From November 15 to January 6, 2024, the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will host a pop-up exhibition featuring textile designs by Moore College of Art & Design students and graduates across majors. The event, titled Liberties Reimagined: Surrealism in Textile Design, aligns with the museum’s “Year of Free Speech,” which opened in September 2024.
The pop-up was organized in part by Heather Ujiie, Interdisciplinary Associate Professor in Fashion and Textile Design at Moore. Students from her “Drawing & Painting into Pattern” class during the Spring 2024 semester were asked to create surrealist design motifs around the subject of “liberty” and turn them into textiles.
One of the students featured in the exhibition is Fine Arts major Imani Dudley ‘25, who was motivated by oppression in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After researching the history of the country and Congolese masks in Connelly Library, Dudley decided to highlight masks for women and children, groups that are often heavily affected by conflict.
Dudley drew inspiration from both the masks and the cultural aesthetic of Afrofuturism, using vibrant colors to bring her pattern to life.
“I wanted it to be very bright and colorful, and I wanted to recreate the mask in a way that celebrates the Congolese heritage and culture that often gets dwindled down by bad things,” she said.
Throughout her design process, Dudley learned a lot from Ujiie and felt supported as she learned new digital media skills on Wacom tablets and in Adobe Photoshop, tools Dudley had never incorporated into her artistic practice before.
“It was really nice to hear [Ujiie’s] feedback and know that when I went into that class, I had her full support,” she said.
When she learned that her work would be displayed in the exhibition, Dudley was overjoyed.
“This is my first real gallery exhibition, and I’m super excited because this is something I can add to my resume. I get to learn through this experience because I want to pursue a career as an artist,” she said. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity to talk to people about my work and grow more comfortable in that space.”
Dudley, a transfer student from Delaware College of Art and Design, says her best experience at Moore was choosing to come to the College in the first place. She describes Moore as “one of the most supportive schools [she’s] been at,” highlighting how the College became “like a home” to her.
As she reflects upon her time at Moore, Dudley says she’s thankful for the opportunities presented to her, the skills she developed, and the bonds she made with faculty and her peers.
“This opportunity speaks to the amount of support that faculty, staff and administration give to students,” she said. “The amount of care our teachers have for us shows that they want us to be successful. They want to see us work hard so we can have a great payoff. I think that’s more than what students can ask for because you don’t get that from other schools.”
Moore College of Art & Design is the only independent art and design college in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Want to learn more about the Fine Arts major or Fashion Design major at Moore? Contact our Admissions team at enroll@moore.edu or 215.965.4015 to set up a call or a campus visit. We'd love to tell you more!
Artwork by Imani Dudley '25
