Textile Arts Center

TAC AIR combines studio access with a rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum, regular critical dialogue and mentorship, providing residents an opportunity to learn and explore the textile medium, and an alternative to traditional higher education programs. The residency culminates in a group exhibition produced and hosted by TAC. Since 2010, TAC AIR has graduated over eighty artists and designers whose work continues to further textile art within the fashion, fine arts, design and art education fields.

Program Details

Program Activities

Faculty

Facilities & Benefits

Tuition & Scholarships

Application & Selection Process

FAQ

Over the course of 9 months, TAC AIR residents delve into a full curriculum of technical classes, textile history and conservation and professional development. Ongoing critical dialogue, allows residents to gain a greater awareness of their practices and contextualize their work within contemporary and historical textile art.

October–December: Play

The first 3 months are a time for play and exploration, learning new techniques and getting acquainted with a studio practice in this particular setting. Curriculum will include master classes on technical development, such as weaving, machine knitting, natural dyeing and surface design treatments, as well as professional development topics such as social media, marketing and photography.

January–March: Research & Concept

Starting the New Year, residents dive into research and development of their final project for the exhibition. Curriculum will include seminars in textile history, conservation, and contemporary craft theory, as well as writing workshops. At this time, residents are introduced to their personal mentor, with whom they will work one-on-one to help guide the development and completion of their personal project. At the end of this period, residents are expected to present formal project proposals for the final exhibition.

April–June: Project Creation

The last portion of the program is dedicated to project creation and professional development. Seminars are based in personal writing reflection, grant writing, art law and material sourcing. Each cycle culminates in a formal critique, where it is expected that residents present matured concepts and work for the final exhibition.

Classes, critiques and mentorship are facilitated by some of today’s leading textile artists, designers, curators and arts administrators. A sampling of guest critics and mentors include:

- Sarah Scaturro (The Costume Institute)
- Gina Gregorio (PRATT, RISD)
- Pascale Gueracague (Lululemon)
- Grace Bonney (Design Sponge)
- Tara St. James (Study NY, BFDA)
- Sabrina Gschwandtner
- Rebecca Kelly (FIT)
- Sarah Byrd (FIT, NYU)
- Annie Coggan (AIR Alumni, PRATT, SVA)
- Carin Kuoni (Vera List Center)
- Alexa Winton (Parsons)
- Marci McDade (Surface Design Journal)
- Liz Collins
- Elana Herzog
- Elissa Auther (MAD)
- Shannon Stratton
- Erin M Riley
- Pascale Gatzen (ArtEZ)
- Natalia Nakazawa (EFA)
- Carolyn Sickles
- Samantha Bittman
- Carlos Motta
- Misha Kahn
- Kyva Motnik (Thompson Street Studio)
- Mary Ping
- Sarah Jimenez
- Bill Carroll (EFA)
- Annie Larson
- Doug Johnston

Studio Facilities

24/7 access to personal 8’ x 8’, well-lit space. Each space has 3 full walls, including shelving, as well as a “tack” wall.
24/7 access to TAC studio and equipment (includes floor looms; home and industrial sewing machines; knitting machines; drying rack; utility sink; dye lab for natural and synthetic dyes; washer/dryer; steamer; screen printing facilities which include 3 yardage tables, large exposure unit and washout booth

Additional Benefits

Access to resources and fiber arts community
Exposure through TAC marketing and social media
$750 worth of free classes at Textile Arts Center, followed by 30% off all additional classes taken

Tuition

The tuition of Textile Arts Center’s Artist in Residence Program is $10,000 per resident, split into the following payment plans:

$1000 upon acceptance (June 17, 2020)
$9000 due on the first week of October, 2020

$1000 upon acceptance (due June 17, 2020)
$2000 due on the first week of October, 2020
$790 monthly from October 15, 2020 through June 15, 2021

Scholarship

The Textile Arts Center is committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in all its programs. The TAC Artist In Residence Scholarship will support one artist or designer who demonstrates commitment to their art practice, identifies with a historically underrepresented community in the arts and/or states the need for financial assistance to participate in the program and advance their artistic practice.

TAC AIR Scholarship is made possible from donations of TAC AIR and WIP alumni and instructors’ work, WIP workshops and by TAC.

Eligibility

We are looking for artists and designers at all career stages, working in textile/fiber media or looking to explore and develop a new body of work in this medium. Eligible applicants must be 21+ years old and have good English proficiency. We encourage international artists to apply, but applicants are responsible for all necessary VISA arrangements and fees.

Application

Application fee: $25 (Early Bird, application submitted by March 2); $35 (applications submitted by March 23)

All applications must be submitted digitally through Slideroom by March 23, 2020 12am (EST).

Selection Process

The selection process is led by a committee of Textile Arts Center’s staff, as well as professionals working in different fields of textile arts.

Selection criteria include:

Quality of work
Clear plan on work to be created during time of residence
Desire to work within a strong community

Selected applicants will be asked to come in for an interview.

Application Calendar

Application Dates for Cycle 12:
January 15-March 23, 2020

Interviews:
April, 2020

Notification of Acceptance:
Mid-May, 2020

Next Cycle Dates:
Cycle 12: October 2020-June 2021

What is the TAC AIR application process?

Applications for Cycle 11 of AIR open on January 15, 2020. All applications must be submitted electronically through the online platform by the deadline, March 16, 2020.

You will need to write about your work, interests and experience, and —most importantly—your desire for participating in the program. Additionally, you’ll be required to submit a portfolio of 5-10 high-resolution images of your best work that most relates to what you hope to accomplish during the program.

If you experience any issues with the online application platform, please contact isa@textileartscenter.com by March 14 in order to answer your questions in time. Please do not wait until the last minute.

Is there an application fee?

For AIR Cycle 11, there is an application fee of $25 for application submitted by March 2, 2020; and a fee of $35 for applications submitted by March 16, 2020.

Do you accept international applicants?

Yes! In the past we’ve had several international artists move to NYC for the duration of the program. TAC can offer some guidance and support for your VISA application, but residents are responsible for all VISA arrangements and fees.

Is there any degree requirement to apply?

There is no degree requirement to apply to TAC AIR and we encourage applicants from all backgrounds.

What’s the selection process?

All applications will be reviewed by a jury committee made of TAC staff, and professionals working in different fields of fiber arts. After the first round, selected applicants will be contacted for an interview. Interviews will be held during the month of April. Candidates will be contacted by mid-May with their acceptance status.

What are interviews like? Who conducts them?

Interviews are typically about 30-40 minutes, and are conducted by Kelly Valletta and Isa Rodrigues, TAC Co-Executive Directors. Applicants should be ready to discuss their work, their reasons for wanting to participate in the program, and what they hope to accomplish creatively and professionally.

What if I am not in NY and get invited for an interview?

We strongly prefer that candidates be able to have an in-person interview, but definitely understand that this is not always possible. In these cases, we will schedule a Skype interview. We do not hold phone interviews in order to be able interact with you in some way and get to know you.

If I’m accepted for TAC AIR, what is needed upon acceptance?

Accepted applicants must notify TAC of their official acceptance to be part of TAC AIR no later than June 1st. At this time, you will be required to sign the AIR Contract and submit a tuition deposit of $1000.

Are there any financial aid options available?

The Textile Arts Center is committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in all its programs. The TAC Artist In Residence Scholarship will support one artist or designer per cycle who demonstrates commitment to their art practice, identifies with a historically underrepresented community in the arts and/or states the need for financial assistance to participate in the program and advance their artistic practice. TAC AIR Scholarship is made possible from donations of TAC AIR and WIP alumni and instructors’ work, WIP workshops and by TAC.

Since only one artist per cycle will recieve the Residence Scholarship, we encourage applicants to begin researching third-party funding by the time of application, including artist grants, loans, credit, or others.

Here is a brief list of some places to look for grants and resources:

Chenven Foundation
Brooklyn Arts Council
New York Foundation for the Arts
Handweaver’s Guild of America
Foundation Center
The Harpo Foundation
Fractured Atlas
New York Artists Online
The Awesome Foundation
Women Arts

Additionally, we encourage and support residents to organize their own crowdfunding campaigns.

What kind of time commitment is the AIR program?

We expect that accepted residents make the program a priority for the full cycle. It is an intensive professional development program that will take a lot of focus, work, and time. We believe the investment in you and your work makes it worth this level of effort and attention.

However, we do know life goes on and NYC is a tough place to survive and be creative. We want this program to work for artists and designers as a complement to their lives – not remove, isolate, or bring them down. We absolutely accept candidates that have full or part time jobs.

Critiques and class times are twice per week, generally totalling to about 6 hours per week. Monday evenings are critique nights, while class evenings are usually on Thursday evenings or weekends. This can vary throughout the cycle based on instructor availability. Residents are updated on dates far in advance, and given a calendar to work around.

We expect and recommend that residents spend about 15-20 additional hours per week in their studio on their work. Residents have 24/7 access to their studios, so weekends and late nights are okay.

Have a question for an AIR alum about their experience?

Here’s a few you should feel free to contact:

If you still have questions, feel free to email Isa Rodrigues.

Applications for the next cycle are currently on hold. Check back and sign up for our newsletter for updates.

Current TAC AIR Cycle 11 Artists

Anthony Shimek

Anthony (Tony (Tonz)) grew up in the Mid-West around a lot of textile makers, and then moved to New York after college to work in queer philanthropy. After a decade of very fulfilling work managing volunteer programs he decided to pursue his textile obsession full-time. Cloth and fabric have been an important part of his experience since birth—often giving him a sense of love and security. He admires the skill of his mother, grandmothers and aunts, and takes pride in continuing the traditions they have show him while incorporating his own identity.
Today, Anthony is interested in ways of combining his passion for supporting people with his love of textiles and design. He enjoys using queer themes in much of his work as a way of inserting queerness into the home.

Aomi Kikuchi

Aomi Kikuchi is a textile artist based in Kyoto and Brooklyn. She holds a BFA from Kyoto University of Art & Design and an MFA from Pratt Institute and is currently an artist in residence at the Textile Arts Center. After three decades of devotion to Japanese Yuzen Kimono dyeing, she utilizes various textile materials and techniques including extremely thin fibers, goose down, and cotton flower along with knitting, weaving, and embroidery. Aomi’s intentional selection of materials are defined by delicacy and brittleness, which aim to express Buddha's philosophy of impermanence, insubstantiality and suffering of all life. Aomi is currently working on a series of installation pieces and sculptures that explore impermanence through the use of biology and nature with textiles.

Cong-Tam Nguyen

Cong-Tam Nguyen (they/them or he/him) is a multidisciplinary visual artist primarily working in installation/sculpture, textiles, and drawing. Their work is rooted in an ongoing dialogue with romantic and familial love in their life; as a queer, non-binary person who comes from a family of Southeast Asian refugees, Nguyen has had experiences with love that feel laborious yet necessary in a world that is governed by white cis-heteronormativity. Employing fictional narratives and world-building as strategies to process and meditate on lived experiences, their practice seeks to become an act of love itself. Nguyen holds a BFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design.

Marta Nowak

Marta is a textile artist and knitwear designer based in Brooklyn. She recently graduated with a BFA in Textile Design at RISD. A majority of her recent work has an emphasis on color, as she explores the effects that color can have on reflecting one’s mood, or more particularly- documenting it. Throughout her residency at the Textile Arts Center, she has created multiple knitwear pieces and had the chance to focus on creating a knitwear brand of her own. She is most inspired by people’s passion for textile making and is determined to contribute to the efforts of ending fast fashion practices.

Melissa Joseph

Melissa Joseph is interested in connecting people through shared memories and experiences. Her work addresses themes of memory, family history, and the politics of how we occupy both physical and emotional spaces. Melissa’s work has been shown at the Delaware Contemporary, Woodmere Art Museum, the PAFA Museum, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and featured in New American Paintings, Maake Magazine and was a Hopper Prize finalist. She is currently a member of the BRIClab Video Art residency.

Rowan Renee

My work explores how queer identity is mediated by the law. Through image, text and installation, I elaborate themes of authorship, representation and erasure in State records and personal archives. I appropriate and transform official records through labor-intensive processes that engage my genderqueer body. These artifacts become counter-archives that challenge the colonial and patriarchal legacies embedded within the American legal system that have figured non-conforming desire as a threat to nation. In my practice, artistic labor is a means to repair histories of trauma, articulating new aesthetics and possibilities for pleasure that transcend conditions of abjection.

Bio Photo Credit: Lauren Slusher.

Yidan Zeng

Yidan Zeng (曽一丹) is an intimacy investigator currently wandering/wondering through Queens, NY. Stitching together participatory performance and textiles, she weaves webs with no center. She's been a Create Change Fellow with The Laundromat Project (2018), a visiting glass artist at The University of Hawai'i in Mānoa (2018), and a recipient of the Queens Arts Intervention Grant (2019). She’s performed in Sibiu, Romania, Providence, RI, Miami, FL, and on and off the streets of NYC. Yidan received her BA and BFA from the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program in Computer Science and Glass.

Bio Photo Credit: June Cheung

Black hair swirling upwards, a face awash in gradients of the rainbow peers at the viewer with a slight smile, framed by her large, clear glasses and light blue bed sheets.

A light purple-gray silk fabric with small typewriter markings following closely to each other, resembling a thin curtain fluttering to the left.

Zuhoor Al Sayegh

Zuhoor Al Sayegh is an interdisciplinary artist from the United Arab Emirates. She just graduated from the School of The Art institute of Chicago and works mainly in ceramics and fibers materials. Al Sayegh is inspired mainly by her cultural heritage and the challenges that come with that; but more so uncovering and trying to show the world the beauty that isn’t often portrayed in the media. Al Sayegh is also greatly inspired by nature, the ocean that raised her and the flowers that gave her, her name (Zuhoor meaning flowers in Arabic) and this informs her material choices often finding a certain beauty in working from the ground up.