heriot-Watt University it Galashiels, Scotland, get ready to start booking your flight!

Jess (second from right) and friends hike near Loch Lomond.

When I decided to study abroad at Heriot-Watt in Galashiels, Scotland, I had yet to go on a plane, travel to another country, and be away from my family and friends for any long period of time. Normally PhilaU’s exchange with Heriot-Watt is in the fall, but due to running XC, cross country, I decided to study abroad in the spring and became the only PhilaU student to study there at that time. I ended up being only one of two American students at the Uni for the semester. While my family worried, I was so excited to have the opportunity to dive right into traveling and meeting new people that I would never meet if I went to a school with other American students. 

I took four studio classes, Floral Print, Knit, Weave, and CAD. Classes were set up differently as you only had class once a week and work was very independent. We would meet one-on-one with professors and spend the rest of class time freely working. As a textile design major, I thought it was really beneficial to be able to learn in a new way. My professors focused very heavily on research and we kept sketchbooks, research folders, research journals where we would write about our ideas, and created multiple mood/color/research boards for each project. Each class had one semester long project which was nice to focus on one topic and spend a lot of time perfecting our work. 

Jess at Textile Exhibition Show with her semester's work.

We had a month off for Easter break, and during that time, I was able to travel throughout Europe for a two week trip. I traveled to Paris by myself, I went to London and stayed with my best friend I met at Heriot-Watt, I went to Rome to visit my PhilaU friends who were studying there for the semester, I spent two days in Florence, and I went to Milan with a friend from Heriot-Watt on holiday. For St. Patrick’s Day, the other American student and I went to Dublin and we stayed with some of her family that was living there. I also went on a weekend trip with ISUK and the University of Glasgow to the Isle of Skye and was able to meet a friend from Austria.

The response I received from all the people I met was not only surprising but also heartwarming. People everywhere I went, at the grocery store, in the shops, and at Uni were extremely friendly, helpful, and easy to understand once I grasped out the Scottish lingo and accents. Overwhelmingly the best part of my experience was meeting the couple of girls who I now consider to be some of my best friends in my life. The group of girls who took me in helped me every step of the way to learn what Scottish/English culture was like, what the best food/sweeties were, what type of tea to buy (PG is the best..), and show me around Galashiels, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. 

Jess hiking near Alchmelvich. 

My last ten days in Scotland, my three best friends and I went on a Scottish road trip. One of my local friends had a car so we started in Gala, and spent a night or two at all of our pit stops along the way. We went to Glasgow first to experience the countries best morning rolls (which is basically a flat sausage on a roll with a potato scone), and then stayed in Pitlochery with one of my friend’s family to go hiking. We then went to Inverness to stay with one of my friend’s mom and hiked around Loch Ness. We ate proper roast dinners at a traditional restaurant that is older than America and I was able to try Haggis and Black Pudding. We also went to Chantry Point in Inverness to watch dolphins swim into the bay. After Inverness, we headed up North to Achvelmich and camped out on the beach. We went to Handa Island which is known to have puffins and then spent the night camping under Ben Nevis, which is the tallest mountain in Scotland. The last night we camped and hiked near Loch Lomond before heading back round through Glasgow, to go to Galashiels. Overall, this week was one of the best times of my life, not only because I was experiencing a lot of new things and able to travel and see more of Scotland, but I was also with great friends I never would’ve met if I hadn’t decided to study abroad.

What a trip in 10 days!

If I have any advice for other students who want to study abroad, it is to step out of your comfort zone and realize that nothing is weird. Things may be different, but try to be open-minded and willing to adapt to the culture.

TALENT! An exhibition of textile works from American and European graduates

New York Textile Month is
a New School and Cooper Hewitt initiative celebrating global textile creativity and innovation in events held throughout New York City.
Visit textilemonth.nyc for more information.

The exhibit features work from recent graduates of the Philadelphia University M.S. Textile Design program.

Jenn Biggs’ collection was inspired by the exploration of a long dead alien city detailed in the Arthur C. Clarke novel ‘Rendezvous with Rama’. Artifacts of art and culture, communication, architecture and planetary biology are investigated to explore the rise and fall of a civilization that communicated through the language of bioluminescent light, developed into designs digitally and screen printed.

www.jennaubreybiggs.com

Sam Fletcher explores memory through constructed textiles. What if, each end and pick in a woven fabric work together to convert what a faded memory would feel like if it was possible to reach out and touch it? Could the loops of a wiry, untamed knit, tangle itself in a way that makes you question the accuracy of the collective memories that lie within? What about taking a woven textile and making it look as empty and cold as a vacant mind?

The aim of the Capturing a Memory collection is to connect intellectually and emotionally to each textile, recognizing in their own way the concepts that lie within. 

www.samfletcher-textiles.com

Meghan Kelly shows knitwear collection inspired by the concept of a Spectacular Show as envisioned through Historical Vaudeville Theatre and the Three Ring Circus. Designed to be bright and bold, fun and dramatic and also suited to be non-restrictive during physically demanding performances of dance and trapeze. The garments are all designed and knit using Shima Seiki Wholegarment^TM technology and equipment.
www.meghanlkelly.com

Zhiwen Wang's woven Jacquard design is inspired by Natural Camouflage – the visual ambiguity, playful transformation and deceived mimicry of creatures visually adapting to the coloration and texture of their surroundings. A Jacquard woven giant fish lurks within a watery ground, hidden below floating yarns, obscured from view. Floats are cut away to reveal the intriguing imagery below.

www.zhiwen-wang.squarespace.com