Meet our Faculty

Alison Heryer is an interdisciplinary artist whose work combines costume, installation, performance, and community engagement. As a costume designer, she is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. Her design credits include productions at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 59E59 Theaters, La MaMa, The New Victory Theater, Portland Center Stage, Portland Opera, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, ZACH Theatre, The Hypocrites, and Redmoon. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, World Stage Design, and The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space.

Shelley Socolofsky is an interdisciplinary artist based in textiles and installation. Her work develops within a gossamer connecting metaphysics, ritual, science, and technology to explore a layered perception of the embodied experience. Socolofsky’s work can be found in numerous public collections; locally and abroad. Recent residencies, fellowships, exhibitions, and publications include the Astra Zarina Fellowship, the Jacquard Center, The Material Turn, Motherboard and her Satellites and Artist magazine. Shelley is the president of American Tapestry Alliance; an international non-profit organization representing members from 27 countries.

Angela Medlin is a design leader, creative mentor, and problem solver changing the face(s)of the global product industry, literally. Medlin’s design career extends across several iconic brands in the global active and outdoor industry including Nike/Jordan, Adidas, The North Face, Levi Strauss & Co., Eddie Bauer, and Cross Colours. She is the founder of FAAS (aka Functional Apparel & Accessories Studio), a professional certificate program that prepares creatives in industry practices, elevates professional development, and emphasizes the importance of diversity in design.

Naomi grew up in Oregon and has a BFA in apparel design from the Rhode Island School of Design. After several years working in New York and Connecticut, Naomi returned to the Pacific Northwest to join the apparel design team at Nike. During her time at Nike, Naomi designed and directed product design for Global performance, sportswear and technical outerwear, Golf, Young Athletes, North America apparel, footwear, color and materials, Olympics, Paralympics, and Global Accessories.

A recent graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education with an Ed.M. in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology, Naomi is focused on creating experiences of “hard fun” (Papert) where learning is experiential, theory is connected to practice, and students gain the foundation and skills to create the future of sustainable apparel.

Annin Barrett’s research addresses global fashion/dress history, textiles/their cultural meanings, sustainable textile practices and technology. Areas of focus include textiles as visual culture, textile semiotics, design history, art history, and the de-centering of traditionally colonial studies. Her graduate studies at University of Arizona led to a MFA in Fibers, and she has received RACC and OAC grants to support her work. She has been the U.S. Exhibition Reviews Editor for the academic journal, Textile: Cloth and Culture, and a frequent presenter at Textile Society of America symposia. 

Alicia is a freelance designer and educator with over 15 years of experience working in textile-based product creation for major U.S. brands such as Target, Macy's, Mountain Hardwear, and Nike. Beyond industry, her research-based studio practice involves storytelling through textiles that aims to understand and implement the power of textiles to engage with community, and to inform culture. Alicia holds an MFA from the University of California Davis, is on the Board of Directors of the Surface Design Association, and is Embellishment Volume Editor for Bloomsbury’s Encyclopedia of World Textiles to be released in Spring 2023.

Jennifer is a proud PSUGD alumni and loves being back at PSU! After years of working as a designer and art director at Nike and Adidas, Jennifer and her partners started Laundry Studio in 2000 where pattern, illustration, and design overlap daily, and covering the world with pattern becomes a reality.

Liza Rietz began designing and sewing custom and retail garments in 2001. Captivated by shape, texture and volume, her designs are continually inspired by the sculptural elements of Japanese design, the elegance and exaggerated shapes of the 1920's, and the interplay between body and garment.

After 15 years of designing and running a boutique, Liza gravitated towards teaching as a means to reconnect with the artistic and experimental side of fashion while engaging with individuals in her community. She has taught Innovative Design classes and workshops at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and Nike, she is a mentor for the Applied Craft and Design program, and currently teaches at Portland Fashion Institute, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and in the Textile Arts Program at Portland State University. All her garments are handcrafted in Portland, Oregon.