ABOUT:
Throughout her career, Susan Yelavich has been drawn to textiles. The attraction began early. She learned to sew and knit as young girl; and in her twenties, she integrated thread and fabric in her painting and sculpture at Cranbrook Academy of Art. When she pivoted to design, first at Cooper Hewitt Museum and then at Parsons School of Design, textiles became a critical focus of her research. Six years ago, she began working with thread again, exploring the incremental nature of digital images and the incremental nature of stitching.  She describes her pieces as mosaics of thread. Her analog translations of her digital photographs also provide fertile material for further research and writing in her capacity as Professor Emerita of Design Studies and in her role as a member of Scientific Committee for Design at the Politecnico di Milano. Yelavich is the author of numerous articles and books, including Thinking Design through Literature (2019), Design as Future-Making with Barbara Adams (2014), Contemporary World Interiors (2007), Pentagram/Profile (2004), Inside Design Now (2003), Design for Life (1997), and The Edge of the Millennium (1993). She is a Fellow of the Bogliasco Foundation (2018) and the American Academy in Rome (2004). Her essays can be found at Assaying: stray thoughts, culled words at susanyelavich.com.