FIBERS & MATERIAL STUDIES MFA

Tyler’s Fibers & Material Studies program embraces a bold, interdisciplinary approach to one of the world’s oldest and most accessible traditions: working with fibers.

Students are pushed to refine their aesthetic, collaborate, embrace a broad definition of material exploration and contribute to vital discussions on history, identity, current social issues and more. Through dynamic events and projects such as the annual Wearable Art Show and the Natural Dye Garden (the source of the marigolds above), Tyler Fibers & Material Studies students create exciting conversations with artists and students throughout the school, Temple University and Philadelphia, home to a vibrant fibers community and DIY scene.

Facilities

State-of-the-art equipment, including a Jacquard Loom TC2, tufting guns, a long arm sewing machine, embroidery machines and more

Dedicated Fibers & Material Studies spaces, like a loom room and ultramodern dye lab, to aid exploration of concept and practice

A computer lab for screen printing and digital printing, as well as a large-format printer that can print on 46-inch-wide bolts of cloth

Studio spaces for students to work independently or collaborate

Queer Materials Lab

Recently launched by Tyler Fibers Program Head, Jesse Harrod—renowned for their manipulation and transformation of materials—the Queer Materials Lab opens up opportunities for students to work with visiting artists and join a broader LGBTQIA+ discourse.

The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is a community of bold thinkers and makers based at one of the nation’s leading schools for the study of art, design and the built environment.

We come from many practices, cultures and backgrounds, and we’re inspired and connected by the shared experience of being transformed by learning. Our home is Temple University, a large, public research university in Philadelphia, a culturally vibrant city and urban laboratory for engaging some of society’s most pressing challenges, and an ideal place for building careers as artists, designers, architects, educators, researchers and planners.

For more than 80 years, Tyler has been producing graduates whose originality, tenacity and commitment to social change have left their mark on a world that’s hungry for visionary thinkers who are skilled practitioners.