Ainsley Van Hook 2026

Abstract

My Sweaters Keep My Cold Body Warm explores textile craft, particularly knitting and weaving, as methods of care, memory, and embodied knowledge. Through personal narrative, material exploration, collaboration, and craft education. I position craft in this project as both a deeply personal and collective act, highlighting the importance of passing on knowledge and communal learning. With this my thesis engages with tensions surrounding the contemporary resurgence of textile arts alongside the decline of accessible material-based education. Rather than attempting to resolve these contradictions, I re-directed and refocused my energy towards acts of care: maintaining and sourcing weaving tools and equipment for PNCA, sharing and learning with others, honoring, studying, and listening to the labor embedded in these tools, objects and craftspeople. The resulting body of work prioritizes the personal relationships with other makers and post-display use. Textile practices function as vital methods of survival, healing, and connection and by centering softness, repetition, and care, My Sweaters Keep My Cold Body Warm reclaims craft as a critical, living practice that sustains both individual and collective well-being.