Textile Society of America 15th Biennial Symposium

Textile Society of America Symposium 2016

The opening reception was held at the SCAD Museum of Art scad.edu/museum

On a balmy evening, 400 delegates from 23 different countries gathered on the podium between the oldest surviving antebellum railroad depot in the US and the modern building of the art museum.

After a time of nibbling delicious southern canapes, sipping cool drinks, listening to the band, talking with old and new friends, and paying attention during the speeches of welcome and thanks, we moved into the exhibition spaces.

Ebony G. Patterson, 'of 72 project,' digital prints on embellished bandanas, 2012

'What happens when 72 die and no one knows who they are? 

Who were these men and this woman?

Ebony wanted to make people aware of a 2010 massacre of 72 men (and 1 woman) at the Tivoli gardens in Jamaica. It is an event that has received very little attention from the media, has been ignored by Jamacia's usually vocal music scene and has had little acknowledgement governement. By making a mixed media portrait of every victim and hanging them all together on a clothesline the sheer number has great impact and the viewer is forced to realise these silenced people do matter.

Subodh Gupta, 'Known Stranger,' mixed media, 2014

This fabulous installation is an endlessly fascinating collection of well-used cooking pots and containers. The setting sun reaching through blinds to spot illuminate the work only added to its curiosity. People just walked around and around looking up and smiling.

This was just one of many exhibitions available for delegates to enjoy throughout the week. There was a well-organised gallery-hop one evening.

The daytime hours were mostly spent listening to the presentation of research papers on the theme "Crosscurrents: Land, Labor and the Port."

3 or 4 papers were presented in each session  X  5 concurrent sessions at any one time X 8 periods of concurrent sessions over 3 days = 140 papers presented. Phew, no wonder my head felt full towards the last day. The last day was spent attending roundtable discussions, films, videos, a merchants market. poster session, a closing plenary session and finally an awards banquet dinner. Those who still wanted more could join the post-symposium workshops and tours.

All in all an amazing event.

The next symposium will be in Vancouver in 2018. I can hardly wait.

SCAD Fiber Department Tour continues

The Sewing Machine Studio

Students learn to work with electronic, digitised machines...

...and old-school machines for sewing, knitting, embroidery and serging.

The Weaving Studio

I have very limited knowledge on looms but could see the room was filled with many different types - small and large. The largest one in the back is the only such machine in North America - having come from Scandinavia. 

The Surface Design Studio

I have never seen a cleaner surface design room. It was simple and perfectly set up. The above image shows only one side of one of the rooms.

The screen cleaning set up is quite unique. They have worked within the limits of an old building basement to come up with a simple solution.

The SCAD tour was an exciting start to the Textile Society of America's Symposium 2016.

Textile Society of America Symposium 2016

Textile Society of America Symposium 2016

The Textile Society of America 15th biennial symposium was held in Savannah Georgia in 2016.

The co-hosts were the Savannah College of Art and Design and Art Rise Savannah.

Ingrid lincoln and I attended the symposium this year.

We caught one of the pre-symposium tours opting to have a group of enthusiastic, knowledgeable students take us on a tour of their university - Savannah College of Art and Design.

The Savannah campus is spread over 80 buildings most of them restored historic buildings in old downtown Savanah, all within walking distance of each other.

The first stop on the tour was the student centre. The beautiful building was filled with art. See the fireplace above.

Pencil drawings on planks of wood.

Next Stop: The Fibers Department, one of 42 disciplines offered.

The entrance art installation - light shining through fibres trapped between acrylic panels on the walls and ceiling.

The dyeing studio.

It looks small but that is because the class sizes are small and only a few students would work in here at any one time. All of the studios are open 24 hours, 7 days a week so students are free to work as their muse strikes or as close to deadlines as they like to.

Induction heating surfaces, steamers and pressurised vat.

SCAD offers 3 fibers degrees - B.F.A., M.A., M.F.A. link here.

Backyard Project: Cedar Deer Fence

There is a temporary, 8-foot high, wire, deer fence between the house and the Green Shed.

I was excited to see Josh and Taylor with their tape measure out over by the temporary deer fence.

Deer Fence Discussion Time

Taylor has dug the post holes. 

Digging anywhere on the construction site is such a hard job because there are so many buried angular rocks left over from blasting the foundations for the house.

It is getting dark not long after the construction crew has finished for the day. There is no daylight time left for me to go out and garden after they have gone. Winter is coming.

Another delivery - materials for the 8-foot high, permanent, cedar, deer fence.

Josh checks off the items: sono tube to support the wet concrete, cement for the footings, cedar planks for the fence.

Taylor mixed the cement then shovelled it into the sono tubes.

Now to wait for the cement to set.

Backyard Project: Attaching the Propagation Room to the House

How to attach another room to a house.

The stringers with support brackets for the joists.

It was a lot of work to take the old stringers off the side of the house then replace the various barriers and sealers.

The new stringer in place.

I don't know what those sticking out bits of wood are called but the first joist is nailed to them.

And there it is - the ceiling for the propagation room.

The roofing team came while I was away so I missed seeing the torched-on roof being put on. A shame because they work with flames to melt the rolls of bitumen in place. It is the same sort of roof as on the studio.

Backyard Project - Propagation Room Walls

The Plan

Jonathan Aitken, Aitken Design, adesign@telus.net, is the architect.

This project fits with his speciality - designing the space between the inside and the outside. During his student days, he focused on researching Asian design, particularly Japanese and Chinese.

Those buried footings now have metal brackets bolted to them.

A delivery - beautiful cedar posts. There will be no need to paint or finish this wood. Once the posts are installed they will age gracefully and last a long time in this seasonal rainforest climate.

The posts are in place.

The size matches the ones used in the house design.

After the construction crew has left for the day I am enjoying walking around the 'room' visualising how it will look, and work.

Backyard Project - Making and Pouring Concrete

This Arbutus overlooks all of the activity in the backyard.

This year it has a magnificent crop of berries - they are plentiful and large. 

The tree is alive with birds feasting.

Josh gets the power tools ready for the day's work.

I think the blue one is a generator and the one with wheels will drive the cement mixer.

A saw with its own fancy cutting table.

The cement mixer is placed beside the bags of cement that got delivered the day before.

The concrete has been made and put in place.

Not sure what Josh is doing with those boards.

The concrete is being levelled off then left to set.

All that work for this. 

The wooden formwork has been removed and the holes filled in. 

All that shows is the part the post will be attached to.

There must be another delivery coming soon.

Backyard Project vs. Studio Work

You might think with all of my postings about the Backyard Project that not much is going on in my studio. 

Here are some pics to show that I am working in my studio...

...until there is action outside.

Delivery of the cement.

This is an impressive little 3-wheeled forklift.

It was easily able to manoeuvre along the paths to drop off its load conveniently close to the job site.

These bags of cement will be mixed to make the concrete footings for the propagation room.

I have checked everything out. Now I can go back inside my studio to the work in hand.

The first school report I ever got had the comment "Lesley is easily distracted." 

As a 5-year old I had to ask my mother what that meant. 

Her answer, "If someone came to the door of the classroom you would look up." 

My reply, "Well how would I know who came to the door?" 

I guess that teacher nailed it, all those years ago.

Backyard Project: Propagation Room Footings

Backyard Project - Phase 3

Construction begins with the removal of a deck.

This is where the propagation room is to be built.

Taylor lifts the pavers and digs holes for footings

New footings will be poured either side of the old ones that don't need to be removed.

Framing up for the new footings. 

The crew is recycling wood from the old deck to make the framing.

The pavers are stacked up until they will be relaid.

View from above. The framework is finished and ready for the concrete.

It is exciting to see the next phase of the Backyard Project underway.