Awarded a 2017 Research Grant from The Center for Craft Creativity and Design, Asheville, NC

I will be researching the cultural, sociological and aesthetic relevance of traditional Japanese boro textiles to contemporary craft, art and design.

Topics to explore include:

Repair, Visible Mending and Slow Stitching
Respect for Materials, Time, Labor and Resources
The Decaying Form
Elevating the Commonplace or Discarded: the Found Object
The Human Touch, Seeing the Hand at Work
Tactile Pieces of the Past, Understanding History
Use of Indigo and Indigo Dyes in Craft, Art and Design
Domestic Work, Women’s Work and Feminism
The Unknown Craftsman, Humility
Outsider Art
Patchwork, Rectangles and Squares
Cultural Appropriation
Understanding Social Class through Art and Craft
The Magic of Transformation