About My Research

This site serves as a reflection of my graduate thesis work in automotive textile design at North Carolina State University.  I began this site in January 2009 and plan to maintain it until my graduation in December 2009.  I have been in the graduate program at the College of Textiles for 1 year of a 2 year program.  During this first year, I have focused on the automotive industry, design, and sustainability.  Now at the half-way point, I have selected my thesis topic and made plans as to how to approach my research so that my work is complete by October 2009.  In the right column of this blog, I have posted my personal timeline to ensure that I am meeting my deadlines.  Please take time to look through all the information included in the right hand column, especially if this is your first time visiting this site.

The purpose of this site is 3-fold.
1) Most scholars are only given 1 chance to write a thesis, and 2 years to learn how to do so.  Sure there are books on research methods and databases of theses to form a background or starting place for your work, but no one really explains to us exactly what this process is like from start to finish.
2) Over the past year, I have learned beyond my expectations about the automotive industry, past, current, and future.  Throughout my next year of study, I have access to resources that would be coveted by any designer in this industry and plan to uncover valuable correlations between design and success.  I will post many images and articles which I find the most enriching.
and 3) Writing my thoughts and progress where it is publicly available will encourage me to meet deadlines and provide a clear platform to keep my committee informed.

My Topic
I will be examining the history of automotive bodycloth development and aligning this with outside factors such as the economy, increase in mass production, increase in technical standards and regulations, the importance of fashion and color, along with what at this time is an unpredictable number of additional variables.  The ultimate question I aim to answer is if there is a concrete way to measure and predict success in order to save time, money, and resources.

1.17.2009

Inspired Design: International Jacquard and Entrepreneurial Textile Conference

Hosted by the Center for Creativity, Craft, and Design, Inspired Design was held in Hendersonville, NC January 7-10.  I was selected along with 9 other students from Art and Design programs across the country to receive a student assistant scholarship.  We were awarded free conference registration and board in exchange for our help in ensuring the conference run smoothly- and it certainly did!



















































Schedule
The Conference began with a reception at CCCD, where the featured artists' work was displayed.  We had a chance to network with the artists, keynote speakers, and conference attendees over cheese and crackers.  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were full of exciting lectures and break-out sessions, and followed by evening events such as the opening for the Blue Spiral Gallery in downtown Asheville and the Silver Fox Gallery opening in Hendersonville.  

Oriole Mill
Each day we were also given the option to tour Oriole Mill.  Oriole Mill is a new weaving facility that provides an opportunity for textile artists to work on industrial size jacquard equipment.  They have a large variety of Jacquard looms as well as industrial dobby looms.  The Mill also offers software classes for designers to make the most of their weaving experience. 

Speakers
Session 1: Smart Textiles
Joanna Berzowska
Matilda McQuaid

Joan Morris- Keynote Speaker (Textile Designer for Juliee Taymor's "The Lion King")

Session 2: Performance and Interactive Textiles
Janis Jefferies
Barbara Lane
Christy Matson

Session 3: Textiles for Boutique Clothing
Genevieve Dion
Tim Parry-Williams
Pauline Verbeek-Cowart

Andrew Wagner- Keynote Speaker (Editor-in-Chief of American Craft magazine)

Session 4: Interior Design Textiles
Catherine Ellis
Jennifer Robertson
Ismini Samanidou
Anna Zaharakos and Seth Winner

Session 5: Commissioned Corporate and Public Art Textiles
Bethanne Knudson
Mary McElwain
Kari Merete Paulsen

Michele Fricke- Keynote (Head of Art History at Kansas City Art Institute)











Pictured Below: Student Exhibition
 
For more information on Inspired Design, the speakers and CCCD, please visit: www.craftcreativitydesign.org  and make sure to check out more images from the conference on the "My Photos" link to the right!
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