Community Looms

The New Children’s Museum is collaborating with artist-in-residence Michelle Montjoy on a new workshop, Community Looms, in the Museum’s makerspace, The Rosso Family Foundation Innovators LAB.

The Community Looms workshop, to start Dec. 7 and run through Jan. 9, is inspired by Montjoy’s work in engaging community members to create textile sculptures together. Previously, she has implemented similar versions of this workshop at the Oceanside Museum of Art, Art Produce Gallery in North Park, and Sophie’s Gallery in El Cajon.

The workshops at the Museum consist of three large looms, 36 inches in diameter each, in which 6-8 participants work together at each loom to knit material made from recycled or donated T-shirts. Workshop participants will learn Montjoy’s loom knitting technique as well as breathing and meditative techniques facilitated by the Museum’s Teaching Artists.

The finished knitted sculptures will then be displayed in the Museum after the workshop series has ended.

“Using familiar textile material and joyful colors, these oversized hand-built looms transform what is usually a singular activity into a connected, communal action,” said Montjoy. “Not only do participants get to tap into the calming nature of simple repetitive looping actions, but each stitch in the knitted sculpture physically represents the time and hand of the person who made it.”

The Community Looms workshop is free with Museum admission and available in the Museum’s Innovators LAB from Dec. 7 to Jan. 9 at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. every day the Museum is open (closed Tuesdays) for ages 6 and up. An additional drop-in art activity of weaving yarn, recycled T-shirts and natural materials into a tapestry will also be available for visitors of all ages to add their weaving.

The artist residency is funded by a $10K grant from the ResMed Foundation to support the month-long program.

This workshop is a continuation of the Museum’s collaboration with Montjoy. In September, Montjoy completed a sensory-friendly installation on the Museum’s main level called Breathing Room. Breathing Room invites visitors with calming blue, grey and white colors and hanging textile sculptures that gently move up and down, replicating breathing cycles. The installation is meant to provide a space for families and children to reflect and relax in an otherwise highactivity environment.

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