Month: April 2023

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Weaving a Green Future: Exploring the Intersection of Textiles and Sustainability

Eli Akerfeldt-Howard will present a program/workshop on May 11, 2023.

This presentation will aim to lay the foundations for what sustainability is, who is responsible for it, and how we can contribute as fiber artists. Some of the topics that will be covered include:

    • How to define sustainability as it relates to the fashion and textile industry
    • The emergence of sustainable discourse in North American culture
    • A closer look at corporate social and environmental responsibility
    • Who is responsible for making sustainability “happen”?
    • The Maker Movement and topics of scale and locality in relation to sustainable discourse
    • The intersection of fiber arts and sustainability
    • How sustainability has shaped my practices at Hemma Textiles thus far
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Mayan Backstrap Weaving

April 13 @ 10:00 a.m.
Mayan Backstrap Weaving presented by Kedron Thomas

KEDRON THOMAS, Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of Delaware

Kedron Thomas is a cultural anthropologist who studies the way clothes are made and worn in diverse parts of the world. She teaches courses on fashion, culture, environmental sustainability, labor rights, and indigenous rights at the University of Delaware.
She began her career by studying the weaving traditions of indigenous Maya people in Guatemala and the production of knockoff fashions in Central America. Her more recent work examines the efforts of fashion industry professionals in the United States and United Kingdom to make clothing more environmentally sustainable.
She is currently involved in a collaborative partnership with other scholars, policy experts, and industry leaders to develop a circular textile economy for the Delaware region.
For her presentation, Kedron will demonstrate the backstrap loom and bring an assortment of textiles. She will also share a bit about the history and current context of Mayan weaving.

Learn more about Kedron Thomas’ research interests and publications.

April’s Program — Zoom and in-person