Jean Shin

The Fiber Department hosted a lecture by Jean Shin on November 14. She also met one on one for critiques with all of the Fiber students. Jean was a dynamic and energetic speaker. Her lecture was direct and clear about her process and the ways her projects grow and change.

Work from recent critiques

Peter Clouse

Detail of Peter Clouse weaving.

 Xiao Han Zhao.

 Emily Staugaitis

 Emily Staugaitis.

Elaine Kinnaird

Andrea Allonge

Kate Bonansinga was here!

Visitors to the department are an important part of the program in the Fiber Department. They present the opportunity for the students to gain insights about their work from someone who has not seen daily development of the work and bring new ideas to the department discussion. Each year we have approximately 5 visiting artists/critics. A typical visit includes a public lecture about his or her work and one-on-one meetings with students in the department. On occasion we share a guest with another department or the Critical Studies program.
Our most recent visiting critic was Kate Bonansinga, Director of the School of Art at the University of Cincinnati, the founding Director of the Rubin Center at the University of Texas, El Paso, and an independent curator. Through the Critical Studies Program Kate presented a seminar that explored the linkage between writing and making. She presented a lecture about how art functions in the cultural contexts of smaller regional cities like Cincinnati and El Paso and she met with all of the students in the Fiber Department.

Fiber takes Toronto

Last week most of the Fiber Department traveled to Toronto for 4 days.  We started with a very busy day seeing the Ai Weiwei and David Bowie is exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario, followed by a discussion with Sarah Quinton at the Textile Museum of Canada, and then a tour through Killjoy's Kastle, a haunted house by Allyson Mitchell.

 A great quote in a show at the Art Gallery of Ontario

The wall of children's names at the Ai Weiwei exhibition.

The crabs at Ai Weiwei.

 Waiting for our tour guide / Women's Studies professor at Killjoy's Kastle.

 The goddess watching over us at Killjoy's Kastle.

The Jolly Goods playing in Killjoy's Kastle.

On the second day we went to the Bata Shoe Museum, The Power Plant, and Harbor Front Studios.

In addition to the beaded moccasins above, there was an interesting show of sneakers. We also stopped by the Ai Weiwei bicycle sculpture in downtown Toronto.

On the final day we were honored to have a studio visit with artist Ed Pien. He generously spoke about his process and projects.  Ed is in the photo below on the left talking to some of the group.

 Elizabeth next to one of Ed's paper cut pieces.

And we saw the exhibition F*d Up at the Art Gallery of Mississauga. The show included the work of Ed Pien, Anne Wilson, Kai Chan, and several others. Department travel is an important part of the program. It triggers many great discussions, provides information about artists and exhibition opportunities and helps us understand how artists fit into different communities.

Back to the blog

After a few years off I am going to get back to posting on this blog.
The school year is about 5 weeks old and very busy already. The Fiber Department started the year off with a lecture by Surabhi Ghosh, Cranbrook Fiber alum and the Head of the fiber Department at the University of Oregon. She generously spoke about her recent work, time in a residency at Ox-Bow, and her teaching. Following her lecture we settled into studio work, seminar discussions based on readings from The Textile Reader, and critiques. There is a lot of energy in the studios and discussions and critiques have been very active and interesting. The department also went on a tour of the Collections Wing of the Cranbrook Art Museum and Saarinen House.
In future posts I will try to hit the highlights of the missing past couple of years as well as share more about our department activities.

Graduation and School's out...

School wrapped up with thesis documents from the eight Fiber students being turned in to the library on May 3 and a huge clean-up in the department May 3-5. On May 6 the Academy hosted Academy Awards night, a ceremony that recognizes the efforts of all of the students with awards being announced for soon to be second year students and the graduating students. Friday May 7 brought commencement ceremonies. When the weather is pleasant we have the ceremony in the Greek Theater, an outdoor theater on campus. This year the weather was not as helpful as past years so we held the ceremony in Christchurch Cranbrook. You can see a bit of the interior in the lower picture of Ema Ishii and me, as well as a bit of the exterior behind Ema, Casey Droege, me, Tricia Stackle, and Rosemary Dardick in the picture above.



Now school is out and there is some construction going on in the New Studios Building as well as all over the grounds. Best wishes to all of the graduates. It has been an honor working with you. See everyone else next year.

Harmony Hammond

Fiber and Sculpture co-hosted a public lecture and critiques with Harmony Hammond, artist, writer, critic, and educator. Her very informative lecture addressed her work in sculpture and painting spanning her career. Eight fiber students met with her for individual critiques and were very energized by her insights and generosity.


Above, Ashley Allen Short and Harmony Hammond discuss Ashley's painting. Below, Ema Ishii and Harmony discuss Ema's installation.