The art of craft

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Madelaine Corbin

By Jessica Florescu, CLA Student Writer - September 18, 2025

A multi-disciplinary research-based artist, Corbin’s acclaimed expertise in crafting natural fibers and dyes has led her around the world with notable awards and accolades. Growing up mere miles away from Oregon State’s campus in Corvallis, Madelaine Corbin, ‘17, now supports the university’s Craft Center as its program coordinator. 

Corbin came from a creative family, but was particularly influenced by her grandmother. “Many of my family members are art makers, but my grandma always had beautiful art projects from all around the world that she collected. Each object was infused with a story of her travels and the artisans who crafted it.”

Corbin’s journey at OSU initially started when she enrolled in the School of Visual, Performing, and Design Arts’ JumpstART, a pre-college program for students wanting to pursue a creative field. Beginning her freshman year at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, Corbin transferred to OSU after her first year to be closer to family and friends, as well as the school and art studios she was already familiar with.

While a studio art and art history student, Corbin had the opportunity to study abroad in Athens, Greece, and then Rome, Italy, with support from two scholarships, the AHA International Travel Scholarship and Sponenburgh Travel Award. Corbin describes both trips as “transformative” for her, but it was her experience in Athens that continues to shape her work today.

“Being able to just walk around the city helped open my eyes to a new place I had never been before,” Corbin said. “I painted site-based watercolor pieces and explored new areas of the city and adjacent islands every week. I was able to explore culture through art.”

During her time as an undergraduate student, Corbin also studied under the mentorship of renowned interdisciplinary artist Mary Mattingly. As part of the New York Arts Practicum, a summer arts program, Corbin worked with Mattingly on her floating food forest sculpture located on a mobile barge in New York City. The repurposed barge, called Swale, was meant to explore food as a shared civic resource and challenge laws prohibiting food production on New York City’s public land. 

“At the time, I was working on a project about mobile color and growing plants similar to Mattingly’s project focused on food,” explained Corbin. “Working with other artists to convert a floating barge into a garden with edible plants was one of the most impactful experiences I’ve had.”

At OSU, Corbin was awarded the Helen E. Plinkiewisch Scholarship, which covered her tuition, and while still an undergrad, Corbin began delving into color theory and experimental dyes. Starting her junior year, she became a research assistant in the chemistry lab of Mas Subramanian Ph.D. focused on discovering a new blue at the time. 

“There was a tangible similarity between art studios and science labs,” Corbin explained. “People in both were asking big questions about color and earnestly seeking answers. Each of these environments were also open to the unexpected results that can lead to new discoveries.” 

Corbin would continue her study of blue while earning her M.F.A. in fiber at the distinguished Cranbrook Academy of Art, just outside of Detroit, Michigan. Corbin had an interest in looking further into the loss of color that she noticed around her.

“It began with noticing environmental changes that resulted in less color, such as with greying skies around cities, the pinks of different salmon populations, and pH-sensitivity in flowers grown in different soils,” Corbin expressed. “I wanted to learn more about where color comes from and where it is going.”

Her research-based woven art installation The Climate Crisis is a Crisis of Color showcases blue dye fading through cloth. “Blue is an indicator species in our environments—there are water-sensitive blues on land, migrating blues in the ocean due to its changing temperatures, and disappearing blues over the skies of many cities.”

All of Corbin’s research on the color blue can be found in her book The Stuff of Everyday Magic, which traces the history and sources of blue in the natural world, as well as how it’s fading because of our warming planet. 

Throughout her artistic career, one of Corbin’s favorite projects is Hazmatters, which involved a mutated suit with arm holes sewn together and an iridescent weave structure woven with glow in the dark thread.

“The concept is the idea of humans holding hands together at the end of the world, and it started with noticing conjoined flowers on my walk to school everyday,” explained Corbin. “This project let me look at hope and optimism in a different way than I had before.”

After graduating from Cranbrook, Corbin began teaching at Wayne State University in Detroit as an instructor of weaving and fiber arts. Soon after starting, she was awarded the Fulbright Research Study Award to return to Greece. For nearly a year, Corbin studied traditional textiles and natural dyes in Athens, on various Greek islands, and in Northern Greece.

Corbin has also received a myriad of recent awards and fellowships due to her dedication to research on natural dyes, including the Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Emerging Artist Award, an Oak Spring Garden Foundation artist residency, a Creative Residency at the Bloedel Reserve, a Prairie Ronde Artist Residency, Pine Meadow Ranch Residency, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Stuart Thompson Fellowship, Honorable Mention for the Dorothy Waxman International Textile Design Award in 2020, and finalist status for the Redmond Design Prize. 

In 2025, Corbin began working at OSU’s Craft Center as a program coordinator supporting student artists with their projects.

“I have been supported by OSU’s mentor community, so it feels really fulfilling to start giving back to these creative students,” said Corbin. “I’ve been impressed by the students’ engagement, and I’m excited to bring my expertise and amplify what they are already doing.” 

Opened Monday through Saturday, the Craft Center, located in the basement of the Student Experience Center, offers the space and tools for students looking to explore craft in a multitude of ways, including ceramics, sewing, weaving, glass torch, stained and fused glass, printmaking, woodworking, and more.

“My goal,” explained Corbin, “is to create a welcoming and beautiful multidisciplinary space for students looking for a sense of wellness, balance, and belonging.”

In addition to working at OSU, Corbin runs a dedicated space for textiles and furniture making in Philomath with her partner Kai, called Omnibloom Studio, as well as running natural dye workshops across the state. 

For current students majoring in studio art, Corbin’s advice is to keep pursuing the creative fields. “You should make things everyday; keep on with all of your questions and ideas and know that paint, clay, fiber, color—these materials can communicate deeply if you listen to the world at your fingertips.”