Rachel Dana
Textiles MFA
Parsons School of Design
Specialisms: Textiles / Textile Innovation/Textile Art / Textiles - Weave
Location: New York, United States
Rachel Dana
First Name: Rachel
Last Name: Dana
Specialisms: Textiles / Textile Innovation/Textile Art / Textiles - Weave
Sectors:
My Location: New York, United States
University / College: Parsons School of Design
Course / Program Title: Textiles MFA
About
Rachel Dana is a Brooklyn-based textile artist with over 20 years of experience working with plants. Her career includes roles in nurseries, farms, botanical illustration, and ten years as a pastry chef. She then became a land steward in Massachusetts, where she grew over 40 varieties of garlic and deepened her understanding of local ecosystems. It was there that she began foraging plant dyes, researching Japanese Knotweed rhizomes, spinning wool, and blending her love for nature with her evolving textile practice.
She holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and recently completed an MFA in Textiles at Parsons School of Design.
seed/human
Seeds are precious vessels preserving genetic material and world histories. This work explores human-nature entanglement through seed morphology and dispersal mechanisms. Using seeds, foraged materials and traditional crafts—beading, spinning, dyeing, weaving, felting—the pieces honor collective memory and create new life forms expressing transformation, migration, and survival across time.
Competitions
Global Creative Graduate Showcase 2025
Seeds are precious vessels preserving genetic material and world histories. This work explores human-nature entanglement through seed morphology and dispersal mechanisms. Using seeds, foraged materials and traditional crafts—beading, spinning, dyeing, weaving, felting—the pieces honor collective memory and create new life forms expressing transformation, migration, and survival across time.
Competitions