After graduating from The University of Michigan with a BFA in Fibers, Marianne Fairbanks went on to study textiles at The Kyoto Seika University in Japan before returning to the US to pursue an MFA in Fibers and Material Studies at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There she began working collaboratively with Jane Palmer under the moniker of JAM. JAM’s work has been included in exhibitions such as Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art, which originated at the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago. Marianne was a cofounder of Mess Hall, an experimental cultural space in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago that sought to cultivate community through workshops, symposia, and exhibitions. She was also cofounder of Noon Solar, a small business that created sustainable bags and totes that incorporate flexible thin film solar panels to charge cell phones and mp3 players, a business that grew out of one of JAM’s projects. For over 10 years Marianne has also maintained an active roll as co-curator of a space in Chicago called Lula Café.
In her current work Marianne seeks to explore intersections between the materiality and processes associated with textiles, sustainable design, community, collaboration and entrepreneurship. She brings this mash up of passions to her students in classes like weaving and off loom structures.
My work spans the fields of art, design, and social practice, seeking to chart new material and conceptual territories, to innovate solution-based design, and to foster fresh modes of cultural production. My recent solo work made for exhibition pays homage to sophisticated textile traditions including age-old indigenous processes in form-making and domestic handspun textile production Between the inflated scale and radical fluorescent palette that refuses to be ignored, the sculptures and installations are loud and penetrating. Whereas the drawings, jacquard weaving and prints more quietly pose questions around value, and the labor and time embedded in process and history. With playfulness and wit, the work destabilizes conventional gender based value systems of hard and soft form-making, and encourages a deep engagement with our material world. https://www.mariannefairbanks.com
- M.F.A., Fibers and Materials Studies, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
- International Exchange Program, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan
- B.F.A., Fibers, The University of Michigan School of Art and Design, Ann Arbor, MI
Assistant Professor, Design Studies UW Madison http://sohe.wisc.edu
NAFTAE 