A dozen visiting artists, students, and alumni sat at looms and spinning wheels, humming away on projects in Hopkins Center for the Arts’ Garage 130.
It was afternoon, open studio time at Text+Textile+Technology workshop, held Feb. 16 to 20, and anyone could stop by to talk with the artists and try their hands at spinning and weaving. Several passersby ventured in, usually after a few peeks through the open door.
“It’s been taking people about three times before they come in,” said organizer Hayri Dortdivanlioglu, a postdoctoral fellow at the Society of Fellows, as he stood in the spacious studio filled with looms and a comfortable jumble of yarn, coffee cups, ribbons, and reeds.
Some visitors, like Madeline Chia ’26, were immediately hooked. A studio art major, she had heard about the event through a class with Tricia Treacy, chair of the Department of Studio Art and one of the panelists.
“I came the first day and it was so cool, I’ve been here every day since,” Chia said, wrapping yellow and pink yarn around a small reed sculpture.
The interdisciplinary workshop, which grew out of a shorter version Dortdivanlioglu organized last year, included panels with award-winning artists and scholars, moderated by Jacqueline Wernimont, Distinguished Chair, Digital Humanities and Social Engagement, and Rebecca Biron, director of Leslie Center for the Humanities.
This year, the goal was “to explore how art can be related to broader questions about education, knowledge practices, and creative practices,” says Dortdivanlioglu, who holds a PhD in architecture and is affiliated with the studio art department. “It’s about questioning where material practices participate in academic knowledge production.”
Within architecture and many other disciplines, “the intellect has been privileged as the main authority and singular source of authorship, while manual labor is often treated as mere execution,” he says.
Similarly, craft—especially weaving—is often undervalued, dismissed as a repetitive, “gendered” practice, Dortdivanlioglu says. But looking at the history of craft as far back as the Hellenistic Period reveals that weaving “gives agency to women” economically, domestically, and socially.
Also, weaving is algorithmic, involving counting, calculating, and creating patterns, he says. “That’s the broader academic discussion: how material practices participate in knowledge production and how their value is recognized within academia.”
Throughout the week, participants shared meals and ideas—often working and talking late into the night, and made time to pass along their skills.
Chia, who is considering a career in architecture or interior design, had learned how to work with reeds during a demonstration by Boston-based artist Nathalie Miebach, and listened as each of the participants discussed their practices.
“I love having the opportunity to get to see the work of all of these different artists and their processes from the start,” she said.
Artwork from the workshop will be on display from March 27 to April 14 in the Hop’s Barrows Rotunda.
The workshop was part of the Leslie Center Seminars in Humanities and Technologies series and was co-sponsored by a dozen offices and programs throughout campus. A third iteration is planned for next year.
