How Textiles Took Over the Art World
This week, co-host Ben Davis speaks to curator and author Elissa Auther about the surging interest in fiber art.
by Sonia Manalili & Ben Davis
Contemporary art comes in many shapes and forms, but close your eyes and think of what an artist looks like and nine times out of 10, I bet you are still thinking of a painter in front of a canvas. If recent interest for museums and galleries is any indication, however, that image should be joined by another one: the fiber artist.
Think of a weaver seated at the loom or a quilt-maker laboriously stitching together layers of fabric. The textile arts have experienced a quiet but steady groundswell of interest in the last decades, and recently I’ve noticed that it feels as if it is kicked into a new, even higher level, from the many kinds of textile based art throughout the most recent Venice Biennale to the major show “Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction,” which is on a tour of some of North America’s most important museums right now.