What is LAFTA?
Founded in 1995, Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists (LAFTA) is an organization of visual artists whose work encompasses a variety of surface design and construction techniques, focusing on fibers, textiles and beads.
Our mission is to provide support to our members and to increase community awareness of fiber and textile art. Click HERE to see how our mission unfolded over this past year.
LAFTA CALENDAR
May
- Thurs, May 15: Monthly meeting. St Marks Church, Doors open at 6pm, meeting begins at 6:30. Speaker is Tammy Burke, textile artist and educator. We will also have Show and Tell and Grab Bag. Guests are welcome.
- Sat, May 24: deadline for submissions to LAFTA’s exhibition at PYRO Gallery Application forms and other information about LAFTA’s 30th Anniversary Exhibition and application forms are available on the LAFTA website main page (https://laftalouisville.org).
June
- Thur, June 19: Monthly Meeting St Marks Church, Doors open at 6pm, meeting begins at 6:30. Speaker will be Lexington based artist and Professor Emeritus Arturo Alonzo Sandoval. We will also have Show and Tell and Grab Bag. Guests are welcome.
July
- In-person meeting Thursday July 17th
LAFTA MAY MEETING
Tammy Burke: Textile Artist and Educator
Our speaker for the Thurs, May 15 meeting is Tammy Burke. Often described as a textile artist, Tammy works in many media. She makes clothes for others, loves exploring natural and synthetic dyeing techniques and uses qualities of performance in her work. She has yet to learn to knit and crochet…yet.
After earning her MFA, she developed the craft of teaching and of making complex garments to please others.
Her work has been shown and worn internationally, on walls and on stage. She has inherited the gift of material manipulation from her father and her love of beauty and clothes from her mother.
The meeting is at St. Marks Church, Doors open at 6pm, meeting begins at 6:30. The meeting will be available on zoom for those who cannot attend. We will also have Show and Tell and Grab Bag. Guests are welcome.
LAFTA JUNE MEETING
Lexington based artist and Professor Emeritus, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval
Our speaker for June is Arturo Alonzo Sandoval. He is a fiber artist whose experimental techniques and expressive interpretations have earned him an international reputation. A Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Kentucky, his work has been exhibited extensively regionally, nationally, and internationally and is in the collections of the New York City Museum of Modern Arts Architecture and Design Collection, as well as galleries and private collections throughout the United States and the world.
He received three Kentucky Arts Council (KAC) Al Smith Visual Arts Fellowships, two Al Smith Professional Service Awards, the KAC Craft Marketing Honorary Award, and the KAC and Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation, Inc. RUDE OSOLNIK Craftsman Award. In addition, he received the 2003 Governor’s Award in the arts Artist Award. In 2007, he was honored with the University of Kentucky Kirwan Prize for Research, the Kentucky STAR from the Downtown Lexington Corporation. Both for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts, and he was elected to the American Craft Council Society of FELLOWS, the most prestigious national craft award.
LAFTA 30th Anniversary Exhibition at PYRO Gallery
Call for Entries
Reminder- Submission Due Date: May 24th!
Click here for: LAFTA Pyro Submission Form
To celebrate the enduring talent and creativity of LAFTA members over the 30 years that is has gathered fiber and textile artists and enthusiasts in the Louisville area, PYRO Gallery has invited LAFTA members to show their work in LAFTA @ 30, a juried exhibition to be installed at the gallery (1006 East Washington Street, Louisville, KY 40206) from July 4 through July 27, 2025.
The exhibition, open to current members of LAFTA only, will be juried by Paula Kovarik (www.paulakovarik.com), a nationally recognized fiber artist.
This is an opportunity to pull out the stops and shine!
You are not required to have professional photos of your submissions, but in order to help you put your best foot forward, LAFTA will be offering a photography workshop on Saturday, April 26, at St Mark’s Episcopal Church. We plan to include a presentation on how to take high quality images of your work and we hope to offer an opportunity for members to have a professional photographer take images for you (for a fee). We will also send around a summary of the photography pointers to those who cannot attend.
SCHEDULE of EVENTS and DEADLINES
- April 1–May 24: Applications accepted
- Saturday, April 26: Photography workshop at St Mark’s
- Saturday, May 24: Final submission deadline, midnight
- May 25– June 10: Jurying
- June 10: Jurying complete, notices sent out
- Monday, June 30: Deliver work to Pyro Gallery for installation
- Friday, July 4: Exhibition officially opens
- Friday, July 11: Friday evening, opening reception, 5:30-8:30
- Sunday, July 27: Exhibition closes, artists can pick up work at the Gallery 4–5 pm
- Monday, July 28: Artists pick up work at the Gallery in the morning
APPLICATION FORMS and ARTWORK SUBMISSION:
Starting April 1, application forms will be available for download on the LAFTA website as well as from Jessica Beels (jbeelsdesign@gmail.com). You will be required to supply basic contact information about yourself, as well as information and images for up to 5 submissions (name, title of work. Dimensions, mediums and materials, price). The submission form will specify how to upload information and images for consideration.
Image requirements: Photos should be in .jpg format with a minimum of 1920 pixels along the longest side of the image and a maximum resolution of 5 MB. We will provide some image formatting support to applicants and encourage applicants to attend the photography workshop on April 26, if possible.
What can you submit?
- All submissions must incorporate textile materials or fiber techniques (with broad and generous definitions of the terms). Please contact Jessica Beels if you have any questions.
- All work must be original and not infringe on any other artist’s copyright. In the context of fiber art, that would mean that work made from kits or using patterns would not be eligible. All work must be for sale, and PYRO will take a 50% commission on anything purchased during the show.
- All work must be completed by the time of submission and the photographs submitted must show the full completed work.
- There is no limit on when the artwork was completed – we want you to submit what you consider to be your best work, not necessarily your most recent work.
- Collaborations are permitted as long as all contributing artists are members of LAFTA.
If collaborators need to join, they should visit the LAFTA membership page (https://laftalouisville.org/why-join/).
- Pyro can accommodate a wide range of work, including 3D work on pedestals and large wall hung work.
- A submission may contain more than one element or a group of pieces as long as all of the objects in the group are required to be displayed together to complete the piece. If a group of artworks comprise a series (separate, related pieces that can each stand alone), they will each be considered as separate submission for the exhibition.
- We will accept up to five (5) submissions per artist.
Application Fee
The application fee (including one submission) is $20, $10 for current full time students, plus $5 for each additional submission. Artists may apply with up to 5 total submissions. You can pay the entry fee in PayPal by using the button at the bottom of the membership renewal page (https://laftalouisville.org/
EXHIBITING AT PYRO
Each admitted artist will sign a contract with the gallery – all art is insured through the gallery.
All artwork in this exhibition must be available for sale (split 50/50 with the gallery).
Contact Jessica Beels (jbeelsdesign@gmail.com) with questions or to have a form emailed to you if you have trouble downloading it from the LAFTA website (after April 1).
LAFTA Special Interest Groups
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LAFTA offers special interest groups for members who are interested in specific types of fiber art. |
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