‘Woven Welcome’ project to bring campus and community together

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — An evolving community art project that has brought people together from Minnesota to the Lehigh Valley will begin its next chapter at Penn State Lehigh Valley in fall 2026.

Artist Jill Odegaard will invite students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to contribute to "Woven Welcome: A Common Thread," a collaborative art installation planned for the Library Oasis at the Lehigh Valley campus.

Participants will use donated materials to create woven sections that reflect the relationships connecting individuals to one another and to the communities they share.

“We used the idea of a woven rug as a metaphor for community,” Odegaard said. “When we are working together, there is automatically a dialogue.”

The project is designed to make art a shared experience rather than something created by an artist working alone. Each participant will contribute to a larger piece, allowing individual materials, ideas and experiences to become part of a collective outcome.

“Our hands can come together to create a new outcome,” Odegaard said. “The weaving of the rugs, using donated materials in all forms, makes art accessible to anyone, no matter where they sit in our community.”

“This project reflects what we want the arts to accomplish at Penn State Lehigh Valley: create opportunities for people to participate, connect and see themselves as part of something larger,” said Ann Lalik, art gallery director at Penn State Lehigh Valley. “You do not need previous art experience to contribute. Every person and every piece of material can become part of the story.”

An evolving community project

The concept behind "Woven Welcome" began in 2012 at the Open Engagement conference sponsored by the Art and Social Practice program at Portland State University in Oregon.

Odegaard joined artists Sandy Sampson and Anne Greenwood in forming a “Welcome Committee” for the conference. Participants gathering in Portland worked together to weave a welcome mat, establishing the collaborative process that would guide future versions of the project.

The following year, Odegaard expanded the concept for the 2013 Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener in Park Rapids. The community cultural development project was created through partnerships with the Nemeth Art Center, Hubbard County Developmental Achievement Center, Park Rapids Chamber of Commerce and community members.

Approximately 1,200 square feet of woven rug was presented during the event’s community picnic. The completed work served as a welcome mat for then-Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and other attendees while symbolizing the connections formed when individuals work together to create a public art statement.

The project later came to the Lehigh Valley through a partnership involving Odegaard, the Allentown Art Museum, Via of the Lehigh Valley and community participants.

In 2015, Odegaard worked with groups across the region to create woven sections for an installation at the museum. Visitors could also contribute using a loom placed inside the exhibition, allowing the artwork to continue growing throughout its display.

The project brought people together through hands-on artmaking while creating a connection between the museum and the broader community, according to the Allentown Art Museum.

“Weaving can symbolize the roots of trees and, by extension, the roots of a community,” Odegaard said.

Creating ‘A Common Thread’

At Penn State Lehigh Valley, "A Common Thread" will build upon that history while reflecting the identities and relationships within the campus community.

The participatory nature of the project will allow people with different roles, backgrounds and experiences to work alongside one another. As the woven artwork grows, it will provide a visual record of the connections participants have already formed and those that may develop through the creative process.

“Bringing "Woven Welcome" to the Library Oasis gives us an opportunity to turn an everyday campus space into a place of creativity and conversation,” Lalik said. “The finished installation will be important, but the process of making it together will be just as meaningful.”

Throughout her studio practice, Odegaard has used hand papermaking in both two- and three-dimensional forms. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and in Canada, and she has led papermaking workshops and community art projects involving participants of different ages and abilities. She is also one of five artists in the current “Light” exhibition in the Ronald K. De Long Galley at Penn State Lehigh Valley.

Her community engagement has included collaborations with the Autism Society of the Lehigh Valley, residents of assisted-living communities and school-age children, in addition to large-scale projects such as "Woven Welcome."

Additional information about opportunities to participate in "Woven Welcome: A Common Thread" will be announced throughout the fall semester 2026. For more updates, visit the art gallery website.