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Mission, Vision, Fashion

jamie chalmers catherine ellis linda eaton

Since establishing the Mr X Stitch site in 2008, he has been showcasing new talent in the world of textiles and stitch and has curated a number of stitch-based exhibitions in the UK and Ireland.

A stitcher for over ten years, he is an internationally exhibited artist and the curator of PUSH Stitchery, featuring 30 contemporary embroidery artists from around the world. He has also written articles for textile publications across the world, including FiberArts magazine and Surface Design Journal, and is a regular guest on CrossStitcher magazine.

He believes in the benefits of stitching, both from a relaxation and a sustainability perspective, and is honoured to introduce new artists that inspire and encourage new people to take to the needle and thread. Catharine taught the Professional Fiber Program at Haywood Community College for 30 years before retiring in 2008. She is now devoted to studio work and teaching a limited number of workshops. Her original training was in traditional woven techniques, which led her to weave functional fabrics for many years, often incorporating ikat resist dyeing. More recently her career has been defined by the discovery and exploration of the woven shibori process.

Woven shibori has challenged all that she knows about weaving and has led her to investigate new materials, resists, dyes and finishing processes. More recently Catharine has been exploring applications of Jacquard and industrial weaving in combination with hand dyeing. She has been working in partnership with The Oriole Mill in Henderson, NC, to develop fabrics for both chemical dyes and natural colorants. Linda Eaton is the John L. & Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections and Senior Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum and teaches in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture and the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. After graduate work at the Textile Conservation Center and the Courtauld Institute of Art, she worked as a textile conservator in Scotland before coming to Winterthur. She has curated a number of exhibitions including Needles & Haystacks: Pastoral Imagery in American Needlework and With Cunning Needle: Four Centuries of Embroidery. Her first book, Quilts in a Material World: Selections from the Winterthur Collection, was published in 2007. Her new book, Printed Textiles: British and American Printed Cottons and Linens 1750-1850, based on Florence Montgomeryís classic work, was published in September 2014.

jamie brummitt sarah yarborough jeana klein michele carragher

Jamie L. Brummitt is a third-year PhD Student in the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University. Jamie’s research focuses on the visual and material cultures of 19th century American Protestantism. Her most recent projects investigate schoolgirls’ needlework, mourning in America, Spiritualism and the Civil War, children and religion, Victorian parlor culture and women’s suffrage.

Jamie completed her Bachelor of Arts in May 2010 at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she majored in Philosophy & Religion and Communication Studies and minored in Spanish and Digital Arts. She earned her Master of Arts in Religion at Duke University in 2012. Jamie finished coursework last spring and is studying for preliminary exams. Jamie also designs patterns of 19th century mourning embroideries and mourning samplers. Recently accepted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America, NCSU alumni Victor Lytvinenko and Sarah Yarborough started RALEIGH Denim Workshop in 2007 in their hometown, Raleigh, NC. The husband and wife team learned the history and techniques of traditional American jeans-making through a series of informal apprenticeships with former factory workers, patternmakers and mechanics throughout the state. The couple built a workshop in downtown Raleigh where they and their team produce jeans, marrying old-school methods with modern fits. RALEIGH Denim Workshop has expanded into mens and womens collections, all produced in the United States with a focus on design, process, material, and craft. RDW is sold at Saks, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and better boutiques around the world. Jeana Eve Klein’s recent studio practice explores the broad theme of value: how society in general assigns value (or worthlessness) to objects and how the art world, specifically, assigns value to works of art, craft and design. These ideas are made tangible through large mixed media quilts and tiny obsessive embroideries. The quilts draw both visually and conceptually on Klein’s infatuation with abandoned houses.

Klein has an undergraduate art + design degree from NC State University and an MFA from Arizona State University. Her work has been exhibited internationally and had images of her work printed in American Craft and several volumes of Surface Design Journal. She is a 2014 recipient of a Craft Artist Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council. Klein is Associate Professor of Fibers in the Art Department at Appalachian State University. Michele Carragher is a London-based hand embroiderer and illustrator who has been working in costume on film and television productions for over 15 years. She studied fashion design at The London College of Fashion, where the course incorporated design, pattern cutting, garment construction, embroidery, millinery and illustration. At the same time she attended a three year evening course in Saddlery at Cordwainers College learning skills in leatherwork.

2015 cotton initiative + nc state art2wear

Through the generous support provided by the Importer Support Program of the Cotton Board and Cotton Incorporated, the 2015 Cotton Initiative + art2wear project showcases our best student work incorporating cotton into the students’ creative final pieces both on and off the runway. A grand prize and two honorable mention prizes will be awarded for both the exhibition and runway.

2015 cotton initiative :

For the Cotton Initiative 2015 project, students were asked to utilize 60% or more of cotton within their studio and technical classes to cover a range of projects. This juried exhibition provides visibility to a broader spectrum of student work—including print design, embroidery, dyeing, quilting, conceptual fiber pieces and fiber installation. Included with the exhibition are also examples of class work that utilized cotton as a key component material showcasing the many uses of cotton both within the design process and in the final piece.

art2wear :

art2wear is known for its innovative use of technology and materials. With this grant, we required the students to include the use of cotton within their collections. This served as a catalyst constraint, forcing the student designers to apply their concepts and materials to cotton and allowing for greater creativity and innovation with the use of cotton. The art2wear 2015 show will end with the Cotton Initiative “Cotton Finale Walk,” showcasing each piece from the art2wear 2015 student collections that is 60% cotton or more.

Funding for the 2015 Cotton Initiative + NC State art2wear Project was awarded in part through a competitive grant presented to Assistant Professor Katherine Diuguid by the Importer Support Program of the Cotton Board and Cotton Incorporated. 43