Dear T&M Community,
I hope that you are enjoying the snowfall as a last hiccup before Spring, and that the tail end of the Winter semester has been treating you all well. We have some exciting news to share about a few last events and happenings prior to the end of the semester. We are really pleased to continue having student-led initiatives bring light and an ethos of sharing in conversation and community into our cluster.
Firstly, thank you to all the student members who have submitted grant applications for the 2024-25 round. We are enthusiastic about the quantity and quality of applications. If you applied, you could expect to hear back from us in early May, after the adjudication committee has made their decisions.
Secondly, we will be hosting our All-Cluster Meeting on Thursday April 25th from 4-5:30 PM (EST). This will be in the cluster commons (EV 10.730) and online. Important updates from the cluster, as well as three final grant presentations from Sharmistha Kar, Van Randall, and Abby Maxwell. Please do your best to attend either in person or virtually. There will be light refreshments. If you are a new member who hasn’t had a chance to introduce yourself to the cluster, it would be great if you reach out to textiles.materiality@concordia.ca and arrange to share a few slides of your work and a 2 minute brief intro to who you are and why you joined the cluster.
Tertially, The Care, Ethics, and Craft close reading group will hold our third meeting on April 12th at 4 PM in the cluster commons, we will be reading Paulus Berensohn’s “Serving the Soup” from his excellent essay “Whatever We Touch is Touching Us.” Here is the link if you would like to read along. You are also always welcome to join the reading group, drop on by =)
Finally, Hei Lam Ng will run an Intro to Bookbinding workshop at the cluster commons on April 26th from 2 pm to 5 pm. There is space for up to 6 participants, please email textiles.materiality@concordia.ca to register:
In this workshop, participants will explore a few basic bookbinding techniques that can be applied to both paper and textile material. We will first look at some samples and references of various techniques, then move on to making our own books. Depending on the interest and size of the group, we will explore 3-4 of the following binding methods: saddle stitch, pamphlet stitch, Japanese stab binding, interlocking, x-stitch, and variation of one-page zines. Materials and tools will be provided but participants are welcome to bring their own (please refer to the material list below). The material provided in this workshop is mostly repurposed material acquired from CUCCR. Each participant would be able to take home the samples they make. No previous experience required.
Material and tools (if you would like to bring your own):
- pencil, ruler, scissors, xacto knife
- needle and thread (can be regular sewing ones)
- paper or other sheet material (ideally two different stocks/types)
- bonefolder
- bookbinding awl (for punching holes)
- a scrap piece of corrugated cardboard for hole punching (height approx. 6 inches, width 2 inches or more)
- cutting mat
- bulldog clips/binder clips (optional)
Booking spaces and equipment:
A kind reminder to refer to the following page on our website if you wish to access our equipment and book spaces: https://textilesandmateriality.com/space-bookings/
Finally, encouraging members as we share space in the cluster to refrain from wearing fragrances in the cluster spaces.
Happy Spring to you all,
Ciao
Morris Fox,
T&M Research Coordinator
textiles + materiality research cluster 