This space offers a deeper look into the research, frameworks, and lived experience behind my fiber arts practice. Rooted in community-based learning, material storytelling, and intergenerational connection, my work sits at the intersection of education, creative engagement, and fiber traditions. From developing my Fiber Arts Model of Engagement (FAME) to leading workshops and reflecting on my artist practice, this page serves as an evolving archive of my methods, findings, and pedagogical philosophy.

Table of Contents

Fiber Arts Model of Engagement (FAME)

About FAME:

The Fiber Arts Model of Engagement (FAME) is a framework I’ve developed as part of my graduate thesis to guide community-based fiber arts workshops with high school students and beyond. FAME stands for:

• Cultural Authenticity – Honoring lineage, heritage, and lived experience in craft.
  
  

• Intergenerational Transparency – Uplifting the voices and knowledge passed through family, elders, and memory.
  
  

• Innovative Heritage – Bridging traditional techniques with contemporary interpretation and digital archiving.
  
  

FAME is both a philosophy and pedagogical tool, applied in real-time workshops, curriculum design, and community storytelling. It is being developed as a written guide and visual toolkit for educators and makers alike.

“Arts-based research creates opportunities for participants to express nuanced experiences that might be difficult to communicate through words alone.” — Patricia Leavy

Ongoing Projects:

• Case Study: Crochet and storytelling workshops at Phoenix STEM Military Academy
  
  

• Community Lab: “Roses for Freedom” project at Kuumba Lynx, Westside Justice Center
  
  

• Adult Threads: A multi-generational fiber archive project in progress
  
  

• Coming Soon: FAME downloadable guide and visual resource

Teaching & Facilitation Experience

Approach to Teaching:
My facilitation style is rooted in mutual respect, hands-on inquiry, and making space for multiple forms of knowledge—including storytelling, emotion, repetition, and slowness. I work to decenter hierarchical models and lean into collective learning. I draw from craftivism, arts-based research, and culturally responsive pedagogy to build safe, generative, and personally meaningful environments.

Experience Highlights:

• Phoenix STEM Military Academy – High school visual art educator; AP 2D Design & Yearbook
  
  

• Kuumba Lynx (Chicago) – Crochet and fiber arts summer program instructor
  
  

• Chicago Public Schools – Substitute teaching across K–12, including bilingual/immersion schools
  
  

• Past Roles – Color guard coach, anime/art club sponsor, ceramics studio assistant, military instructor (USAF)
  
  

Topics I’ve Facilitated:

• Crochet for healing and memory
  
  

• Visual journaling & zines
  
  

• Fiber storytelling and digital archives
  
  

• Intergenerational arts sharing
  
  

• Real-world applications of design in higher ed and military careers
  
  

Artist Practice

Materials & Methods:
I’m a mixed-media artist working primarily with crochet, found textiles, hand embroidery, and photographic memory objects. My work often reclaims “women’s work” as a powerful medium for resistance, mourning, love, and transformation.

Themes I Explore:

• Memory and material inheritance
  
  

• Craft as care
  
  

• Ghost stories and speculative feminism
  
  

• Fiber labor and military discipline
  
  

• Grief, ritual, and ancestor connection
  
  

Recent Work:

• Crochet star blanket and scrunchie set for a friend and their baby.
  
  

• Archiving family fiber pieces through Google Sheets & Forms
  
  

• Quilting and documentation of family heirlooms
  
  

• Visual crochet maps connecting family trees and fiber traditions

Academic & Arts-Based Research

Selected Readings that Influence My Work:

• Craftivism by Betsy Greer
  
  

• Method Meets Art by Patricia Leavy
  
  

• The Subversive Stitch by Rozsika Parker
  
  

• Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor by Lynda Barry
  
  

• A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway
  
  

• Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism & Black Meme
  
  

Methodologies I Practice:

• Arts-Based Research (ABR)
  
  

• Speculative ethnography
  
  

• Feminist archival studies
  
  

• Embodied knowledge & slow pedagogy
  
  

• Practice-as-research