| Introduction To Fiber/Material Studies |
2000 (001) |
Carina Yepez |
Mon
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course introduces students to a diverse range of textile materials, processes, histories, politics, traditions, and cultures of fiber and their relationships to contemporary art practice. Historical and contemporary approaches to process and materials are explored as students are introduced to a variety of fiber techniques in construction and surface application. Taught technique can include printing, tapestry weaving, immersion and resist dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, coiling, hand embroidery, machine sewing, piecework, and embellishment. Textiles have rich and complex histories in all cultures. Examples from across time and place will be explored and discussed through visual presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, visiting artist lectures, and field trips.
By the end of this course, students will become familiar with the formal, conceptual, expressive, and political potential of fiber as an expressive medium with limitless possibilities.
Course work will vary but typically includes the creation of technical samples, critique projects, and reading responses.
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Class Number
1389
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 902
|
| Introduction To Fiber/Material Studies |
2000 (002) |
Sofía Fernández Díaz |
Tues
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course introduces students to a diverse range of textile materials, processes, histories, politics, traditions, and cultures of fiber and their relationships to contemporary art practice. Historical and contemporary approaches to process and materials are explored as students are introduced to a variety of fiber techniques in construction and surface application. Taught technique can include printing, tapestry weaving, immersion and resist dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, coiling, hand embroidery, machine sewing, piecework, and embellishment. Textiles have rich and complex histories in all cultures. Examples from across time and place will be explored and discussed through visual presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, visiting artist lectures, and field trips.
By the end of this course, students will become familiar with the formal, conceptual, expressive, and political potential of fiber as an expressive medium with limitless possibilities.
Course work will vary but typically includes the creation of technical samples, critique projects, and reading responses.
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Class Number
1390
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 1014
|
| Introduction To Fiber/Material Studies |
2000 (003) |
Vanessa Viruet |
Mon/Wed
6:45 PM - 9:15 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course introduces students to a diverse range of textile materials, processes, histories, politics, traditions, and cultures of fiber and their relationships to contemporary art practice. Historical and contemporary approaches to process and materials are explored as students are introduced to a variety of fiber techniques in construction and surface application. Taught technique can include printing, tapestry weaving, immersion and resist dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, coiling, hand embroidery, machine sewing, piecework, and embellishment. Textiles have rich and complex histories in all cultures. Examples from across time and place will be explored and discussed through visual presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, visiting artist lectures, and field trips.
By the end of this course, students will become familiar with the formal, conceptual, expressive, and political potential of fiber as an expressive medium with limitless possibilities.
Course work will vary but typically includes the creation of technical samples, critique projects, and reading responses.
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Class Number
1401
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 902
|
| Introduction To Fiber/Material Studies |
2000 (004) |
Sarita Garcia |
Fri
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course introduces students to a diverse range of textile materials, processes, histories, politics, traditions, and cultures of fiber and their relationships to contemporary art practice. Historical and contemporary approaches to process and materials are explored as students are introduced to a variety of fiber techniques in construction and surface application. Taught technique can include printing, tapestry weaving, immersion and resist dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, coiling, hand embroidery, machine sewing, piecework, and embellishment. Textiles have rich and complex histories in all cultures. Examples from across time and place will be explored and discussed through visual presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, visiting artist lectures, and field trips.
By the end of this course, students will become familiar with the formal, conceptual, expressive, and political potential of fiber as an expressive medium with limitless possibilities.
Course work will vary but typically includes the creation of technical samples, critique projects, and reading responses.
|
Class Number
1391
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 902
|
| Woven Structure |
2002 (001) |
Jerry Bleem |
Mon
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course introduces floor loom hand weaving through the study of weave structures, woven image techniques, and fiber types. Students will explore both traditional and experimental approaches to material and technique, including double weaves, dyed warps, and hand-manipulated methods such as brocade and inlay. Over the course of the semester, students will produce finished weavings on 4-harness floor looms through in depth exploration and research. The course also examines the global histories of woven cloth through readings, presentations, and class discussions. Artists studied may include Diedrick Brackens, Lenore Tawney, and Gunta Stölzl, alongside writings by Anni Albers, T'ai Smith, and Dieter Hoffman-Axthelm. Students will learn to read and work from weaving draft patterns and will conduct independent research into artists and techniques of personal interest. Throughout, the course engages with the conceptual and material considerations of contemporary craft-based art. Students present finished and in-progress work in individual and group critiques throughout the semester.
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Class Number
1392
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 1011
|
| Print for Fabric and Alternative Materials |
2004 (001) |
Jess Atieno Ounga |
Thurs
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course demonstrates a wide range of screenprinting processes on fabric and alternative substrates, including textile inks, fiber reactive dyes, resist and discharge techniques, and heat transfers using foils and disperse dyes. Students will work with hand-drawn, computer-generated, and photographic images to explore screenprinting techniques and concepts such as monoprinting, multiples, color relationships, composition, and basic repeat patterns. Interdisciplinary and experimental approaches to the printed surface are encouraged as students develop their personal research and practice. The course is supplemented by lectures, readings, and visits to the AIC, artist studios, and galleries. Students present finished and in-progress work in individual and group critiques throughout the semester.
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Class Number
1400
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 905
|
| Stitch |
2005 (001) |
Christian Ortiz |
Mon
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course explores stitching as a means of altering the surface of textiles and other pliable materials, examining its role across functional, decorative, and contemporary arts practices. Students will develop skills in traditional and non-traditional hand manipulation, machine sewing, and digital embroidery, including the use of design software for embroidery machines. Quilting, piecework, and appliqué are taught through both hand methods and work created on home sewing and Tin Lizzie machines. Technical skills are taught within the context of fiber, craft, and fine art discourse, encouraging students to develop work driven by their own formal, material, and conceptual concerns. Lectures and assigned readings broaden this foundation, situating course content within the history and contemporary landscape of the field. Students present finished and in-progress work in individual and group critiques throughout the semester.
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Class Number
1396
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Costume Design
Location
Sharp 1014
|
| Craft and Object in Contemporary Art |
2900 (036) |
Stacia Laura Yeapanis |
Wed
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
The word 'craft' has been used both as a badge of honor and as a dismissive slur. This seminar will explore the stereotypes, the history and the changing status of craft in relation to contemporary art in America.
We will read essays by craft theorists and makers including Marie Lo, M. Anna Fariello, Bruce Metcalf, L.J. Roberts and Namita Gupta Wiggers and watch the PBS Docuseries 'Craft in America' to help us triangulate an ever-shifting definition of craft. Students will bring previously-critiqued, in-process and revised work to 3 critiques, where an emphasis will be placed not just on WHAT objects mean but also HOW they mean.
Course work includes weekly free-writing, reading discussions, and several assignments designed to help students articulate their artistic concerns and contextualize their work.
Prerequisites
Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.
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Class Number
2044
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
MacLean 301
|
| Twist |
3019 (001) |
Jerry Bleem |
Thurs
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This class investigates the properties of the elemental act of twisting raw materials into pliable linear elements. Students learn to spin and ply--using drop spindles and wheels--and to extend elements through rope making and various splicing techniques. Building on this foundation, students manipulate these fibrous elements into 2- and 3-dimensional forms as well as exploring expressive possibilities, and the limits of materials and structures.
Topics for reading and discussion include the development of spinning and textile production, the social and economic histories of labor, historic and contemporary art examples of spun and structured fiber, and current cultural interests in reclaiming the handmade.
Course work includes reading responses, participation in discussions, assembling a set of samples, reporting on research and 3 studio projects.
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Class Number
1409
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 902
|
| The Unpainted Picture |
3028 (001) |
Diana Guerrero-Maciá |
Mon
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This studio course will consider how to compose a picture plane with a variety of materials including paper collage, fabric piecing, applique, heat press, direct dye application and other handwork, to create line and form. Students will make use of drawing and form invention methods including stitching and dying, in conjunction with, or in place of, painted surfaces. Projects and critiques will address the critical use of compositional elements and materials within the picture plane.
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Class Number
1403
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 904
|
| Chemical Aftertaste: reactive processes for screen printing |
3029 (001) |
Christine Tarkowski |
Tues
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
In this class, students will learn reactive processes for use in screen printing on fabric and pliable materials. Reactive processes are those that will chemically or physically alter the nature of the printed cloth and include; fiber reactive dyes, devoré or the burning away of fibers, bleaching and removing of color, and the sublimation of color from one surface to another. Screen printing will be the primary method of creating works, yet a broad disciplinary approach is encouraged.
Assignments will be framed to address concepts of alchemy and instability, and include readings of works by; Georges Bataille, Anthony Vidler, Luce Irigaray, Yve-Alain Bois and Rosalind Krauss.
Students will create three studio intensive projects for class critiques. Prior screen printing experience is recommended.
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Class Number
1413
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 905
|
| Cloth at Scale |
3036 (001) |
Emily Winter |
Fri
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This intensive studio course focuses on planning, experimentation, and production of woven works on traditional floor looms, computer-interfaced looms, and semi-industrial Dobby looms housed between the weaving studios in Fiber and Material Studies and The Weaving Mill (TWM), an artist-run industrial weaving studio in Humboldt Park which blends design, production, textile education and research-based practice. This course introduces students to experimental weaving designs, unconventional methods and materials, and the opportunity to produce their ideas at scale with access to the fully mechanized Dobby looms at The Weaving Mill.
Students will engage in rigorous studio practices, material culture research, and practical applications of their work. While conceptual questions around making will be central to the coursework, students will also be supported in identifying and researching the socio-economic and political ramifications of working in the language of woven cloth. Readings may include works by Hito Steryl, Rosalind Krauss, Jen Hewett, Anni Albers, T¿ai Smith, Peter Stallybrass, Karl Marx.
Over the course of the semester, students will produce a range of individually-motivated woven samples and studies, eventually working within the production parameters of the industrial looms at TWM to design and produce yardage for installation, object design, and artists¿ projects. Additionally, students will work alongside members of the W.E.F.T. program, a textile studio for adults with developmental disabilities run by TWM, broadening discussions around labor, value, ability and access
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Class Number
1408
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Art/Design and Politics, Community & Social Engagement, Sustainable Design
Location
Sharp 1011
|
| Sculptural Basket Weaving |
3037 (001) |
Kate Smith |
Tues
3:30 PM - 9:15 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
In this studio course students will explore basket weaving techniques and their interconnectedness to the history and traditions of the craft. The class will utilize both traditional and non-traditional methods and materials to investigate new ways of creative expression while carrying the long, multi-cultural basket weaving tradition.
Readings may include Revered Vessels: Custom and Innovation in Harari Basketry and Hybrid Basketry: Interweaving Digital Practice within Contemporary Craft. Students will be introduced to Native North American basket weaving and the ancient baskets of both Egypt and Israel to bring an understanding of the contemporary craft through its historical origins. Artists such as Hayakawa Shokosai, the Campana Brothers, and Ruth Asawa will be a point of reference for the class as a way to connect their own conceptual framework to this traditionally utilitarian craft.
Students should expect to produce a variety of technique-based samples as well as a midterm and a final culminating project. This course requires an artist presentation and assigned readings. Students will reflect on the readings with written responses to connect contemporary works with historical craft.
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Class Number
1407
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Art/Design and Politics
Location
Sharp 902
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| Knitworks: Sustainability & Community |
3045 (002) |
Kristin Mariani |
Tues
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course teaches students hand knitting with an emphasis on sustainable materials and practices. Themes of waste, re-use, recycling, and the redesign of pliable materials will serve as foundational concepts around which students will center their making. Students will learn hand knitting techniques, how to read and write knit and pattern languages, steeking, unraveling existing knits, rehanging yarn to reclaim fiber, needle felting for knits, crochet, crewel work, and hand-stitching techniques.
Historic and contemporary knits will be encountered through visits to SAIC¿s Textile Resource Center and the Art Institute of Chicago¿s Textile collection. Artists presented in relation to public action, community building, and sustainable studio practices include the works of Magda Sayeg, Ernesto Neto, Wells Chandler, Jesse Harrod, and Orly Genger. Class discussions will address texts by Alden Wicker and Rebecca Burgess, and consider local and global community fiber/textiles programs in relation to environmentalism.
Assignments include readings, media viewing, discussions, explorations of knit stitches, and midterm and final studio assignments. Students will use existing and alternative raw goods and pliable materials, re-engineering them to create a range of project outcomes including 2-D and 3-D works, installations, performances and public actions.
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Class Number
2377
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Art/Design and Politics, Community & Social Engagement, Sustainable Design
Location
Sharp 902
|
| HARDCORE Repeat |
3106 (001) |
Christine Tarkowski |
Wed
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course examines theoretical notions of repetition in relation to ornament and image redundancy, putting those ideas into practice through studio practice. Students will consider the copy in relation to authenticity, and the ways reproduction can supplant¿or complicate¿the idea of an 'original.' A central focus of the course is repeat pattern production within the context of fine and applied art, with outcomes including design, sculpture, installation, and wall-based work.
Students will learn the mechanical aspects of building repeat patterns using both analog and digital methods. Screen printing on fabric and other pliable substrates will serve as the primary form of output. The course builds on and advances students' existing screen printing knowledge, introducing advanced techniques such as multi-color and CMYK printing, digital tools as a preparatory step for screen printing, and printing on fabric, paper, and alternative materials. Assignments, critiques, lectures, technical demonstrations, and readings will guide students through the course content. Students are encouraged to consider the context of their production in relation to high and low forms of culture.
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Class Number
2255
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Digital Imaging
Location
Sharp 905
|
| Drawn to Print |
3116 (001) |
Nia Easley |
Fri
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
A drawing is created whenever an object in motion touches the surface of another, leaving behind evidence of that encounter. Students will generate images by examining a range of traditional and contemporary drawing techniques, with an emphasis on analog processes and material exploration. Whether one's style is gestural and improvisational or systematic and detail-oriented, drawing serves as a device for accessing ideas and expanding conceptual vocabulary.
Printmaking then becomes an extension of the drawing process, adding richness of surface, color, texture, and layering. A priority is placed on examining the physical relationship between drawing and printing, with a focus on direct printing techniques such as monoprinting, screen-printing, and heat transfers, alongside hand-painting and collage. Strong emphasis will be placed on developing a personal, innovative visual language and on challenging conventional notions of scale, site, and material.
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Class Number
1397
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 905
|
| Soft Logic |
3118 (001) |
Nelly Agassi |
Thurs
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This course focuses on the concept of softness. Students will develop projects framed by readings on affect, intimacy, radical softness, touch, and soft identities, teasing out what it means to be 'soft.' Students will be introduced to a range of hand-manipulated and machine techniques¿including reverse needle felting, latch hooking, tucking, stabilizing, boning, armature building, fabric heat manipulation, natural dyeing, flocking, and fringe crocheting. Students are encouraged to experiment with texture and form using these methods.
Two experimentation samples will be required to manifest these conceptual underpinnings through a variety of techniques. Sampling acts as a playful guide leading to two major projects, each accompanied by a written statement. This course also requires artist and reading presentations. Readings may include Sara Ahmed's 'Happy Objects,' Alexander Theroux's 'Soft Balm, Soft Menace,' and Sianne Ngai's 'The Cuteness of the Avant-Garde.'
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Class Number
1398
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Costume Design
Location
Sharp 1014
|
| FIBER: How to be an Artist at Night |
3917 (001) |
Jess Atieno Ounga |
Tues
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This professional practice course that focuses on preparing for all things life after school. As scaffolding throughout the course we will explore the text, How to be an artist at night by Raqs media collective to explore a range of questions and themes in art practice at the intersection of contemporary life. What constitutes an education for the real world? How do we grow a community that supports and is in conversation with our work? What are the professional skills we need to sustain our practice outside the studio? How do we write about, talk about and present our work? What are the practices of self care we can cultivate to fuel our creativity?
Other readings will include teaching to transgress- Bell Hooks, The Artist's Guide: How to make a living doing what you love- Jackie Battenfield, The Social Production of Art- Janet Wolff. We will also watch and respond to short films. Course work will vary but will typically include writing an artist statement, bio and exhibition proposal.
Prerequisites
Prerequisite: Sophomore seminar course
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Class Number
1586
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Exhibition and Curatorial Studies, Public Space, Site, Landscape, Social Media and the Web
Location
MacLean 301
|
| FIBER: Sustainable Practice/Sustainable Life |
3918 (001) |
Stacia Laura Yeapanis |
Fri
12:15 PM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This professional practice seminar emphasizes sustainability (emotional, economic, and environmental) as key for living artists. Each student will develop a sustainable work flow for organizing opportunities, documenting expenses, and applying for exhibitions, grants and residencies. Emphasis will be placed on sustainable material sourcing, both for environmental concerns and our own economic needs. Discussions and readings will revolve around how to keep making art, even when life gets in the way. Students will learn practical skills that serve their work (tweaking artist statements for various opportunities, developing and maintaining a website, ongoing research ) along with stress-management techniques (organized work flow, time-management, knowing when to take a break and how to rest more effectively, peer-to-peer support, dealing with rejection). This course will address the myriad ways studio artists get paid outside the commercial gallery system via recorded interviews with living artists. Readings include 'Art and Fear' (David Bayles and Ted Orlando) and 'Artists Gotta Eat and Other Things We Forget to Remember' by Tempesst Hazel. Past Visiting Artists have included Selina Trepp, who uses and reuses the material in her studio, and Sadie Woods, who is an artist, curator and DJ. Similar Visiting Artists will be chosen in future semesters. Each student will create a personal opportunities database, create a submission for the opportunity of their choice, write an artist statement, bio and CV, build a portfolio website, give an artist talk and develop a sustainable plan for sourcing materials and managing stress.
Prerequisites
Prerequisite: Sophomore seminar course
|
Class Number
1580
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Area of Study
Exhibition and Curatorial Studies, Public Space, Site, Landscape, Social Media and the Web
Location
MacLean 301
|
| Advanced Woven Structure |
4003 (001) |
Kira Dominguez Hultgren |
Thurs
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In Person
|
|
Description
This intensive studio course will focus on weaving and its relation to the evolving landscapes of contemporary art, cultural production, and identity. Working with multi-harness floor looms, students will engage rigorous conceptual questions in abstraction, figuration, sculptural form, spatial intervention, performative action, technology, and language to develop a mature body of woven work. Vocabulary will be expanded through the study of complex woven constructions, digital drafting, and dye processes. Feminist, queer, and decolonial approaches to weaving will be introduced and encouraged. Designed for advanced students, this course engenders an interdisciplinary weaving practice by blurring the boundaries between fiber, critical craft, painting, material culture, sculpture, textile history, architecture, and technology studies.
Students will consider the history and the future of the field through a varying roster of artists including significant figures such as Sheila Hicks, Lenore Tawney, Magdalena Abakanowicz, and Olga de Amaral alongside contemporary generations such as Sonya Clark, Miguel Arzabe, Diedrick Brackens, Erin M. Riley, Josh Faught, Samantha Bittman, and Cecilia Vicuña. This work will be supported by texts that typically include Anni Albers, Legacy Russel, T'ai Smith, Julia Bryan-Wilson, and César Paternosto.
Critical discussion of core texts and individualized research will occur in tandem with weekly studio activity. Students will produce a series of studies and 2 - 4 fully realized woven works that will be developed through in-process discussions and presented in major critique settings. This course facilitates self-directed investigation of concept and technique in hand weaving.
Prerequisites
FIBER 2002 or Junior & above
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Class Number
1393
|
Credits
3
|
Department
Fiber and Material Studies
Location
Sharp 1011
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