LMRM Dream Team
(*ﾉ・ω・)ﾉ♫
LMRM Dream Team (*ﾉ・ω・)ﾉ♫
Founder & Co-DirectorHope Wang
Hope Wang (she/her) wears many hats as an artist who unintentionally fell into creative entrepreneurship.
She once wished someone else had started this space so she could simply be an end-user. But limited access to digital weaving, along with her experiences of exploitation in the broader arts economy, sharpened her values. She felt an unignorable need to prove that a studio culture rooted in trust, slowness, and artist dignity IS possible for everyone, regardless of career level or background.
Hope first fell in love with weaving in SAIC’s loom room. For her, weaving was always surrounded by a chorus of movement that connected people to one another. That energy remained essential as she rebuilt her practice outside of an institution. Shaped by both the generosity and the pitfalls of community spaces—from Chinese immigrant churches to art makerspaces—she continues to draw inspiration from resource-sharing. Constraints, like in weaving, challenge her to be more inventive.
Co-DirectorMurat Ahmed
Murat Ahmed is a creative administrator interested in encouraging the mixing of practices, communities, ideas and support. In his role as LMRM Co-director, he explores ways in which collaborative and experimental programming can thrive. With a background in mathematics and quantitative research, his entry point into the art world was through another encouraging Chicago makerspace: Latitude, a community digital print lab. Murat is passionate about providing a similar outlet for others. Alternative economies centered around experimental support have been a constant in his personal work.
Studio Manager & Loom TechnicianTali Halpern
Tali Halpern (they/them) is the Studio Manager and Loom Technician at LMRM. They support two parallel TC2 loom rental programs, workshops, and experimental warp changeovers, serving as a grounding force in the studio’s mission to broaden artist engagement with digital weaving. Tali helps facilitate weaving sessions, often flanked by their shadow: an angelic elderly pink teddy bear named Petunia.
Tali is an ex painter who stumbled into weaving in recent years. In their personal practice, their approach to textiles is rooted in collage and post-processing, leaning into experimentation and mixed media fiber techniques. Before joining LMRM, they were an intrepid studio renter, frequently using experimental warps to push and challenge their methods of making.
Development AssistantLouisa Zheng
Louisa Zheng (she/her) is often carrying too many things and loves containers of all sorts. She also designs and creates containers: books, events, and buildings all similarly containing meaning, connection, and stories in different ways. Outside of her role as an architectural designer, Zheng has participated in various Chicago-based artist-run initiatives since 2018. She has acted in an advisory role for LMRM since its preconception and is invested in more creative organizations participating in and advocating for a more equitable arts economy. Her present part-time role as Development Assistant with LMRM focuses on building and documenting their trajectory toward sustainability.
ImportantJun Yu Tan
Jun Yu Tan (he/him) is involved with any and every aspect of LMRM. He isn't supposed to be at any meetings but hours-long meetings come to him anyways.
LMRM Student Interns :)
Kate Hassett - Spring 2026
Meet LMRM’s current student intern, Kate Hassett! Kate joins locally as a BFA senior at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Throughout 2025, she was a consistent renter and workshop attendee, showing exceptional initiative to learn about and participate in Chicago’s resources outside of the university. We are very excited to have Kate now at LMRM in an internship capacity!
During her 10 week internship, she will support our general studio operations such as learning to wind warps, warp-painting, dressing a TC2 loom, and conducting regular loom maintenance. Additionally, she will assist with documenting the studio processes at LMRM for our training handbook.
We look forward to augmenting Kate’s education as she prepares for her career after school. If you see her in the studio, give her a warm welcome!
Abel Reyes - Summer 2025
Meet LMRM’s first student intern, Abel Reyes! Abel joined us from June to July 2025 as a rising senior at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Abel co-created an inaugural internship experience with us and secured a competitive grant, MICA’s student GOYA Opportunity Award, which provides fine art students up to $14,000 in grant funding to support a national or international summer internship experience that might otherwise be unattainable.
During their 8 week internship, they assisted our TC2 loom rentals and our Exquisite Warps workshops, which included opportunities for them to lead moments in workshops, shadow the administrative aspects of a business, and gain experience preparing a painted warp for TC2 loom.
We couldn’t be more excited about another young rising artist in the field of contemporary textile art!