Aet Ollisaar of Tartu Art Academy, Estonia, along with the eminent artist Egle Bogdaniene, lecturer of Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania, joined Pamela Hardesty of CCAD to conceive, develop, and implement a very successful textile exchange project on SKIN.
Textile students have exhibited together in the touring show SKIN NAHK ODA in all three cities in 2017.
Skin is a covering, a membrane, an essential organ of life. It can be vulnerable or protective, camouflaging or sensual. It is a visible record of age and experience. Its many properties link it closely with cloth. SKIN NAHK ODA inspired textile art forms based on an open investigation of the formal, technical, and conceptual potential of the complex identities of living organisms.
The SKIN project was given to textiles students simultaneously in each College and included on-line sharing of research, sample tests, and resource visits and speakers in each programme. The SKIN theme was inspiring, wide-ranging, and fruitful; students in each institution gained important skills in exhibition planning and presentation methods, and in seeing their work in a much larger context internationally.