Textile
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Materials The Textile Program specializes in multimedia textile and fiber arts production needs for artists and offers access to an extensive suite of textile services and techniques including sewing, embroidery, weaving, tufting, knitting, and other textile construction, manipulation, and embellishment.
Services

SEWING Expert stitchers on staff with diverse experience. Able to handle wide range of materials and techniques from fine hand stitching and delicate materials to heavyweight construction for sculptural results. Small production runs, garment sampling, costume building, stitch surface texture (pleating, smocking, shirring).

MATERIAL SOURCING Drawing from experience in fashion, fine art, architecture, mascot building, upholstery, and film production our staff is well equipped to thoughtfully advise for a range of circumstances and special considerations. Partnerships and relationships with wholesalers and local suppliers.

TUFTING Gun tufting for fine art applications and custom carpet making with maximum tuft-able area of 6.5ft x 10.5ft (68.25 sq/ft). Looped and cut pile textures. Custom archival backing and hanging system design available.

EMBROIDERY Hand, chainstitch, manual and digital machine embroidery in a full selection of thread colors. File generation for digital machine embroidery available.

WEAVING Custom hand woven fabric construction, including unconventional materials and structures. File generation for digital weave design available. Dimensions up to 72" wide, maximum 20 yard production.

KNITTING Hand knitting, crochet, and machine knitting, including custom design of knit textiles and forms.

CUSTOM FABRIC Dye, screen print, block print, air brush, and paint.

SPINNING Custom spun fiber and plied yarns for weaving or secondary construction.

Sarah Crowner, Sapphire Tapestry, Part 3, 2019 (detail). Image courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan New York. Photo: Jason Wyche
Masks by Powerhouse Arts Staff

Powerhouse staff have joined the nationwide efforts making masks in support of healthcare and other essential workers serving our community. To date, we have sent over 200 masks to healthcare workers at local healthcare organizations, who have posted calls for masks.

These healthcare organizations include Community Options Inc., a non-profit org in New Jersey that provides housing and employment opportunities for people with disabilities; T.E.A.L, a Brooklyn based non-profit organization for women struggling with ovarian cancer; Mount Sinai’s postpartum and pediatrics unit; and Samaritan Daytop Village Veritas House Community Residence, a community residence in Harlem that provides healthcare, mental health, and substance abuse services for high-risk populations.

To learn more about how you can support by purchasing a mask, please email marketing@powerhousearts.org.

You can also download an at-home guide to making a mask:

Download Mask-Making Pattern
Our shops are currently preparing to move into our future facility. In preparation for the move, production will be paused from January 1st to July 1st. We understand that this hiatus may disrupt existing project timelines, so we encourage you to get in any project inquiries as soon as possible if you’d like to have work fabricated before the end of the year. Complete the Project Inquiry form here.
Location

We are located at 60 Seabring Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Our hours of operation are 9am - 5pm, by appointment only.

Accessibility

There are no stairs required to access our ground-floor (Wood, Metal, and Ceramic shops & offices) and there is one accessible bathroom without handrails. The Textile Shop is located on a second-floor that is only accessible by a steep flight of stairs with 17 steps (8" high and 9" deep), and one handrail on the right side when ascending.

For more details on directions click here.

Upcoming
Conversation
Virtual Consultations
Ongoing Event
Join Powerhouse Arts expert staff and fabricators for a one-on-one virtual conversation. In these 30-minute sessions, our team is available to advise on projects you’re currently working on, to troubleshoot technical challenges, to explore innovative applications of materials, and to offer thought-partnership in your creative endeavors. Learn More
Conversation
Virtual Consultations
Date & Time
Ongoing
Event
Join Powerhouse Arts expert staff and fabricators for a one-on-one virtual conversation. In these 30-minute sessions, our team is available to advise on projects you’re currently working on, to troubleshoot technical challenges, to explore innovative applications of materials, and to offer thought-partnership in your creative endeavors.
Learn More
Featured Project Artist Liz Collins worked with Powerhouse Arts to create the sculpture Map Key for the exhibition “Wayfinding” at The Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts. The sculpture is based on a map key that Collins referenced within the Phillips Academy’s Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection, which included European maps, atlases, and documents from 1434 through the 19th century. Map Key is made of wood and papier-mâché, acrylic fabric, wool, silk, screen printed antique linen tablecloth.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Map Key in the exhibition Wayfinding at The Addison Gallery of American Art. Image courtesy of the artist.
Featured Project Artist Liz Collins worked with Powerhouse Arts to create the sculpture Map Key for the exhibition “Wayfinding” at The Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts. The sculpture is based on a map key that Collins referenced within the Phillips Academy’s Sidney R. Knafel Map Collection, which included European maps, atlases, and documents from 1434 through the 19th century. Map Key is made of wood and papier-mâché, acrylic fabric, wool, silk, screen printed antique linen tablecloth.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project In 2020, K8 Hardy reached out to Powerhouse Arts to collaborate on the fabrication of March, a large-scale, 10 x 6 foot upholstered maxi pad with colorful stains. March is composed of silver infused dimpled bamboo fabric — currently being marketed as a face mask filtration layer.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
K8 Hardy, March, 2020, Mixed media. Photography by Joerg Lohse. Courtesy of the artist and Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York / Los Angeles.
Featured Project In 2020, K8 Hardy reached out to Powerhouse Arts to collaborate on the fabrication of March, a large-scale, 10 x 6 foot upholstered maxi pad with colorful stains. March is composed of silver infused dimpled bamboo fabric — currently being marketed as a face mask filtration layer.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project Bryony Roberts Studio commissioned Powerhouse Arts to fabricate Soft Civic, a site-specific work that aims to enhance the public gathering space in Columbus, Indiana.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Aerial view of Soft Civic installed at City Hall in Columbus, Indiana. © Bryony Roberts. Photography by Hadley Fruits
Featured Project Bryony Roberts Studio commissioned Powerhouse Arts to fabricate Soft Civic, a site-specific work that aims to enhance the public gathering space in Columbus, Indiana.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Featured Project Sarah Crowner was commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans to create a series of six individual tapestry panels for the exhibition, Hinge Pictures: Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension, which aimed to challenge patriarchal narratives of European modernism.
More about this project, All Featured Projects
Sarah Crowner, Sapphire Tapestry, (Parts 1-3), 2019. Exhibition view: “Hinge Pictures: Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension,” 2019, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans. Image courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York. Photo: Alex Marks.
Featured Project Sarah Crowner was commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans to create a series of six individual tapestry panels for the exhibition, Hinge Pictures: Eight Women Artists Occupy the Third Dimension, which aimed to challenge patriarchal narratives of European modernism.
More about this project, All Featured Projects