"Ako Castuera is a painter, sculptor, and textile artist. For Realms (art exhibition at Giant Robot 2 LA), she has turned her focus to work on paper with a variety of media, primarily using watercolor and gouache. The works continue her ongoing interest in land, the life within it, and the life it sustains. "Suburban tracts sprawl over hills and are at once picturesque, parasitic, and fragile. They coexist with dinosaur like animal forms that suggest prehistoric life," she says. "Dinosaurs have always inspired awe and fed fantasies of the past. Their extinction forces contemplation of the future, of what's in store for the land, animals, and humans all." Ako studied at CCA, and is based in Los Angeles where she works as a writer/storyboard artist on the animated television show, Adventure Time."

"Given her sculptural installations collapse boundaries between art, craft, architecture and design by combining ceramics, textiles, furniture, found objects and lighting in the same space – it’s no wonder Upritchard felt a kinship with the Secessionist group when she was invited to exhibit at this prestigious institution. She also appreciated the fact that the Secession’s programme is chosen not by curators but by artists, which results in a fascinating and idiosyncratic programme of solo artist exhibitions."

More:
http://2009.nzatvenice.com/upritchard.php
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/francis_upritchard.htm?section_name=body_language
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOAL9Hcv6ME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26XRLF-0eM4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFiYWiImwYQ
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd3vvx_francis-upritchard-solo-show-at-kat_creation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6XfFmeIryQ
http://blip.tv/vernissagetv/francis-upritchard-solo-project-at-art-cologne-3566314

"These vesels, masks and sculptures utilize an old crafting technique in which rope or cord is coiled and stitched to forms bowls and baskets. The technique is itself based on the ancient method of making ceramic coiled pots as well as coiled basketry. The method explores ways of transforming a linear material into three-dimensional objects, an interest I have also studied in other materials such as yarn or plastic tubing. I also see the process as a form of analog 3D printing/prototyping performed by a sewing machine and with much less precision. In this way the "3D file" is in my head as I begin each piece and its formation happens by making certain adjustments to the work w"hile sewing. The process has its own limitations, largely determined by the sewing machine, and each piece takes on deformations and glitches that give it unique personality.
The studies use the raw 100% cotton braided cord, often called sash cord, and colored sewing thread…"

"Series of 8 maps embroidered on canvas with the same technique of the propaganda slogans realized on large fabric and used by the communist party during the seventies, which have been lately filled with white thread wool insertions. The 8 maps depict different Hutong areas in downtown Beijing, with a size of approximately one square kilometre each and a population of 30000; these areas have been isolated as autonomous towns within the big city. Since 2009 the carpets have been shown to the Hutong dwellers trough street public temporary events, hanging them up on ropes, wires and threads commonly used by local Beijing residents for their clothes to dry. "

"Life Places: Xskool will nurture understanding of city-region as a sponge of interacting ecologies: bioregions, foodsheds, watersheds, energy, mobility, food, people. Participants will learn about opportunities to combine restoration of wetlands, prairies, forests, & marshes w/ roads, bridges, houses, utilities & such new urban features as vegetation corridors, biomes, aquatic systems, bluebelts.

Living systems/Permaculture: One definition of permaculture is learning from nature how to meet daily life needs while reducing work & energy required. Xskool does not mean the abandonment of science or technology, & it will not forment a retreat from city back to nature. Cities will be the context for much of work done by tomorrow’s designers.

Food & Fibre: Global food systems are unsustainable in terms of enviro-impact, health, & social quality. Up to 25% of eco-impact of an ‘advanced’ city can be attributed to food systems. Similar constraints apply to flows of textiles…"

"While we often think of contemporary art and how our older students might respond to it, we are always pleased that our very youngest students are so enthusiastic about it, too. Nick Cave is one reason why.<br />
Cave, chair of the Department of Fashion Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, brings together his interests in fashion, performance and sculpture while making reference to African ceremonial costumes. Watch a video of Nick Cave, produced by United States Artists:"

"A lecture presentation by Nick Cave about his signature Soundsuits is followed by a conversation between Nick Cave and the Fowler Museum's director Marla C. Berns about the global resonances in the artist's work. <br />
This event was organized in conjunction with the exhibition "Nick Cave: Meet Me At The Center Of The Earth" which is on view at the Fowler Museum at UCLA January 10 - May 30, 2010."

"My work, clothing & fiber-based sculptures, collages, installations, & performances, explore use of textiles & clothing as conceptual modes of expression & pose fundamental questions about human condition in social & political realm…<br />
<br />
I believe that what happens in my studio & living life as an artist are the single most important things I bring to the classroom. Artists must design their own pathways, work through plateaus in their work & understand that they will find themselves humbled by the very process of art-making.<br />
I encourage my students to build their work w/ conviction, come face-to-face w/ truth of what they are attempting to create, & be open to experimentation.<br />
I have been lucky to have been mentored by talented artists who taught me to challenge myself & build level of confidence & trust in my creative judgment…I hope to provide my students w/ knowledge that their art making holds the possibility for acting as a vehicle for change on a larger, global scale."

"Over the last decade Mr. Cave has become known for making colorful, extravagant sculptures with this kind of double life: they can stand alone in galleries as visually compelling art objects, or they can be worn by dancers as vehicles for sound and movement. He calls them Soundsuits.<br />
<br />
Some Soundsuits, like a bouquet of metal toys and tops perched on top of a bodysuit made of crocheted hot pads, make a clanking commotion. Others, like the Soundsuits made of human hair (bought already dyed from a wholesaler in New York), tend to fall in the quiet, whispery range. All come to life in performance.<br />
<br />
Yerba Buena’s director, Kenneth Foster, who described his institution as “deeply multidisciplinary,” called Mr. Cave a natural choice for the center for that reason. “So many visual artists cross over in a way that the performance world would be aghast at,” he said. “Nick is one of the rare artists as strong in his secondary field as he is in his home art form.”"

"Green Matters is a utopian attempt to save a piece of the Baltic Sea by collecting green algae & exploring its possibilities as textile material. It is at the same time a commentary on the eutrophication problem. Eutrophication is a serious challenge for the Baltic Sea. The main culprit for this eco-catastrophe is claimed to be the agricultural waste that has been dumped into the Baltic Sea during generations. Now the Baltic Sea nations are waking up to the situation and taking up measures in order to change the situation. Collecting algae at certain moment of its cycle, releaves a bit the saturation process of nutrients in the sea.<br />
<br />
Mia collected and experimented with algae during the summer of 2010 at the The Archipelago Research Institute and on the island of Oura. She collected, processed, weaved rugs and documented the whole process on video. It shows how everyone can, at least in theory, start their own algae rug weaving with traditional Finnish handraft techniques."

"The cultural cocktail is the brainchild of Serge Mouangue, a Tokyo-based concept- car designer for Nissan, who joined forces with Kururi, a Tokyo-based kimono- maker, to produce the traditional Japanese attire in 18 African prints sourced in markets from Nigeria to Senegal.<br />
<br />
In the sedate confines of the Kururi store on Aoyama Dori, visitors are drawn to the bright outfits placed prominently in the window display."

"50 Different Minds is made from hand woven fiber optics. There has never been anything like it. It fuses traditional arts, digital electronics, interactivity, & data scraping w/ contemporary art…a new media canvas, woven from info, using fiber optic thread to carry info & data from internet in the form of light.<br />
<br />
Our inspiration came from idea that the Jacquard loom was the first computer using punch cards. We wanted to expand on this to marry traditional hand-woven crafts w/ info technologies. The element of the hand is a critical factor through all stages…from weaving on loom, to way electronics are integrated w/ fiber optic threads.<br />
<br />
The woven panels are attached to RGB LED’s to illuminate warp & weft. The LED’s are computer controlled & programmed to change color & pattern. In San Jose, the tapestry consists of 9 panels, measuring a total of 50x50 in. We are basing the patterns & colors on the color theory of painter Josef Albers & his wife Anni Albers’ work in textiles."

"artists who work in certain materials have, for decades, usually had trouble being taken seriously as fine artists. Glassblowers, ceramicists, textile workers, furniture makers &, until a few decades ago, photographers were all not usually welcome in fine art galleries or the museums that show fine art… unless it was a show dedicated to only ceramics, for example.

The Displaced Project by Raneen Nosh, of Citizen Designer, questions the emotional impact of displacement and explores the meaning of home for those who have been affected by damaging events such as natural disasters or political conflict. Nosh, a recent graduate from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, created a textile-based object that is "designed to suit the nomadic needs of a displaced person, while also serving to recreate a sense of domestic comfort to preserve personal and cultural memory."

via: http://www.purselipsquarejaw.org/2009/10/soft-maps-lived-spaces.php

How a sewing machine lockstitch works - ""most common mechanical stitch" on home machines; factory machines produce overlock stitch"

[Update 12 April 2012: Link broken, but see these http://www.ndc.co.jp/hara/books/en/2012/01/tokyo_fiber_09.html AND http://tokyofiber.com/ ]

"curated by the group do- knit- yourself the weaving of the fabric is the metaphor to express relations in narrative art, music, logic, society, science and to show the relationship between them. performance, photographs, installations, videos and objects from around 50 artists and designers including the campana brothers, tom dixon, marcel wanders, patricia urquiola and tokujin"

"EduWear aims at contributing to the reduction of inhibiting factors by employing an approach rooted both in education and in ICT development. The objective is to develop an educational low-cost construction kit for wearable and tangible interfaces.

"It's a service that let's you upload an image to a web site and the company prints the design as a pattern on 100% cotton fabric. Their customer service is great, and I think the fabric is reasonably-priced: it costs $18/yard, not counting shipping, and an individual 8x8-inch swatch is $5. The site is still in beta, so I had to request an invite to use Spoonflower, but a week after contacting them I was experimenting with patterns and ordering fabric."

"Sleeping Beauty pricks her finger on a spindle, the Lady of Shalott is entwined in thread, Silas Marner is enclosed in his loom - why have spinning and sewing so often been associated with danger and isolation? AS Byatt follows the tangled threads betwee

"I am a sculptor who shapes urban space...My work is often made of flexible, diaphanous materials that allow air currents to move and shape the sculptures with something I call wind choreography."

Eric Howeler and Meejin Yoon’s Hover project for New Orleans - see also: http://www.mystudio.us/

"The cushions are round shapes of fulled wool with a number of non-identical ‘sliced blobs’ in various colours."

"Music textile is a large tactile interface for playing electronic music."

"Photonic textiles open up a wide range of applications in the fields of ambient lighting, communication, and personal health care."

"The Institute For Figuring is an educational organization dedicated to enhancing the public understanding of figures and figuring techniques. The Institute’s interests are twofold: the manifestation of figures in the world around us and the figurative