TEXTILE TALK: Changing Course: A Panel of Career Paths, presented by Surface Design Association

Описание: As we progress further into our new normal, more of us are deciding to pivot our professional lives into new fields. Join us as we meet with three SDA members who came to fiber and textile work after starting their careers in interior design, social work, copy editing, and architecture. Naomi S. Velasquez contemplates human adaptability, influences, and relationships through her quilting and book arts. Drew McKevitt explores materiality, contradiction, metaphor, and intuition through knitted forms and performance art. Aaron Fein utilizes machine embroidery to explore light, movement, and illusion.

Portions of this program were re-recorded due to technical issues.

Drew McKevitt
Drew McKevitt is a textile designer / artist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and currently living in Petawawa, Ontario. She received a bachelor's degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Concordia University and spent many years working as the managing editor of a poetry magazine in Montreal. She recently received a master's degree in Textile Design from Philadelphia University. Specializing in knitted textiles, her interests include fashion, performance textiles, and textile art. She is drawn to unusual textures, intricate structures, and organic shapes. Her work explores materiality, contradiction, metaphor, and intuition.

Naomi S. Velasquez
Naomi S. Velasquez is an award-winning contemporary textile and book artist. Naomi holds an M.F.A. from the University of North Texas in Studio Art, Fibers. Naomi’s work was included in Quilt National 2021 and 2011 and received the "Most Innovative Use of the Medium Award" in 2011. Naomi is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Art at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho. She is the coordinator for the Fiber Media and Papermaking areas. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections including the Cynthia Sears Collection, University of Denver Library, Emory University Library, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and the University of North Texas Special Collection.

Aaron Fein
Originally trained as both sculptor and architect, I found my way to fabric and thread as a way of healing in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. After a decade stitching my monumental ‘White Flags’ project – 193 national flags rendered entirely in white thread on white fabric – I turned my attention exclusively to digital embroidery. Exploring the medium with an almost scientific rigor, I developed and refined a unique method of creating form by manipulating light over differently hatched angles of embroidered thread. These articulated patterns of light-activated by a viewer’s motion – provide the foundation upon which I now draw, collage, paint, and even sculpt, three-dimensional architectural experiences.
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Textile Talks features weekly presentations and panel discussions from the International Quilt Museum, the Modern Quilt Guild, Quilt Alliance, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, Studio Art Quilt Associates and Surface Design Association. The programs are held online at 2 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific) each Wednesday. More info at https://www.saqa.com/textiletalks
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Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt: "a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure."

Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA now has over 4,000 members: artists, teachers, collectors, gallery owners, museum curators, and corporate sponsors. With access to our museum-quality exhibition program, SAQA members challenge the boundaries of art and change perceptions about contemporary fiber art.

As a part of SAQA’s dynamic creative community, members can take their artwork and career to the next level. We offer a wide range of exclusive resources, mentorship programs, and professional opportunities.

In addition, SAQA documents the art quilt movement – our publications include full-color exhibition catalogs, the Art Quilt Quarterly magazine, and our new book, Art Quilts Unfolding: 50 Years of Innovation.