Building Bridges and Connections: Praxis Fiber Workshop’s Triennial Digital Weaving Conference Links Cleveland to the World

On a warm April evening, twenty or so people filled the studio at Praxis Fiber Workshop, on Waterloo Road in Collinwood. Community Craft Circle began at 6 pm and by 6:01 artist-crafters were quiet, their eyes glued to their projects. There were some knitters, a person who appeared to be spinning fibers into yarn, and a man in his thirties who carried something small and precious to the worktable—his project covered in white fabric, balanced on the palms of his hands. This was quiet, sacred space, so I remained an observer, wandering through the sea of looms surrounding the group, taking in the unfinished projects on this ancient piece of technology that is still so utterly central to our lives.

Locally and globally, Praxis plays an enormous role for fiber artists and makers, and anyone interested in exploring related skills. Its global role comes to the fore June 24–26 as the organization presents the second Bridges & Connections digital weaving conference. Held first in 2023, Bridges & Connections will gather fiber artists and educators from around the world for networking, teaching and learning about weaving on digital TC2 looms. As it happens, according to Praxis founder and Executive Director Jessica Pinsky, Praxis operates the only open-access TC2 residency program in North America. It’s also one of the only places globally where an artist can independently access a TC2 loom outside an academic institution.

A TC2—Thread Controller 2—is a hand-operated, electronic Jacquard loom manufactured by Digital Weaving Norway, a division of Tronrud Engineering. According to the manufacturer, though “the loom’s operations are completely computer controlled, its hand-weaving feature allows the user to closely monitor every single pick and thus enables endless possibilities to experiment and innovate.” Artists can scan images, and the loom can treat each pixel of the scan as a thread. That makes possible a limitless and dazzling array of pattern and possibility, locally made familiar by Kent State University Professor Janice Lessman-Moss, whose geometric abstractions meld color and line in rhythms and patterns reminiscent of the most eye-popping Op art. Praxis owns two of those looms.

Pinsky says Praxis’ TC2 looms are constantly in use, due to a program wherein artists pay for a two-week residency that, thanks to the purchase of the house next to the studio, can include on-site housing. The schedule allows for 44 artists to come to Cleveland each year to work on the digital looms.

Most TC2 looms, as Pinsky notes, are housed at universities, where access is limited to students and faculty. Praxis provides access to digital weaving technology (and a couple dozen other looms and other facilities to support fiber and textile art) after graduation, as well as for the community at large.

Cleveland, it’s worth noting, is a city rich in support for artists whose practices need heavy equipment: Zygote Press for printmaking, Morgan Conservatory for paper making and book arts, Sears think[box] and several libraries for 3D printing, and Soulcraft for woodworking, in addition to Praxis Fiber Workshop. And adding to the city’s fiber chops, Rust Belt Fibershed—a community of artists and makers within a 250-mile-radius around Cleveland—gathers annually for its own symposium, featuring workshops, speakers, a fashion show, vendors’ market, and more. Rust Belt Fibershed is a frequent collaborator with Praxis. By hosting an international conference, Praxis puts the city’s fiber community on the map in a way that helps connect Cleveland artists to the world. Praxis’s 2023 Bridges & Connections conference drew 105 participants from five countries—Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany and the US.

Pinsky anticipates some growth this year, despite the headwind of international politics. Some eighteen presenters will lead seminars, workshops, and featured talks. The curriculum is by Cathryn Amidei, who is director of Praxis Digital Weaving Lab, as well as studio director at the Jacquard Center (North Carolina) and Digital Weaving Norway’s representative in the US. Digital Weaving Norway, a department of Tronrud Engineering, is the company that manufactures TC2 digital looms. Other headliners include Felicia Dean, assistant professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and her colleague Benjamin Sechrest, whose collaborative weavings have fused historic patterns with Afrofuturism; and UK-based weaver, Ayse Simsek. Pinsky expects somewhere between 100 to 150 participants from all over the world.

And shoppers, take note: she says the 2026 conference “will coincide with the opening of Praxis’ new retail boutique, Crop to Cloth, which will feature raw, dyeable fabrics and artist-made garments. We’re under construction for the shop now. We’ll be open on the 24th of June.”

For a list of presenters, workshop leaders, and more information, including conference registration, visit Praxisfiberworkshop.org.