Textile Art Studio Hosts An Open Studio On March 1

The Kent State University Textile Art Studio, located between the Lake and Olson residence halls on the Kent Campus, will hold an open studio on Friday, March 1, from 10 a.m. until noon. All are welcome to observe demonstrations of weaving, feltmaking, dyeing and netmaking, and to learn about the courses available in textile art.

The Textile Art Studio holds an open studio each semester to give students a glimpse of the possibilities in textiles. The event started as a way to introduce fashion school students to the textile program, and it continues to connect students learning about weaves in fashion fabrics to the tools used to create those weaves. The open studio also draws students from a variety of areas of study beyond fashion, as well as community members.

The Textile Art Studio is distinguished internationally in its ownership of two digital hand jacquard looms for student use.

"The design of the jacquard loom in 1806 — a tool used to produce complex figured/patterned cloth—very ingeniously employed the binary system of operation, which later became the model for the personal computer," says School of Art Professor Janice Lessman-Moss.

Work in the Textile Art Studio can include the use of high-tech equipment and computer-aided design and manufacturing, but artists also use basic hand techniques to create equally stunning pieces. Open studio attendees will see the variety of work created with the tools in the Textile Art Studio.

"Students might be surprised to see a weaving that contains an image of a hamburger, french fries, Wendy and Dave Thomas," Lessman-Moss says. "We — a team of textile art students and myself — did a commissioned weaving on one of our jacquard looms for Wendy's five or six years ago."

For more information about the Textile Art Studio, contact Lessman-Moss at jlessman@kent.edu or 330-672-2192.