Activity

Our bodies are the conduit through which we experience the world, and contribute to it. As makers, the objects we craft bear the literal mark of our bodies: the imperfections that no machine can replicate, the particular rhythm of our movements, the tension we transfer from our hands to cloth and thread. In this workshop, we will play with these ideas and learn ways to translate our physical experiences of the world to mark-making and stitch. No prior drawing or stitching experience is needed, only a willingness to explore and engage!  

Together we will begin a simple cloth embroidery journal.  Instead of writing our thoughts and feelings, we will represent them in the form of abstract stitches. During the session, we will explore the sensory experiences of touch, taste, sound, sight, and smell and ask ourselves: what words, images and associations are coming up for me, and how do I translate those into meaningful marks?  What about these marks and sketches are unique to my experiences?  How do I expand and iterate on these, and transfer them to fabric?  Through a series of creative, guided exercises, we will begin learning how to utilize embroidery as a narrative tool. 

At the end of this session, you will have begun creating a visual vocabulary that you can hone over time, and learn all the embroidery basics you need to keep adding to your journal.  You will leave with a monogrammed, roll-up embroidery journal, complete with a basic sampler of stitches, and new ways to unearth your inherent creativity.

Date
Saturday, November 16, 2024

Time
12pm-4pm ET

Location
Tatter Textile Library
505 Carroll Street, 2B
Brooklyn, NY 11215

BLUE, The TATTER Textile Library is located in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Serving as both an interactive, ongoing art-installation as well as an academic research library, BLUE is an ever-growing home to 6,000 books, journals, exhibition catalogs, and objects that examine and celebrate the global history, traditions, makers, craft and beauty of textiles.

Cost
$100

Materials

All class supplies will be provided.  Participants are welcome to bring any materials they might be interested in experimenting with.

This class is suitable for all levels.

Our Teacher

Tamanna Rahman (she/her) is a mental health clinician and textile artist with a passion for exploring the intersections of craft practice and mental health. Honoring personal history is a key part of her mental health work, helping clients to shape a constantly evolving narrative of their lives. This spills over into her textile practice, where she explores ways that our daily experiences can be translated, recorded and processed through needlework. While the repetitive focused act of stitching can be immensely therapeutic in its own right, Tamanna invites students to go deeper into themes of identity formation, storytelling, somatic exploration, and relational dynamics in her workshops. Tamanna is passionate about learning about the origins of the materials and techniques we employ in contemporary fiber arts, and incorporating this cultural history into her classes as well.  

Though Tamanna did not formally train in textile arts, she prefers the label of “community taught” to “self taught,” acknowledging the countless generations of women whose knowledge and skill have been handed down to her. Tamanna is forever indebted to her Bangladeshi mother, grandmother, and aunties who first taught her to machine and hand sew, instilled a reverence for fabric and exposed her to artisanship. Deepest gratitude also to the numerous teachers whose classes, books, and generous friendship allow her to continue to grow as an artist.  

Tamanna studied literature and social movements at Williams College, and completed her graduate training as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Yale University.  She is the owner of Holistic Psychiatry CT and Slow Work Sewing.