Woven Together: Arts Education and the TEXTILE industry

The first four-year Fiber Arts program at the high school level in the United States, established in 2016 in South Carolina’s first secondary school for gifted students in the literary, visual, and performing arts--The Fine Arts Center in Greenville.

The brand-new program, as part of the Visual Arts Department, was underwritten by five textile companies in Upstate, SC – Sage Automotive Interiors, Glen Raven, Alice Manufacturing, Inman Mills & Springs Creative. The program seeks to develop designers, technicians, craftsmen, problem solvers, and artists in order to provide them with careers and opportunities with companies in the Upstate. To grow and flourish as a state and as an industry, there is an impetus to keep the brightest, creative and most innovative students in the state by building through education and exchanges.

The fiber program collaborates with the industry directly by working with companies like Glen Raven and Springs Creative to create textile design competitions with the fiber students - the winner of these competitions end up with cash awards or scholarship money, and walk away with an understanding of what it takes to work in the textile industry.

Additionally, the fiber program has established a paid, annual summer design internship at Sage Automotive Interiors. This internship is an immersive experience where they are a part of the design team, creating textile design ideas, giving feedback in design critiques, and visiting the production facilities to see these designs come to life.

CURRICULUM FOCUS

The objective of the Fiber Arts program is to introduce foundational fiber techniques and concepts, focusing on surface design and fabric construction techniques, craftsmanship and presentation skills, and to enable exploration of fiber as a material for artistic expression.

Students will demonstrate an understanding of surface design by learning wet processes such as direct printing techniques like block printing, screen printing and silk painting, along with resist dyeing techniques like, shibori, batik and discharge. During this surface design course, there will be a focus on developing repeating patterns for both digital and hand printing techniques.

Students will also build their understanding of surface design through embellishment with stitching, appliqué and embroidery in addition to various fabric-manipulation techniques.

During more advanced fiber courses, students will demonstrate an understanding of fabric formation and material construction by learning and implementing construction processes such as weaving, tapestry, braiding, basket making, lacemaking, quilting and felting techniques.

Additionally, there will be a focus on building a basic foundation in Fashion Design techniques such as sewing/clothing construction, draping, pattern making, illustration, with an emphasis on Wearable Sculpture.

Students will leave the program with a unified portfolio, a resume, a slideshow lecture on their work and studio processes, and experience in applying to scholarships, job opportunities, gallery exhibitions and student competitions.