I am fundraising to purchase a TC-2 digital jacquard to bring to LA and make accessible to the creative community! This loom is incredibly special because it is a digitally assisted hand tool that allows individual control of each and every warp thread for every single row (the warp is the threads that are wound onto the loom before you begin to weave). There are no TC-2's in LA that are available for artists and weavers to rent time on. Fiber artists are trained on these looms in school and lose access after graduation, forcing them to have to abandon a critical part of their practice, along with the many artists that would like to learn how to use one of these looms without having to attend a graduate program. Right now, these looms are primarily only at institutions because of their prohibitive cost (the loom I am looking to purchase has a weaving width of 43 inches with a total of 2640 ends and costs around $60k before freight and customs and the equipment required to wind the warp onto the beam). I believe this loom would be an amazing resource to the creative and textile communities! Along with creating a space for artists who have trained on this loom to make their work, I plan on creating classes for anyone, from beginner weavers to someone who has never worked on a loom or with textiles at all, allowing them to explore this amazing tool! I currently have a space in Echo Park, Los Angeles for the loom to live, and I have spoken with the manufacturer who is ready to build a TC-2 to the required specifications! All I need is to raise the funds for the actual loom to bring it to LA!
