Textile-Based Workshops
2018–2022
I have led workshops and small participatory projects using textiles as a primary medium since 2015. From 2018-2022 I also co-led many backpatch, banner, quilt, and wearable making workshops as part of my collaboration Feral Fabric with artist Amanda Walters.
My site-specific workshops have been held in California with JTLab and High Desert Test Sites, and I have hosted workshops in Łódż, Poland and in Berlin.
Feral Fabric has led workshops in traditional art spaces such as Berkeley Art Museum, in Bay Area community arts organizations including NIAD Art Center and Southern Exposure, and as pop-up street events in support of gay pride, workers’ rights, and immigration reform.
The following is a selection of workshop-based projects
We Can Be Heroes:
A Cape Making Workshop in Berlin
In dressing up we create and embody a character of our choosing– we can celebrate our community, show a bit of our hidden self, or take on the identity of a superhero. festival’s theme of play as a metaphor for social life, rules, and roles
2023
This workshop was held in Berlin as part of the public art festival 48Hrs Neukölln, on the festival’s theme of play as a metaphor for social life, rules, and roles. I provided sewing tools, fabrics, and an exploratory space for participants to play with identity by making and wearing capes and creative garments. Participants experimented with, altered, and combined these materials into capes, then wore their creations out into the city.
The Trzepak
A workshop-based project about community, place, and imagination in Łódż, Poland.
2023
As part of this mutli-faceted project, a diverse group of participants created fabric elements which were used to create fifteen large floor cushions. These were freely used by the community as extra seating and for lounging in the central courtyard, and reflected their makers as well as Polish folk art and craft traditions.
See more about this project >
Story Quilts with Unhoused Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area
2019-2022
This Feral Fabric project archived participants’ individual narratives and stories of temporary communities to gain visibility for housing rights in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. In workshops, people experiencing homelessness made drawings and crafted textile panels to self-represent, tell the story of temporary community, or process their experience.
See more about this project >
Community Snake Banner and The Workshop at Berkeley Art Center
2020
In 2020, Berkeley Art Center commissioned Feral Fabric to lead a participatory project. Because of covid, Feral Fabric distributed and mailed craft kits to participants, then led a virtual workshop. Participants created elements that were combined into the shape of a snake: a symbol of regeneration.
The finished 30’ long banner was exhibited outside the Art Center, The accompanying video The Workshop was shown through a window.
This project was commissioned by Berkeley Art Center.
See more on the BAC website > Check out The Workshop video >
Back Patch Workshops : Berkeley Art Museum
2018-2021
Feral Fabric led Back Patch workshops twice in Berkeley Art Museum – initially in person in 2018 and then virtually through Zoom in 2021. Feral Fabric led back patch workshops both virtually and in person hosted by art organizations including NIAD Art Center, Southern Exposure, and Scrap Creative Reuse as well as Figment Art Center.
Read about the first Back Patch Workshop at Berkeley Art Museum >
Banner Workshop at Oakland Pride Parade
2018
Early on, Feral Fabric led free workshops as Pop-up and street events. This included a banner-making workshop at the Oakland Pride Parade and in support of workers’ rights at May Day. Through Sunday Streets, Feral Fabric also led a series of textile-based workshops focused on community pride in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, Mission, and Western Addition neighborhoods.
Site-Specific Work in the High Desert
2015-2021
I have led site-specific, textile-based workshops in the desert, mostly with High Desert Test Sites and JTLab in the desert outside Joshua Tree, California. These workshops have included a Story Quilt, A Community Banner, Being There (a work about presence), and two wind and landscape-responsive works.
See some of these projects >
Photo Gallery
1-4 Berkeley Art Museum
5-9 Pop-up and Street Workshops
10 Encounters Participatory Weekend
11 NIAD Art Center
12 Figment Art Festival
13-15 The Trepak
16 Wind Blanket
17-18 We Can Be Hoeroes
19-20 Screenshots from Virtual Workshops
5-9 Pop-up and Street Workshops
10 Encounters Participatory Weekend
11 NIAD Art Center
12 Figment Art Festival
13-15 The Trepak
16 Wind Blanket
17-18 We Can Be Hoeroes
19-20 Screenshots from Virtual Workshops