Bhakti Ziek

Bhakti Ziek is an advocate for weaving in all its forms, as exemplified by her teaching at an industrial textile program (Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science [PCT&S], tenured) while exhibiting her weavings as an art form. She is an expert in the technology of weaving and the two books she has co-authored (Weaving on a Backstrap Loom and The Woven Pixel: Designing for Jacquard and Dobby Looms Using Photoshop) are bookends on her career and the long history of weaving.

Ziek’s work is in many collections, including the Racine Art Museum, WI; Whitman College at Princeton University, NJ; the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC, NY; the Spencer Museum, KS;  and the USA Embassy in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Her exhibitions include prestigious venues such the Rijswijk Textile Biennial in The Netherlands, the New England Biennial at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, the Morris Gallery at Pennyslvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the USA Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Ziek taught summer courses at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and full time at the University of Kansas and Arizona State University. She has also been proud to mentor students at non-traditional facilities, such as Penland School of Crafts, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Many of the people she has worked with over the years, have stayed current in her life and she has watched with pride as they have been hired to run programs on their own merits.

Ziek has a M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Arts, a B.F.A. from the University of Kansas, and a B.A. from SUNY at Stony Brook, NY.  She resides in Santa Fe, NM where she continues to explore weaving and art, as well as teach private students.