REGISTRATION OPENS:
JANUARY 8 AT NOON
One of seven courses available for the May 7 – 10, 2026
MCA Weekend Workshop @ Haystack
Resilient Systems: Experimental Textile Printing and Object Making
Instructor: Karen Gelardi
Haystack Studio: Fiber & Dye
Enrollment Limit: 10
Materials Fees: See section below
Level: All Levels Welcome
Class Description:
This workshop explores resiliency through observation, experimentation, and material transformation. Participants will begin with observational ink drawings on paper, inspired by textures, forms, and strategies found in the natural world. These drawings become the source material for creating handcrafted textiles and objects.
Using experimental small-scale dye sublimation processes, participants will transfer drawings and collages onto repurposed polyester textiles from the commercial textile industry. The workshop emphasizes the tension between organic processes and industrial materials, encouraging experimentation with cutting, piecing, stitching, and assembling to create two- and three-dimensional artworks and objects.
Materials + Fees: N/A
The instructor will be supplying the majority of the materials that participants will use during the weekend. Closer to the workshop date, participants will receive a materials list and will be required to bring the items with them. Items will include things like scissors, mat knives, rulers, etc.
About the Instructor-
Karen Gelardi is a Maine-based painter who employs both natural and industrial strategies to create and distribute new works. She investigates resiliency and adaptation through the production of organic imagery that can multiply, expand, and be reconfigured. Her “resilient drawings,” as she calls them, take the form of works on paper, fabric constructions, and mixed media assemblies. Gelardi has exhibited her work and projects at Curator and Coleman Burke Gallery in New York, Northern-Southern in Austin, Interloc art space, SPACE Gallery, Portland Museum of Art, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the University of New England, and internationally as a participant in Andrea Zittel’s Smockshop project. She received a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design. In addition to her artistic practice, she works as a designer at Designtex, focusing on low-waste textile design and collaborating with other artists and designers to create custom materials for the built environment.