Jeremy Ripley

As human beings we have a deep history and connection to textiles so how do we use textiles to build our own identities? There is no definitive starting point for when textiles began to be part of our culture and yet, we have adopted textiles, and in turn, they have become an integral part of who we are. How do we build our individual identity? Is it though our mannerisms: the way we walk, the way we talk? Through our associations: family, race and ethnicity? Through our possessions: the house we live in, the clothes we wear, our intellect? Jeremy Ripley proposes these questions through his work.

Jeremy Ripley is from a small rural town in Northern Michigan called Sault Sainte Marie. This is where he learned to weave cloth and has remained a handweaver for 15 years. He continuesto have a strong connection to the long development of hand manipulation of natural fibers as well as to the industrial processes that create textiles. Ripley believes all of these systems define who we are both as individuals and as part of a larger community. His quest is to explore how textiles continue to shape who we are.

riplj674@newschool.edu