Erin McQuarrie

All Disciplines Award, The New School, Parsons School of Design - Textiles Design

Textiles have always intrigued me, an expressive and flexible medium, contemplating colour, form, structure and narrative. A graduate from The Glasgow School of Art, my practice has been informed by a unique set of personal experiences and a desire to create thought provoking and forward-thinking textiles. In Scotland, growing up as a young athlete, I was surrounded by cutting edge fabrics, geared towards performance enhancement. Later, time spent in Malawi, Delhi and, latterly, in Tokyo as an exchange student, gave me new exposure to and appreciation of traditional fabrics and craft. I aim to find harmony between these two approaches to making, creating expressive material prototypes utilising both craft based and digital processes. With a complex, uncertain but exciting future ahead of us, we must rely on our creativity to address issues of aesthetics, practicality and sustainability. It is incredibly motivating to receive this support from Fulbright as the Textiles MFA at Parsons will give me access to cutting edge facilities, a global textile community and allow me to unpick these timely points. I will relish visiting the famous museums of New York, exploring the vibrant music scene and playing basketball, a sport truly integrated into the fabric of the city.