Kickstarter

By exploring the possibilities of digital printing on textiles, I wish to put together a garment collection that will investigate how these garments can become a way to visually express within what social or cultural constructs someone chooses to identify themselves. As I am coming to the home stretch of MICA's Fiber BFA (graduating in Dec. 2012) program, I have chosen to exhibit this work as a part of my senior thesis project. I am interested mostly in challenging everyday materials that are used to create our own personality or outward identity in a different or maybe even controversial context. 

Naturally, I am swayed to work primarily with ideas of exoticism or nationalism; however, I am inspired to deal solely with the texture or information that certain materials hold in themselves. Flattening an upholstered sofa into a cotton slipcover is a way for me to study and convey a message about the interaction that we have with the material. 

MICA offers students like myself the education for using a textile printer that would be highly difficult to access outside of the campus. This is a great opportunity to expose myself to a growing art medium and I am trying to be as advantageous as possible of the student discounts received on the materials/ print cost. However, it still is unrealistic to produce the entirety of the collection without financial help. The work shirts photographed above each contain a little more than 42'' x 9' printed on and it costs over $7.50/foot for the printed fabric alone. The past three years at MICA have provided me with so many skill sets that I wish to exhibit and utilize. Your help would be unbelievably helpful in allowing me to produce the compilation I am putting together for my senior thesis!

For more of my past work or to read my artist statement, go to my website!