The DXARTS SoftLab is a studio and an online platform whose mission is to examine the role of workmanship in artistic research, to redefine the use of crafting in the post-digital era, and to explore the body as an interface of control and resistance. It is part of the Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) at the University of Washington in Seattle.
All tagged etextiles
Thinking of You is the third work in the Postcards from the Moon series from TERRAMOTO—the creative practice of Seattle based artist and designer McKinley Smith. The work uses the aesthetics of lunar samples and engineering for the extreme environments of space while investigating the softer emotional side of of humanity.
On December 2025, in the most recent edition of DXARTS 490A: E-textiles & Wearables studio class, students presented their final project prototypes through a pop-up exhibition at the DXARTS gallery in McMahon Hall
A research project speculating about climate crisis, labor, and transpacific migration through a soft embodied archive
*Born to Unwilling Parents: A Weighty Exercise* reflects my ongoing interests in human reproduction and parenthood, situated at a time in the US where individual bodies and human lives are subjected to increasingly banal politicization and objectification.
Thailand’s Lèse Majesté law data visualization on e-textiles and digital fabrication
Virtual talk and book presentation by Angelika Strohmayer on the intersection of technologies, craft, social justice, and feminisms
Virtual artist talk by Mika Satomi on e-textiles, wearable technology, and artificial neural networks in the context of DXARTS 472 Mechatronic Art, Design and Fabrication II
Fourth meeting of the Wearable Narratives DRG focused on discussing ideas about individual projects and looking at reference projects for inspiration and for building a work methodology
Second meeting of the Wearable Narratives DRG was spent talking about e-textile materials and learning basic stitching and soft-circuit techniques
An e-textile piece exploring environmental racism along the LA river
An introductory workshop on the world of e-textiles and soft-circuits at S1 Synth Library in Portland.
On June 6th 2019, Isabel Nelson and several other students from the DXARTS 490 E-textiles and Wearables for Art and Design course, as well as other emerging designers from the University of Washington got together to produce Hypnotica, a wearable tech fashion show at the project space Hyena Culture in downtown Seattle, at the historic Pioneer Square district. The event was entirely self-organized and combined fashion, light art, sound and performance art and was presented through an exciting runway show that showcased the work of Taylor Hammes, Aashna Dev, Aarohi Bhaway, Atari Women, Esther Lin, Helen Mirabella, Grace Barar, Stevie Koepp, Kennedy Buriani, Rebby Montalvo, and of the main organizer Isabel Nelson.
On June 2019, in the fourth edition of DXARTS 490A: E-textiles & Wearable studio class, students presented their final project prototypes through a pop-up exhibition at the DXARTS Fablab in Ballard.
