Levon Kafafian
Detroit-based, New York born, Levon Kafafian is a multi-media Armenian-American artist creating tactile and sensory works that explore the spaces between people, nature and culture.
He is the founder of Fringe Society, where he teaches classes and workshops on textile craft. He also teaches at various institutions including the Birmingham-Bloomfield Art Center, College for Creative Studies and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
He holds a BFA in Crafts: Fibers from the College for Creative Studies and a BA in Anthropology from Wayne State University.
What inspires you to create?
My lived experiences between cultural spaces inform my practice: growing up between two cultural worlds, living between spiritual practices, participating in many social/subcultural groups without truly belonging to any and working between art and design. These experiences manifest through new research that often integrates external ideas/influences from the natural world, as well as cultural and spiritual traditions.
Can you describe your greatest creative achievement?
As a space brimming with looms, projects and people of various types, the community weaving studio I have established and continue to run is the backbone of my practice and is what I believe to be my greatest achievement to date. Fringe Society, which I founded in 2013, has grown into a multifaceted studio organization that produces handwoven textiles for commercial sale and provides educational programming outside of the norm for textile craft. In addition, the space acts as a hub for social interaction and the development of community based within and around the production of textile goods and art.
What advice would you give the next generation of creative people?
To those who are new to any kind of creative practice, I have only two pieces of advice:
1.) A practice is just that–to become an expert at anything requires only practice, so get to it! 2.) Always seek new perspectives outside of your field, greatness comes from play and perseverance.
What one word would you use to describe yourself or the work you do?
To learn more about Levon and his artwork, CLICK HERE.
is a series of profiles of creative people throughout the world that I have either shared the stage with or have observed their talents from a far. The questions are my own and their answers are unaltered.
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