Learning Lab Residency

Learn how to interpret a weaving draft and weave on a multi-harness loom in this drop-in activity. Artist Maggie Leininger will explain how the material cultural traditions of weaving travel across continents and become imbedded into another culture's heritage.

Discover a lesser-known form of handweaving that is excellent for making straps, shoelaces, belts, and more as Oberon Waters demonstrates various approaches. Backstrap weaving, inkle loom weaving, and different kinds of patterns will be shown as well as a short intro to the historical importance of tablet weaving. Swing by to touch tools recreated from archeological digs and enjoy a little piece of history.

Experience the collaborative process of a quilting bee by stitching a quilt to support Wasteshed, a Chicago organization dedicated to reducing landfill waste. No experience necessary as you will be guided through the process of hand stitching a quilt together. Bring a friend or two and share the joy of needlework.

Get a head start on those knitted gifts by joining the Windy City Knitting Guild as they host our community day of making! Bring a project to work on or try your hand at knitting as experienced and talented members will be on hand to help you with your knitting techniques.

Learn bookbinding skills, techniques, and vocabulary in this beginning bookbinding workshop. We'll talk about paper and bookbinding tools and make a few simple book structures, which will allow participants to get a decent start on their bookbinding journey.

Artist Ash Bradley will demonstrate how to create a sculptural form using basic basketry materials and techniques. Come watch, learn, and hear about Ash's work.

Get a head start on those knitted gifts by joining the Windy City Knitting Guild as they host our community day of making! Bring a project to work on or try your hand at knitting as experienced and talented members will be on hand to help you with your knitting techniques.

Kirigami banners are inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, which spread blessings through the community as the wind blows through them. Participants will be able to print one or more blessing banners using kirigami and silkscreen ink on upcycled fabric. Kirigami is the Japanese art of folding and cutting.

Marcela Adeze Okeke builds community through craft processes. Through the bonding experience of learning and making, Okeke will present how she utilizes the natural dye from plants to impart the natural color onto an array of everyday items. Discover the ways in which craft can build a communal source of knowledge and experience through Okeke's interactive display.

Get a head start on those knitted gifts by joining the Windy City Knitting Guild as they host our community day of making! Bring a project to work on or try your hand at knitting as experienced and talented members will be on hand to help you with your knitting techniques.

Ikat is a traditional textile method where threads are dyed with a yarn bound resist method and they are woven together to create specific shifting or pictorial images in cloth. Ikat has cultural importance because it has been passed down through generations in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, India, Japan, South America, and the Middle East, and is connected to the traditions and identity of different communities today. Artists continue to use Ikat to preserve these traditions while also creating new designs. It shows how traditional techniques can still be meaningful and symbolic in modern art, fashion, and everyday life.

Learn the basics of tapestry weaving in this intuitive approach to weaving from a prompt. Katie Vota will demonstrate and guide participants through the weaving process on a prepared loom. Participants can weave a little or a lot and select from a wide variety of traditional and non-traditional materials.

Melissa Potter will guide participants through the process of creating a Zhen Xian Bao box book as a representative of Feminist Seed Bank database. Participants will also be encouraged to contribute to the continuing evolution of the database.

How do you break the cycle of wear & disposable culture? This part lecture part hands-on experience will feature what happens to garments after it leaves the store. Learn the art of visible mending to extend the life of your garments.

Participants will be invited to select and hold an object in their hands as artist Elaine Luther captures the moment via a photograph which will be printed out as a black and white sticker. The photo-booth experience will provide the opportunity for participants to hold what they value. Objects include natural items, such as feathers, leaves, acorns, as well as miniature versions of everyday objects. Additionally, Luther will print larger versions of these photos as cyanotypes to create a larger scale installation which will emerge onsite in response to the participatory act of holding.

Kristin Field will guide participants through the horticultural experience of growing and harvesting plants for dyes and pigments. Check out samples of dyed objects, pigments, and other materials all created literally from the ground up!

Discover the fascinating technique of silk reeling! Did you know silk comes from cocoons? Come by, pick one up, and watch Samantha Bielanski as she demonstrates how to pull silk threads from a cocoon to create a usable silk thread.

Join textile artist Emilka in a fiber exploration, where you can learn the basics of weaving on a variety of tools including a 2-harness loom and various frame looms and experiment with different materials from yarn to repurposed clothing to trash. By interacting with Emilka's work and space during this time, you can also learn how to blend different fiber media like weaving, embroidery, and lace making. Please join the community loom by weaving in some material and take away a mini weaving tool kit to craft your own heirloom.

Learn the art of piecing a quilt square by artist Anne Heide as they ask participants to ponder the complex systems we use to communicate with each other, especially when far away. For Anne, the quilt is the perfect tactile and visual symbol of these complex systems. Using the traditional log cabin pattern, Heide will create a representation of what community looks like in this moment, at this time.

Join textile artist Emilka in a fiber exploration, where you can learn the basics of weaving on a variety of tools including a 2-harness loom and various frame looms and experiment with different materials from yarn to repurposed clothing to trash. By interacting with Emilka's work and space during this time, you can also learn how to blend different fiber media like weaving, embroidery, and lace making. Please join the community loom by weaving in some material and take away a mini weaving tool kit to craft your own heirloom.

Learn to spin your own yarn! Participants will gain hands on experience in one of the oldest crafts in the world; using a drop spindle, we'll go through all the steps of spinning a wool yarn, and explore a wide range of natural fibers and their uses.

Crystal Drake will lead a hands-on session where visitors create small fiber pieces that hold personal memory. Responding to the work of artists in To Be Remembered who use thread and cloth to carry emotional and ancestral narrative, participants will be guided through processes of stitch and collage to reflect on a memory, object, or story they want to preserve. Using simple techniques of hand embroidery and fabric collage, participants will connect a personal narrative to a larger conversation of storytelling. This tactile and meditative experience is an invitation to slow down, remember, and take away a tangible memory.

Learn how to interpret a weaving draft and weave on a multi-harness loom in this drop-in activity. Artist Maggie Leininger will explain how the material cultural traditions of weaving travel across continents and become imbedded into another culture's heritage.

How do we wear our memories or what is precious to us? Learn how to create a stamped, textured metal pendant guided by Jill Baker Gower. Participants will learn to design and texture a pre-made metal disk that they can use to create a unique pendant.

Learn how to interpret a weaving draft and weave on a multi-harness loom in this drop-in activity. Artist Maggie Leininger will explain how the material cultural traditions of weaving travel across continents and become imbedded into another culture's heritage.