Online / Talk / Weaving

Maaike Gottschal will give an Artist Talk about her work, her textile studio Textielfabrique, her research on textile techniques and cultures worldwide and her life as textile artist and pioneer.

Maaike Gottschal is a multidisciplinary (textile) artist from the Netherlands.
Through her work, Maaike aims to advocate for beauty and poetry in her textiles; beauty has a transformative power of imagination that makes our relationship with textiles personal, powerful and meaningful'

Here appreciation for textiles was passed down through her family. She grew up in a textile family that learned her weaving, spinning, bobbin lace making, embroidery, sewing, and explore many other techniques from an early age. Maaike studied design, art history, jewellery, and visual arts and is working across disciplines and their intersections.
Over the past fifteen years, she studied a wide range of textile techniques with seven teachers around the world, as part of a self-designed program called Textile as Language. Since 2020, she has been creating textiles using locally grown flax. Textile techniques and textile cultures are central to her work and knowledge. Anyone can spin, weave, and create beautiful, meaningful cloth. Her textiles are not technically perfect—rather, they are woven to highlight the human aspect of nowadays art.
Maaike teaches textile masterclasses since 2013 at her company Textielfabrique.

maaikegottschal.com

@maaikegottschal

In person / Talk / Weaving

Discover the extraordinary possibilities of using local longwool yarns with master weaver Stephanie Seal Brown. While these robust fibers may not offer next-to-skin softness, their exceptional length, strength, thickness and lack of shrinkage create fabrics with natural durability, brilliant luster and flowing drape—qualities that make them ideally suited for outerwear and interiors.

Descended from sheep brought by Romans to British shores and later perfected through Robert Bakewell's 18th-century breeding program, these now-endangered breeds still produce truly distinctive fibers with remarkable properties. Once prized for hardwearing textiles, longwool gradually vanished from manufacturing as mills prioritized softer, more versatile medium wools. these breeds thrive in our northern, cold, damp climate, the time has come to explore their possibilities anew.

Through her work primarily with Lincoln Longwool from Emmaline Long and Orchard View Lincolns, Stephanie highlights how these heritage fibers create textiles with distinctive character and performance, demonstrating their unique advantages for specific applications and offering contemporary designers exciting possibilities in textile development.

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Stephanie Seal Brown is a master handweaver and textile designer in the Hudson Valley. Her work in the interiors industry spans both collaborations with Schumacher and her studio-produced collections, where she has become known for her distinctive linen tape trims.

By not automating the weaving process, she remains intimately involved at every step. Every inch of yarn passes through her hands multiple times as it is prepared and woven, with small changes and continuous iterations. Slowing down allows aesthetics, function, longevity, and materials to develop and find voice in the final design.

stephaniesealbrown.com

@stephaniesealbrown