Uncommon Threads Brings Fashion Curator to Florida Tech for Two Events

Petra Slinkard from Peabody Essex Museum Will Offer Lectures on Feb. 28, March 1

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Florida Tech and the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts present the textiles symposium Uncommon Threads: Designing Women on Thursday, Feb. 28, and Friday, March 1. 

Now in its 13th year, Uncommon Threads is offered to the community as part of Florida Tech’s focus on the textile arts. Featuring lectures and presentations from renowned scholars and industry insiders, the biannual event allows arts patrons to expand their understanding and appreciation of textile scholarship.

Uncommon Threads will host Petra Slinkard, the Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts. Slinkard joined PEM in 2018, following her role as curator of costume at the Chicago History Museum.

Slinkard will present a free public lecture, “Design is All Around Us,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in the Gleason Performing Arts Center on the Florida Tech campus. The illustrated talk centers on a newly launched fashion initiative at PEM, which houses an extraordinary collection of fashion, costumes and textiles from around the world.

Reservations are not required for this lecture.

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 1, Slinkard will present, “American Elegance: Women in Fashion,” followed by a champagne reception, three-course luncheon and showcase highlighting local artists featured in the Funk Center’s gift shop.

This event is in the Hartley Room of the Denius Student Center on campus. A limited number of tickets are available at $75 per person. They can be purchased on the Uncommon Threads page under the “Events” tab at http://textiles.fit.edu/. Valet parking will be available.

Presenting sponsor for the event is Nita Grisham. Jenifer Marx serves as honorary chair.

Slinkard is a graduate of Indiana University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in fashion merchandising and art history (with a concentration in modern and contemporary art), and a master’s degree in fashion/textile history.

In 2017, she was recognized as one of the university’s “20 under 40” most distinguished alumni of the College of Arts and Sciences and joined the advisory board for the Bloomington-based school’s newly established School of Art, Architecture and Design.

For more information or to make luncheon reservations, contact the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts at 321-674‐6129 or http://textiles.fit.edu.

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