Material Code

with Samantha Bittman
FIBER 626 001 & PAINTING 603 001 | 3 credits
Online | June 14 - 27, 2024 | 10 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. CST

In this course, students will explore how the weave draft technique, often utilized by weavers for the loom, can generate patterned binary code which can then be translated into textile, painting, sound, and many other media. Focusing on the communicative capabilities of their chosen material, students will draft and manipulate algorithmic pattern generators to produce endless patterns of 1’s and 0’s. Works made by artists including Anni Albers, Xylor Jane, Beryl Korot, and kg will lead us into conversations around the origins of weaving, the loom, computers, and algorithmic art making. Discussion will be supplemented by Bhakti Ziek’s The Woven Pixel, Beverly Gordon’s “Cloth as Communication”, and Chris Ofili: Weaving Magic. Assignments will include drafting a “Sample Blanket” with graph paper, colored pencil, and other flat materials and, while contemplating how material choice makes meaning, final pieces of any media that utilize the code will be shared amongst the group.

Samantha Bittman is a visual artist and educator based in the Hudson Valley, NY. In her practice, she works with woven patterning to generate paintings, graphic wallpapers, and tiled installations. She has participated in residency programs at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, and Ox-Bow School of Art. In 2012, she received the Artadia Award. Recent solo exhibitions include, Ronchini, London, UK; Andrew Rafacz, Chicago; Morgan Lehman, New York; and Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, New York. She has been included in numerous group exhibitions including David Castillo, Miami, Florida; Shane Campbell, Chicago; and Rhona Hoffman, Chicago. Her work has been written about in The New York Times, Wall Street International, and The Washington Post, amongst others. She has taught at numerous institutions Rhode Island School of Design, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Tyler School of Art, Haystack School of Crafts, and Ox-Bow. In 2022, she founded Catskill Weaving School, an artist-run school that offers in-person and online weaving workshops, based in Catskill, and Brooklyn, New York. She holds an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

Samantha Bittman, Untitled, 2020, acrylic on hand-woven textile, 30 x 24 in.