In 1974, women in a feminist consciousness-raising group in Eugene, Oregon, formed a mock organization called the Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society. Emblazoning its logo onto t-shirts, the group wryly envisioned female collective textile making as a practice that could upend conventions, threaten state structures, and wreak political havoc. Elaborating on this example as a prehistory to the more recent phenomenon of “craftivism”—the politics and social practices associated with handmaking—Fray explores textiles and their role at the forefront of debates about process, materiality, gender, and race in times of economic upheaval. Closely examining how amateurs and fine artists in the United States and Chile turned to sewing, braiding, knotting, and quilting amid the rise of global manufacturing, Julia Bryan-Wilson argues that textiles unravel the high/low divide and urges us to think flexibly about what the politics of textiles might be. Her case studies from the 1970s through the 1990s—including the improvised costumes of the theater troupe the Cockettes, the braided rag rugs of US artist Harmony Hammond, the thread-based sculptures of Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña, the small hand-sewn tapestries depicting Pinochet’s torture, and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt—are often taken as evidence of the inherently progressive nature of handcrafted textiles. Fray, however, shows that such methods are recruited to often ambivalent ends, leaving textiles very much “in the fray” of debates about feminized labor, protest cultures, and queer identities; the malleability of cloth and fiber means that textiles can be activated, or stretched, in many ideological directions. The first contemporary art history book to discuss both fine art and amateur registers of handmaking at such an expansive scale, Fray unveils crucial insights into how textiles inhabit the broad space between artistic and political poles—high and low, untrained and highly skilled, conformist and disobedient, craft and art.

"This stunning book offers a unique perspective on textile designs... a beautiful document of the partnership between artists and manufacturers. Those interested in textiles as well as students of design will find it refreshing and inspirational." Librar

Published on the occasion of an exhibition by the same name to be held at Musaee Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambraesis, Oct. 23, 2004-January 25 2005, Royal Academy of Arts, London, March 5-May 30 2005, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 23-September 25, 2005.

It's a question asked by many budding textile artists: how can I be more creative? You've got a few ideas and know some techniques, but you're not sure how to get started or make your work hang together. This book shows you how. It explains the creative process from the very beginning: where to find inspiration and how to harness those ideas; how to gather source material; how to pull together what you have. The authors then take you on a journey to develop a design. Learn how to put elements together to make a cohesive whole and develop a theme, learning established design rules along the way. Part Three, Moving into Stitch, gives you a range of techniques and easy experiments with which to turn your design into stitched-textile work. From choosing what fabrics to use, to layering, creating texture and adding embellishment, it covers the key techniques to try. This is a terrific book for those starting out in textiles who really do want to be as creative as they can possibly be.

A global survey of more than 100 artists, chosen by art-world professionals for their work with threads, stitching, and textiles Celebrating tapestry, embroidery, stitching, textiles, knitting, and knotting as used by visual artists worldwide, Vitamin T is the latest in the celebrated series in which leading curators, critics, and art professionals nominate living artists for inclusion. As boundaries between art and craft have blurred, artists have increasingly embraced these materials and methods, with the resulting works being coveted by collectors and exhibited in museums worldwide. Vitamin T is a vibrant and incredibly timely survey – the first of its kind.

Harness the beauty of the natural world to create unique textile art pieces. Learn how to create beautiful textile art inspired by details in nature in this practical and inspirational guide. Acclaimed textile artist Marian Jazmik shows how to use unusual recycled and repurposed materials combined with traditional fabric and thread. Marian reveals the secrets of her lushly textured and sculptural embroidered pieces, from initial photograph to finished object. Exploring nature as a constant source of inspiration, she shows how to turn a chance spotting of lichen on a tree trunk or a scattering of autumn leaves into glorious textile or mixed-media art. Marian goes on to explore the myriad of techniques she uses in her work, including: How to begin with photography, homing in on details in nature. How to manipulate images to create microscopic and surprising detail. How to translate the images into 3-D work, using an eclectic mix of natural and man-made textiles, as well as unusual recycled materials otherwise be destined for landfill (packaging, plastics and household DIY products). Hand and machine embroidery. Dyeing, printing and painting. Using heat gun and soldering iron to create heavily textured surfaces. Packed with practical tips, inspiration and illustrated throughout with glorious examples of Marian’s work, this book will provide you with endless imaginative ideas for distilling the wonders of nature into your own textile art.

Nearly four hundred textiles from East and West are reproduced in full color in this handbook of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's encyclopedic collections, which cover a broad range of geographic areas, periods, and techniques. Each chapter is introduced by a brief history of that particular aspect of the museum's collections, placing it within the context of textile scholarship and collecting in the United States and Europe.