College of Visual and Performing Arts
Textile Design
Michelle Taveras
Textile Design
The B.F.A. degree program in textile design considers two main areas of textiles: the creative and the technical. Emphasis is placed on acquiring design and color skills to solve varied design problems through woven, knits, and printed designs.
Our courses use computerized knitting machines, weaving looms, and printers to create various textiles types. A large variety of original images, captured digitally, are used to facilitate designs. Additional courses in surface pattern design and such fiber areas as felting and fiber structures supplement the curriculum. Insight into business management is also important because every designer is, at some time, a businessperson.
The textile design studio houses both an AVL 16-harness production loom and a 24-harness studio loom. Both looms interface with computers capable of spontaneous generation of woven designs. The studio also has 16 individual computerized knitting machines used for computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM).
The textile design program includes the unique opportunity to intern, learn, or design at a local textile design and production company. Our students frequently visit the site, where they learn to use the state-of-the-art Stoll Knitting machine to produce their own jacquard fabrics. They may learn about such exotic fibers as alpaca, cashmere, and mohair on a working farm and design and produce yarns using the Belfast Mini Mill processing equipment.
Career opportunities in textiles exist wherever textiles are produced, sold, used, or talked about.
The School of Art and Design feels that drawing plays a vital and primary role in the creative life of an artist. Click here to read more about this common thread that weaves through our art and design programs.