Crafts & Drafts Workshop

Date: March 1, 2024

Time: 6pm-9pm

Description: Join Artist-in-Residence Sarah C. Byrd for this very special edition of Crafts and Drafts at Contemporary Craft! For this workshop, you are invited to bring a beloved garment or textile–something you want to know more about, or something you think you know a lot about–along with your curiosity, and Sarah will guide you through a process of interviewing the object to find narrative threads, histories, and further paths of potential and inquiry. This is kinda like part antiques roadshow, part material culture seminar. Expect to leave with new questions and ideas about your beloved object, as well as a toolkit for new and further inquiries. You can also expect to laugh, be surprised, and share in the joy of learning about the objects that are special to you and the others in the room, all while in a casual and convivial atmosphere.

This is a hands-on learning workshop, though the craft that we are practicing will be the skill of asking questions and engaging research inquiries. This workshop is perfect for anyone interested in looking at things deeply.

Tuition: $40

Materials: Bring a beloved garment or textile

Location: Contemporary Craft – 5645 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201

Crafts & Drafts: Participants must be 21 years of age or older. Beer and lights snacks will be provided.

Cancellations and Refunds: Workshop cancellations are decided three business days before the start date. If workshops must be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment, the entire class fee will be refunded through Eventbrite, or you may leave your workshop fee in your Contemporary Craft account for future workshops.

Refund Policy: Student refund requests must be made at least three business days before a class begins. There will be a $25 cancellation fee. No refunds will be given without three-business days notice. Processing of refunds takes approximately three weeks.

About the Artist

A love of all things “old” led Sarah to collections and preservation of the past in order to understand the present. This passion informs her work at every level. She also believes that education is the key to all progress. She currently teaches courses related to the history, preservation, and material culture of fashion and textiles at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York University, and Parsons. She also works with the Textile Arts Center Artist in Residence series and programs for the Fashion Studies Alliance. Her independent research focuses on the history of clothing within American cults and communes, which might one day become a book.