Rooted in 'Wool Skirts' exhibition, on view through November 30, this intimate walkthrough and conversation explores the evolution of a remarkable archive into a collaborative work of art.

Moderated by Tanya Melendez-Escalante (Senior Curator at The Museum at FIT), the conversation reflects on intergenerational memory, the art of collecting, and how garments carry stories — of bodies, place, and time. Together with artists, curators, and custodians of the original collection, we’ll unpack how Wool Skirts came to life: as both a personal act of preservation and a collective artistic gesture shaped by space, storytelling, and material transformation.

In conversation with: 

• Mae and Carol Colburn, custodians of the skirt archive
• Sarah Nsikak, artist and contributor to the exhibition
• Gimena Garmendia, curator and founder of La Sudestada

🗓️ Wednesday, October 29th | 6 to 8pm
📍 67 West St., Studio 513

About Tanya Meléndez-Escalante

Tanya Melendez-Escalante is senior curator of education and public programs at The Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology. She has organized more than 250 programs for a diversity of audiences. A Fulbright scholar from 2002 to 2004, she is co-editor of the book Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today - ¡Moda Hoy! (Bloomsbury, 2024), and contributing author to Food & Fashion (Bloomsbury, 2023), Exhibitionism: 50 Years of The Museum at FIT (Skira, 2019), and Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color (Thames & Hudson, 2018).

She co-curated “Eterno Femenino” (2017) and curated “Julia y Renata: Moda y Transformación” (2020) at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan, both in Mexico, and co-curated “¡Moda Hoy! Latin American Fashion Design Today” (2023) at MFIT in NYC.

About Sarah Nsikak

Sarah Nsikak is a Nigerian-American artist and designer living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Her work draws from many influences that stem from the vibrant stories of the African diaspora, post colonial African art and photography, reclaimed beauty, identity, liberation, and ancestral connection. She uses modalities within the realm of textile visual art, namely hand applique and patchworking, to create folkloric tapestries with a light-filtering and transformative property.

About Carol Colburn

Carol Colburn is Professor Emerita in Theatre, Costume Design at the University of Northern Iowa. Her graduate studies included art history, museology, and textiles and clothing. She currently teaches sewing workshops at North House Folk School and John C. Campbell Folk School.

About Mae Colburn

Mae Colburn is a New York–based weaver with a background in art history. Her work builds on rag rug traditions from the Upper Midwest, blending weaving with research, collection management, and storytelling through textiles. She has collaborated with the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association, and exhibited at institutions including Cornell University, efa Project Space, and the TextielMuseum in the Netherlands. Mae writes about textiles in art and fashion, and co-runs Rag Rug Study Group, a project exploring the medium’s relevance today.

About Gimena Garmendia

With a background in marketing, fashion and textile design, Gimena Garmendia founded SUDESTADA in 2020 for creative talent and businesses to expand, grow and achieve their wildest dreams. What started as a fashion consultancy agency today is becoming a true incubator that is equal parts strategic and visionary.