Fiber and Material Studies

The Department of Fiber and Material Studies is uniquely positioned to investigate the relationship among concept, materiality, and process in contemporary art. While acknowledging historical traditions and technical vocabulary, the Department of Fiber and Material Studies at the School encourages an interdisciplinary approach. Graduate students use a broad range of media and methods with emphasis on the integration of the textile traditions, including hand construction, loom-woven structures, painted and printed fabrics, embellishment, and felt-making, within a broad contemporary art and cultural dialogue.

Faculty members specialize in such areas as terrains of deconstruction, pattern, personal and autobiographical imagery, sculptural forms, and installations. A healthy exchange of theoretical and aesthetic concepts, as well as experimentation and research, characterize the Department of Fiber and Material Studies.

The department regularly hosts a vital series of lectures, conversations, projects, and exhibitions. The fall 2002 lecture series focused on the relationship between text and textile — the conceptual and formal developments of line, language, and cloth with visiting artists Cecilia Vicuña, Elana Herzog, Jane Lackey, and critic Jenni Sorkin. Past contemporary visiting artists, curators, critics, and historians have included Ingrid Bachmann, Susie Brandt, Lou Cabeen, Christo, Collette, Anne Ferrer, Alison Ferris, Regina Frank, Anthony Gormley, Ann Hamilton, Jim Hodges, Robert Irwin, Mary Jane Jacob, Janis Jefferies, John McQueen, Margo Mensing, David Rokeby, Cynthia Schira, Thomas Lanigan Schmidt, Joyce Scott, Kiki Smith, Lenore Tawney, Michael Tracy, and Erwin Wurm. Chicago’s extensive fiber resources include a comprehensive collection of Western textiles in the Art Institute museum’s Department of Textiles, indigenous ethnic textiles at the Field Museum, contemporary textiles offered at the nearby Merchandise Mart and Apparel Center, and numerous local galleries. These are important resources — and a peerless context — for graduate students of fiber and material studies.

The Ceramics, Fiber and Material Studies, and Sculpture departments are developing joint collaborative transdisciplinary paths of study in sculptural practices.

Equipment and facilities include:

Mixed-media studio space; industrial and portable sewing machines; knitting machines; floor looms (four to sixteen harness); AVL computer looms; fully equipped dye and printing facility; printing tables; computer lab; access to felt-making facilities; lecture/critique space; individual studios.