By Meritte Dahl
Murphy News Service
For 20 years now fiber artisans and craft-lovers from around the world have created art and supported local artists through the services of the Textile Center in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis.
The center is located on University Avenue and houses four galleries, a shop with handcrafted items and supplies, workspaces for classes and a library with more than 26,000 titles.
Creations ranging from a jacket made from dollar bills to digital printing on silk fill the Joan Mondale Gallery to celebrate the Textile Center’s 20th birthday. The gallery was named for the former Second Lady, who was a lifelong advocate of the arts and supported the organization from its early years.
The exhibit, 20 for 20, displays many types of textile art made by students and artists who have been involved with the center over its first 20 years, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement Jenny Jones said.
“Art changes lives and fiber art can certainly change lives,” she said.
The Textile Center was created in 1994 by a group of textile artists and patrons. Carla Adams, Nedra Granquist, Margaret Miller and Paula Pfaff founded the organization to support fiber artists, increase education of textile arts, preserve skills and traditions and provide a community for textile artists.
The one-story brick building was built in the 1920s as a Ford auto showroom, Jones said. It was renovated and reopened as the Textile Center’s current home in 2001. The organization first worked out of a small office in St. Paul.
The center works with local schools and community groups to bring fiber art to students, Jones said. Classes are also held in the workspaces there.
Local craft-lovers learned to make five types of fabric flowers at a class last month.
Jean Hainlen made a layered rosette she planned to turn into a brooch. The retired special education teacher has taken numerous classes at the center over the past five years, ranging from dyeing to wet felting, she said.
“It’s such a wonderful place to come to learn new things,” Hainlen said.
Local artisan Sandra Brick taught the Five Flowers course. Brick began working with the organization 15 years ago and also sells her scarves in the center’s gift shop, she said.
She teaches several classes at the center. One of her upcoming classes, Apps for Artists, allows her to share her love of technology and art with others. The class is designed to show people how to incorporate their smartphones and computers with their art, Brick said.
The center provides professional development classes for those interested in selling their creations, Jones said. Some of the professional development classes teach artists, “how to sell on Etsy, apply for a grant, and photograph their art,” she said.
To learn more about the Textile Center or to sign up for classes, visit textilecentermn.org.
Reporter Meritte Dahl is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.