By Kaylee Hayes | Reporter

In Baylor’s fiber studio, color moves through every corner. Tables are covered in thread, dye and fabric as students settle into a steady rhythm at their looms. The room feels focused, seemingly part classroom, part workshop.

Tina Linville, assistant professor of art, teaches Baylor’s fiber surface design and weaving classes, where students learn to think through materials.

“What fiber looks like is unpredictable and wild and magical,” Linville said. “Lots of freedom here to be creative.”

Baylor’s fiber program holds a rare position in Texas higher education, as similar programs around the state have been phased out.

“We are actually the very last BFA-granting R1 fiber concentration here in the state of Texas,” Linville said. “So if you are interested in studying fiber at the undergraduate level at an R1-level institution … this is where you go.”

The department was formerly called fabric design, a name Linville said didn’t fit the work being done. She led a change to “fiber” to better represent the program’s scope.

“When I got here, this program and this department were called fabric design, which is really confusing because we’re not designing patterns on a computer to print on textiles,” Linville said.

Linville said the new name reflects the discipline’s variety and ambition.

“You can make something that would exist on the wall like a painting,” Linville said. “You can also make something that you can wear on your body or use in your home, or you can make a sculpture that exists in three-dimensional space.”

Linville’s surface design students start with plain fabric and learn to alter it through dye, paint and embellishment.

“Every fabric that you see when we go inside the studio started white,” Linville said. “So it’s a complex thing to get that color where we want, how we want and then from there, how do we make art with it?”

The weaving course focuses on rhythm and repetition. Students use looms to build texture through movement.

“With this loom, I can operate the pedals with my feet, so my hands can be focused on this,” Linville said. “It almost feels like taking a walk. There’s a rhythm and sensation that’s really part of the power of weaving.”

League City senior and studio art major Moriah Aragon said the class reshaped how she sees art. Linville, she said, treats students like professionals.

“One of the things that stands out to me the most about Tina is that it’s her goal to treat us and train us as artists, not just as students, but to prepare us as professionals who are equipped to make artistic decisions,” Aragon said.

Aragon said Linville encourages creative risk, which is an important aspect of studio arts.

“She trusts us a lot, and she lets us wear our artist hats,” Aragon said.

Aragon said weaving connects her to family history and spirituality.

“It is unique in the way that it calls upon a really rich tradition and a historical form of art that is kind of unlike any other medium in its age,” Aragon said. “It’s exciting to approach this medium knowing that I’m adding my voice in a conversation that’s so ancient and so rich.”

Dallas senior and studio art major Kate Swayze said Linville’s surface design class helped her rethink painting.

“I’ve had a unique experience, because in my painting, I use a lot of fiber,” Swayze said. “I incorporate my painting rags from previous paintings into my next painting. So it’s kind of like this endless cycle where each painting creates a new painting rag.”

Swayze said learning the technical side of fiber has expanded her creative process.

“It’s been interesting taking the surface design class and learning about different materials, different substrates and actual application techniques that I didn’t even know existed,” Swayze said.

Swayze said Linville pushes students to question boundaries in art, which has been a common theme discussed among artists or all disciplines as technology changes and improves.

“Tina challenges this idea of the difference between art and craft,” Swayze said. “She pushes the boundaries a lot. Why can’t things that some people call craft be considered art?”

Linville said her goal is to help students take ownership of their work and trust their process.

“When the students are really taking ownership of these techniques for their own practices, where it’s not like they’re trying to please me or make work like mine, but they’re making their own work and seeing how fiber and the materials might speak to their ideas — that’s when I know I’m doing my job,” Linville said.

The studio art minor, which only requires six classes, allows students outside the major to take part in creative courses. Linville hopes to see the program grow and develop over time.

“It’s a doable commitment, and it gets you access to these creative classes,” Linville said. “For so many people, it’s a mental health thing. It can be such a gift to the intensity of this time.”