In partnership with her husband, Bruce Checefsky, Praxis Fiber Workshop is proud to announce the Tina Cassara Fellowship—a new opportunity designed to support recent college graduates who are passionate about material exploration in textiles. This fellowship honors the legacy of the late artist Tina Cassara, who passed away in 2024.
Tina Cassara was a respected professor of fiber arts and sculpture at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her work explored the intersections of women's labor in textile mills and the conceptual relationship between drawing, writing, and thread—where line, text, and textile converge. Cassara examined the semiotic connections between language and fiber, finding profound meaning in their shared origins. The word line stems from the Latin linea, meaning a thread made from flax, while text originates from the Latin for “something woven.” As Cassara observed, “When we write to record a story or idea we draw lines. In textiles the thread, a physical line, moves and turns, building a surface that is, at one and the same time, surface and substance.”
The Tina Cassara Fellowship offers one emerging artist a 12-month studio residency at Praxis Fiber Workshop, culminating in a solo exhibition of new work. Preference will be given to artists who demonstrate a strong commitment to conceptual and material experimentation.
Applications Due: Jul 1, 2025 | Fellowship Begins September 2025 | Gallery Exhibition August 2026
Tina Cassara was a respected professor of fiber arts and sculpture at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Her work explored the intersections of women's labor in textile mills and the conceptual relationship between drawing, writing, and thread—where line, text, and textile converge. Cassara examined the semiotic connections between language and fiber, finding profound meaning in their shared origins. The word line stems from the Latin linea, meaning a thread made from flax, while text originates from the Latin for “something woven.” As Cassara observed, “When we write to record a story or idea we draw lines. In textiles the thread, a physical line, moves and turns, building a surface that is, at one and the same time, surface and substance.”
The Tina Cassara Fellowship offers one emerging artist a 12-month studio residency at Praxis Fiber Workshop, culminating in a solo exhibition of new work. Preference will be given to artists who demonstrate a strong commitment to conceptual and material experimentation.
Applications Due: Jul 1, 2025 | Fellowship Begins September 2025 | Gallery Exhibition August 2026
