Oct 5, 2026 · 40 min · 15 segments
In this episode of NeedleXChange, I interview **Prisma Andrade**, a Chicago-based fiber and textile artist and recent School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate whose work turns her family's…
Prisma AndradeGuestJamie ChalmersHostWe will start talking about actually how you make your work in a minute, but how has it been for you me- like negotiating fine art, but choosing textiles? How at peace have you been able to be with it?
Uh, I feel like I'm, this is like the world in which I'm comfortable with because I did grow up...
I mean, you know, my dad's, my dad's an artist and he always kind of, a lot of my family, you know, practice.
And so it was always kind of nurtured in me to, um, love it and practice it, whether it's professional or whether it's just, you know, for the creative outlook.
And when I came to SAIC, I was like, "Okay, I will go..." So it all started with [laughs]...
So I was growing up doing painting and drawing and all that fun stuff, and then I went to an arts magnet high school in Dallas, and that's kind of where everything started to really like, the seriousness of everything started to really be like, "Oh, people do this.
Wow." So I was keeping up with painting and drawing, but then I had a fiber class.
One of my teachers, visual arts teachers started to teach fiber work, and that's when I was like, oh, I got really, really into it, but I was still trying to balance painting and drawing with all of that.
And there was a certain like ADHD brain of like, "Oh, I can do a bunch of different stuff, and I can be stimulated mentally, physically," and all of that.
And so I was kind of trying to balance the two for a second, and then that's why I chose SAIC because of its interdisciplinary-ness of being able to like, I can take a painting class, I can take a fashion class, I can take a fiber class, and I can see how everything overlaps.
And then I think I reached a point where I was like, I couldn't really paint or draw anymore because I was like, anything I want to communicate through this, I can also communicate through fiber, and it'll be a lot more fun for me to do so.
We will start talking about actually how you make your work in a minute, but how has it been for you me- like negotiating fine art, but choosing textiles? How at peace have you been able to be with it?
Uh, I feel like I'm, this is like the world in which I'm comfortable with because I did grow up...
I mean, you know, my dad's, my dad's an artist and he always kind of, a lot of my family, you know, practice.
And so it was always kind of nurtured in me to, um, love it and practice it, whether it's professional or whether it's just, you know, for the creative outlook.
And when I came to SAIC, I was like, "Okay, I will go..." So it all started with [laughs]...
So I was growing up doing painting and drawing and all that fun stuff, and then I went to an arts magnet high school in Dallas, and that's kind of where everything started to really like, the seriousness of everything started to really be like, "Oh, people do this.
Wow." So I was keeping up with painting and drawing, but then I had a fiber class.
One of my teachers, visual arts teachers started to teach fiber work, and that's when I was like, oh, I got really, really into it, but I was still trying to balance painting and drawing with all of that.
And there was a certain like ADHD brain of like, "Oh, I can do a bunch of different stuff, and I can be stimulated mentally, physically," and all of that.
And so I was kind of trying to balance the two for a second, and then that's why I chose SAIC because of its interdisciplinary-ness of being able to like, I can take a painting class, I can take a fashion class, I can take a fiber class, and I can see how everything overlaps.
And then I think I reached a point where I was like, I couldn't really paint or draw anymore because I was like, anything I want to communicate through this, I can also communicate through fiber, and it'll be a lot more fun for me to do so.
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