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Liz Collins
Born1968 (age 55–56)
Alma materRhode Island School of Design
Occupation(s)artist, designer

Liz Collins (born 1968)[1] is an American contemporary artist and designer. Collins is recognized for her artwork involving fabric, knitwear, and textiles as well as the fashion label she developed. She has expertise in textile media including the transition of fabric into multi-dimensional forms as a method to vary the scale of her pieces to make them architectural and inviting rather than object-based.[2] Her self-identified specializations are pattern, yarn, and fabric.[3] Collins is based in Brooklyn, New York.[4]

Early life and education

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Liz Collins first became interested in textiles as an artistic medium as a result of her family's connection to the art form. Her father worked as a sailor, and made his own sails with the use of an industrial sewing machine.[3] Collins is driven by her childhood experiences with textile to communicate her ideas surrounding labor and production.

Liz Collins graduated with a BFA degree (1991) and MFA degree (1999) from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).[1] Collins launched her personal knitwear clothing line in 1999 as her MFA thesis at RISD and ran her business until 2004.[5][6]

She was a professor of textiles at RISD from 2003 to 2013.

Career

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After receiving her M.F.A., Collins spent the next several years developing her own knitwear company until 2004.[6] After being recognized for her innovative design, Collins developed a patent for her specialized technique of interweaving and assembling different materials to construct her garments.[5] Her label gained popularity, celebrity recognition, and media coverage.[6] Collins became a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1999 from her personal brand.[7] In the middle stages of her fashion design career, she could no longer afford to finance her label's labor wages and meet society's demand of product. Collins soon began to outsource her products which is when she felt disconnected with her creative process and missed the hands-on aspect of designing garments.[8]

Once the fashion label closed, Collins then returned to RISD to teach textiles as an associate professor, until 2013.[9][10][self-published source?] She has also taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Moore College of Art, Pratt Institute, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and Parsons School of Design.[11][self-published source?] In 2017, Collins served as a mentor to Marco DaSilva in Queer Art's Fellowship program.[11][self-published source?]

"Knit-Grafting"

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"Knit-grafting" is a term developed by Liz Collins used to describe her artistic process of reconstructing garments, and is most specifically used in her work as a fashion designer. This term stemmed from the fundamental of Grafting, which is the process of intertwining two or more fabrics together. Collin's Knit-Grafting incorporates numerous panels of fabrics as well fusing various materials together. These materials may include Lace, Metals, and other mediums used to make her design stand out.[2]

Knitting Nation

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As a response to the fashion industry she previously worked within, Collins launched Knitting Nation.[6] KN was a multi-part installation and performance project that spanned the course of several years and was globally spread.[6] It was a site-specific installation with collaborative performance that revealed some facets of the textile and apparel manufacturing processes by demonstrating costumed seamstresses manually working on knitting machines.[12] The objective of this work was to bring awareness to topics such as sexuality and gender within fashion, labor, and the issue of sustainable practices through immersive, visual means.[6] Crafting is filled with power hierarchies and gender nuances that are centered around the LGBTQ+ culture as fiber-based crafts like embroidery, knitting, and sewing examine the numerous preferences of society and raise reactions of those disapproving.[13] More specifically, Knitting Nation Phase 4 was titled "Pride" to admire and acknowledge the original rainbow flag of the LGBTQ+ Community. This installation was a hand knit rainbow flag that was displayed at the front and center steps of a park in Providence, Rhode Island for six hours.[12]

Cave of Secrets

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Cave of Secrets (2017) is an immersive installation created by Liz Collins for the New Museum's Trigger: Gender as a Tool and as a Weapon exhibition. The exhibition highlights intergenerational approaches to exploring gender beyond the binary. Cave of Secrets consists of a video-oriented lounge space, complete with feathery psychedelic drapes, videos of socializing friends reflected on mirrored screens, and vibrant colors.[14] Collins refers to the installation as the ideal environment for "hanging out and being a weirdo teenager."[14] In this way, Cave of Secrets is a visually saturated setting responsible for illustrating the young queer experience through expressions of labor commentary via yarn-work.

Knitting During Wartime

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In May of 2005, Liz Collins gathered on Governors Island with her colleague Elyse Allen, as well as many of her students from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). [15] Collins' army of knitters worked on constructing a knit American flag as part of the public craft performance. The event was inspired by Civil War reenactments and served as a response to the question: "what are you fighting for?"[16] Following the completion of the American flag, the freshly-knit work was dirtied and defaced to illustrate Collins' negative attitudes towards the US's involvement in the Iraq War.

Other work

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darkened room with patterned woven work on the walls, floor and ceiling
Installation view of Liz Collins' Cave of Secrets in the exhibit Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon at the New Museum, 2017

Other artwork by Liz Collins incorporates recycled textiles from previous art pieces, abstract designs, and structural components like poles and fences.[17] These pieces typically entertain a diverse color palette, and explore themes such as human interconnectedness and cosmic energy.[17] Her work exists on a plane of varying size such as intimate, fibrous wall hangings to life size installations that transport the audience to a temporary alternative universe.[11] Collins emphasizes interactive multi-media art that embodies various textures, scents, and colors in the materials to help make the audience's experiences multi-sensory.[18]

In 2022, Collins was commissioned to create the installation Every Which Way (2022) for Meta's Manhattan office complex in the historic James A. Farley Building.[19]

Liz Collins has also served as a Queer Art Mentor through the Queer Art Mentorship program. This program facilitates meaningful exchange between established and emerging artists to promote creative and professional development. The program emphasizes support in four artistic fields: film, literature, performance, and visual art.

Exhibitions

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Solo exhibitions

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Collections

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Collins has public collections in museums and gallery spaces across the country, which include the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, New York; the FIT Museum in New York, NY, the RISD Museum in Providence, RI, the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York, the Leslie-Lohmann Museum of Art in New York, NY, and the School of Art Institute of Chicago and the Fashion Resource Center in Chicago, IL.[10]

Awards

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  • United States Artist Target Fellowship, 2006[21]
  • MacColl Johnson Fellowship, 2011[22]
  • CeCArtsLink Grant with intentions to produce a Knitting Nation installation in Croatia.[11]

Residencies and Fellowships

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Pride dress". RISD Museum. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Hubbell, Leesa. "The Anatomy of Emotion: Liz Collins Knits a New Body of Ideas". Surface Design Journal. 26 (3): 12–17.
  3. ^ a b Liz Collins, Designing Brooklyn | BK Made, retrieved December 19, 2023
  4. ^ Deters, Alexandria (January 30, 2018). "In Conversation with Liz Collins: A Textile Artist Threading Her Queer Identity Into Her Art". Gallery Gurls. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Hemmings, Jessica (April 2006). "Making the Transition". Fiberarts. 32 (5): 42–47.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Hubbell, Leesa (Summer 2009). "Up-Cycling, Re-Cycling & Down-Shifting Fashion: Liz Collins Rethinks Knitwear". Surface Design Journal. 33 (4): 40–47.
  7. ^ Gschwandtner, Sabrina. Knitknit : Profiles + Projects from Knitting's New Wave. New York :Stewart, Tabori & Chang.[page needed]
  8. ^ Bryan-Wilson, Julia. "The Politics of Craft". Modern Painters. 20 (1): 78–110.
  9. ^ "Julie Davids and Liz Collins". The New York Times. November 20, 2005. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Collins, Liz. Curriculum vitae.
  11. ^ a b c d "Bio." Liz Collins, https://lizcollins.com/Bio.
  12. ^ a b Vaccaro, Jeanne (November 2014). "Queer Threads: Crafting Identity & Community". The Journal of Modern Craft. 7 (3): 325–327. doi:10.2752/174967714X14111311183045. S2CID 144510016.
  13. ^ Chaich, John, author. Queer Threads : Crafting Identity and Community. [Los Angeles, California] :Ammo, 2017.[page needed]
  14. ^ a b "BOMB Magazine | Tethered Together: Liz Collins Interviewed". BOMB Magazine. March 9, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  15. ^ Gschwandtner, Sabrina; Shirobayashi, Kiriko (2007). Knitknit: profiles & projects from knitting's new wave. New York London: Stewart, Tabori & Chang. ISBN 978-1-58479-631-2.
  16. ^ "phase-1". Liz Collins. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  17. ^ a b Edelkoort, Lidewij. "Indomitable." NYTM Magazine, pp. 87–91.
  18. ^ "DESIGN Wire". Interior Design. 90 (8): 21–24. June 2019.
  19. ^ Benjamin Sutton (August 24, 2022), Meta puts analogue art front and centre in sprawling new Manhattan office The Art Newspaper.
  20. ^ "MAD Presents Liz Collins' Knitting Nation Phase 15, In Conjunction with the New Exhibition in Time (The Rhythm of the Workshop)". madmuseum.org. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  21. ^ "United States Artists " Liz Collins". Retrieved March 2, 2019.
  22. ^ pwpadmin (March 2, 2011). "Rhode Island Foundation awards MacColl Johnson Fellowships to Liz Collins and Ellen Driscoll – RISD Academic Affairs". Retrieved March 2, 2019.
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Further Reading (Books from UW Art Library)

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Chaich, J., & Oldham, T. (2018). Liz Collins. In Queer threads: Crafting identity and community. essay, Ammo.

Gschwandtner, S. (2007). Chapter on Liz Collins. In Knitknit: Profiles + Projects from knitting’s new wave. essay, Stewart, Tabori & Chang.

McFadden, D. R., & Scanlan, J. (2008). Corporeal Constructions and Liz Collins. In Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting. essay, Museum of Arts & Design. '


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