Tom Lundberg - Area Coordinator - Portfolio

View Overview of Fibers Program

Graduate students in the fibers program pursue a variety of expressive directions in a wide range of techniques and materials. Experimental and traditional approaches are equally embraced so long as there is a commitment to excellence, creativity and scholarship.

The Visual Arts Building is a well-equipped complex built in 1975. Strictly devoted to the visual arts, areas of concentration are housed in individual wings along a central throughway. Divided into a fabric printing area and a weaving area, fibers occupies 3,400 square feet of studio space. Adjacent to the printing area is a dye room equipped with eight burners, six industrial sinks, a washer-dryer unit, and a vent-hood work area for batik and air brush. The weaving area includes 44 floor looms, of which three are 45" Macombers with 16 harnesses and two are 45" Cranbrooks. In addition, we have two upright tapestry looms and a Schacht Combby loom with computer interface. The facilities described above are used both by undergraduate and graduate students. Graduate students occupy a semiprivate studio (two to four individuals per studio) in a neighboring wing of the building. Also near the fibers area is a well equipped wood shop.

In recent years, the department has been the site for national and regional fiber conferences. Visiting artists are regularly invited to discuss their work and to critique the work of graduate students.

In the nearby Department of Design, Merchandising and Consumer Sciences is the Gustafson Gallery and a collection of historic costumes and textiles, the largest such university collection in the Rocky Mountain area.