Team

Kelly Valletta is an artist, experienced art educator and one of the founding team members of TAC. She attended Pratt Institute where she received her Masters in Art Education. She believes that the arts can play a vital role in community engagement, and thoroughly enjoys sharing her broad knowledge of art with people of all ages.

Kira has been involved with TAC since 2010. Beginning as an intern, she soon became a weaving instructor, and has been on the team since November 2016. She learned weaving in 2009 at Oberlin and hasn't stopped since. Her side business, By the Baker, is focused on weaving and sewing, making utilitarian pieces like pouches and tool rolls. She also hangs out with her daughter and dabbles in screen printing, sewing, mending, plant-tending, and cat snuggling. Her background is in teaching both kids and adults alike, creating displays for Anthropologie and tackling a wide variety of freelance creative opportunities.

Milo Godfrey (they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist and experienced arts educator. Milo's roots as a performer inspires the social-emotional approach that they offer in all learning spaces. Milo is committed to chipping away at accessibility barriers to art making, and facilitating arenas where folks feel empowered to learn cooperatively. Milo has been a member of TAC's community since summer 2022.

Karin Persan is a hands on textile designer, maker, and instructor working from her studio in Brooklyn, NYC. She received her BFA in 2001 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she focused in Fiber and Material Studies. Working under the name "Better Than Jam" she creates a line of clothing, accessories, and homegoods using her hand dyed and printed textiles. In early 2010 she opened a boutique of the same name, which grew and then recently downsized into the perfect size studio located in Bushwick. Find her traveling with her handmade wears and teaching at Textile Art Center, Brooklyn Brainery, Peters Valley School of Craft, Snow Farm, Museo de Textiles, and anywhere who will have her. She is passionate about hand printing and dyeing with nature.

Jules is an artist, lifelong learner, and proud generalist. Jules is drawn to visible handwork, and he loves layering materials in unexpected and intertextual ways. Their current focus is bringing together nerikomi techniques with traditional quilt block designs. Jules brings a love of craft, systems thinking, and curiosity to each day. At TAC, he thrives in the community-oriented space: chatting with students, swapping ideas, and keeping things running behind the scenes. Outside of TAC, he can be found in a hammock, curled up with a book, or making a batch of ice cream.

Romina Chuls (1991, Lima) is a researcher and multidisciplinary artist. She holds an M.A. in Arts Politics from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She also holds a Bachelor's in Fine Arts, with a major in painting, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru. Her work focuses on postcolonial gender issues in Peru and Latin America, topics related to androcentric memory, gender violence, and sexual and reproductive practices. In 2021 she was granted the AAUW International Fellowship to support her studies at NYU and her research on anti-colonial pregnancy interruption practices.

Al Dettmann (they/them) is an arts educator and mixed-media fiber artist whose work cultivates curiosity and connection. As an arts educator, Al’s greatest passion is to uplift youth voices by creating spaces for art accessibility and self-exploration. Al is on their latest journey creating wonders alongside young people in hopes of inspiring all of us to live our messy lives beautifully, boldly, and authentically.

Isa Rodrigues is a textile artist and educator from the South of Portugal and one of the founding team members of TAC. After receiving her MA in Textile Conservation, Isa moved from Lisbon to New York to work and learn from the textile collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Isa has been on staff at the Textile Arts Center since 2009, and was the founder and Director of the Sewing Seeds project. She likes to experiment with weaving and natural dyes, and her best ideas normally appear to her in dreams.