Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Keywords
Studio Art, Textiles, Public Sculpture, Installation, Site Specific Art, Residency, Faculty Research
Proposal
Folded Line is a site-specific fabric installation made whilst in residence at PADA Studios in Barreiro, Portugal. PADA is located at the former site of Companhia Uniao Fabril (CUF), one of the largest corporations in Portugal that produced a wide range of goods from petrochemicals to carpets from the 1930’s through the 1970’s, employing upmost of 10,000 people. In its prime, it provided housing, schooling, medical care, and a live-in community for its employees. Folded Line runs down a set of monumentally sized steps that once served as stadium seats for company football matches. The dramatic diagonal edge of the steps marks the entrance to the CUF complex.
Made through a process of tracing, mapping, pattern making, and sewing, Folded Line forms a fabric cast of bleached out color running down the steps, mimicking a slice of light cast from an open door at the top of a dark stairway. The sewn line is patchworked together from thrifted shirts, sheets, remnants of old projects, and new yardage sourced from Lisbon. Like dog earring a page in a book or setting a stack of stones to mark a path, the line temporarily demarcates the transitional nature of stairs, occupying a space between architecture, sculpture, and a path made by walking.
Copyright
© 2025 Catelyn Mailloux. All rights reserved.
Publication Date
2-26-2025
Folded Line: A Site-Specific Textile Installation
Folded Line is a site-specific fabric installation made whilst in residence at PADA Studios in Barreiro, Portugal. PADA is located at the former site of Companhia Uniao Fabril (CUF), one of the largest corporations in Portugal that produced a wide range of goods from petrochemicals to carpets from the 1930’s through the 1970’s, employing upmost of 10,000 people. In its prime, it provided housing, schooling, medical care, and a live-in community for its employees. Folded Line runs down a set of monumentally sized steps that once served as stadium seats for company football matches. The dramatic diagonal edge of the steps marks the entrance to the CUF complex.
Made through a process of tracing, mapping, pattern making, and sewing, Folded Line forms a fabric cast of bleached out color running down the steps, mimicking a slice of light cast from an open door at the top of a dark stairway. The sewn line is patchworked together from thrifted shirts, sheets, remnants of old projects, and new yardage sourced from Lisbon. Like dog earring a page in a book or setting a stack of stones to mark a path, the line temporarily demarcates the transitional nature of stairs, occupying a space between architecture, sculpture, and a path made by walking.
