Surface Design Association is excited to announce “Color”, our Spring 2018 edition of Surface Design Journal! This Journal features the significant role pattern plays in our physical world–from natural to synthetic, visual to linguistic, and everything in-between. Pattern is an integral part of the building blocks that form our lives. Here’s a preview of what …

This week’s Friday Fibers Roundup spotlights the many different ways fashion designers are pushing the boundaries–both conceptually and materially. 1) “When Black Women could not try on the Dresses, Ebony Brought the Dresses to Them” by Blue Greenberg spotlights the story of how haute couture fashion for black American women became a vehicle to reinforce …

Surface Design Association is excited to invite students to submit work for the second annual SDA Juried Student Exhibition, Future Tense II. Held at the George Caleb Bingham Gallery at University of Missouri, Columbia and taking place November 5-15, 2018, the exhibition will celebrate the creative work of student artists, designers, and makers working with …

This week’s roundup highlights the many ways artists, craftspeople, and designers can be inspired by landscapes and natural forms. 1) “Textile Artist Creates Nature-Inspired Embroidery Art That ‘Grows’ Beyond Its Frame” by Emma Taggart looks at Peru-based textile artist Ana Teresa Barboza. Her three-dimensional work often spills out from the confines of the embroidery hoop …

This week’s roundup includes a wide variety of articles looking at the historical and contemporary applications and contexts of weaving. 1) Curated by Jennifer Garey, Weaving a Path: Navajo Women and the Feminine Ethos features a distinctive range rugs and blankets of the Southwest US created by Diné women, with geometric designs and patterns, all …

Jason Pollen’s Ancestors/Descendants show at The Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln showcases his most recent body of work. Pollen, an established presence in the fiber arts world (and SDA’s President Emeritus) has been anything but retired since he left his role as the chair of the fiber department at the Kansas …

Knitting is the name of the game for all the articles featured in this week’s edition of Friday Fibers Roundup. 1) “Knitting Together the Beginnings of a Queer, Feminine Future” by Zachary Small highlights how the exhibition Studio Views: Craft in the Expanded Field reimagined the Museum of Arts and Design’s third floor gallery space. …

Liz Kettle is a trailblazer, a pathfinder and a doer. I can feel her energy over the phone as we speak candidly about her journey in the fiber arts. From the challenges of mothering three sons, Kettle drew strength to pursue an artist’s life and build connections in her community. Kettle’s single mother made cultural …

This week’s Friday Fibers Roundup features a blend of articles focusing on cultural histories, archaeology, and pattern. 1) “Decolonizing Photography: A Conversation With Wendy Red Star” by Abaki Beck shows how Wendy Red Star uses her photography to challenge mainstream representations of Native Americans, but on her own terms (via Aperture). 2) “Japanese Artist Crafts …

Surface Design Association is having our annual International Juried Members exhibition, The Art of Labor, in partnership with the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles (SJMQT) in San Jose, CA. The exhibition runs July 22–October 14, 2018 and we are very excited to be partnering with such an amazing organization. This article spotlights three …