Multiple Cranbrook Artists Among 60+ in Detroit Fiber Club Group Exhibition
Lynn Bennet-Carpenter stands beside her hand-woven and painted wood piece as part of her portion of the display set at the ‘Environmental + Microclimates’ exhibition inside the Boyer Campbell Building. Credit: Valaurian Waller
Detroit-area textile artist organization, Fiber Club, opened a large group exhibition, Environments + Microclimates, featuring about sixty artists during Detroit Month of Design. Bridge Detroit spoke to Fiber Club founders and members, including several Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni and a current student, about growing interest in fiber art.
Jeremy Noonan (MFA Fiber 2003), professor and section lead of fiber and textiles for the College for Creative Studies said to Bridge Detroit, “Fiber arts offer such a dynamic intersection of traditional techniques and contemporary practices, and students are drawn to this versatility (more so post-Covid).”
Cranbrook Academy of Art’s current Head of Fiber and Artist-in-Residence, Joey Quiñones told Bridge Detroit about an overall increase in artists discovering the potential of fiber as a medium. The Academy’s Fiber department, like all of our departments, admits only 7-8 students each year to “build community, foster connections across the academy, and help each graduate student reach their artistic and professional goals.”
One of Cranbrook’s current students, Irene Perez (Fiber 2026), is also participating in Environments + Microclimates, with an installation made of emergency blankets, children’s clothes, and a pinata to call attention to ongoing issues stemming from a Trump administration zero-tolerance policy mandating parents who crossed the U.S. border illegally with their children be separated.
Learn more:
Detroit fiber art exhibit debuts Friday in Milwaukee Junction – Bridge Detroit
