This issue reveals enticing tactile intersections of wax and fiber, from encaustic wall works and batik textile design to installation art and sculpture….

Check out The Patternbase, a multi-faceted collaboration of artists Kristi O’Meara & Audrey Victoria Keiffer. It’s a surface and textile design studio, digital pattern archive and pop-up gallery as well as a generator of hand-painted and sewn housewares, apparel items and innovative digital patterns. Meet 2 high energy design entrepreneurs who also offer a range of services plus collect and sell vintage apparel and textiles. It’s all here!…

If you are – or aspire to be – among the fashion cognoscenti, you’ll want this annual fashion conference on your radar. Held every November in New York City, Initiatives in Art & Culture presents the who’s-who and what’s-what of the latest fashion culture trends & ideas. Hear and meet iconic designers, authors, curators, retailers, filmmakers & thinkers. This event is not to be missed!…

With so much of our time spent looking at screens, who doesn’t relish the hands-on experience of a good book full of inspiring images and words – bound in paper fiber? Find 20 such books on textiles and art here, all published in 2015, to give or get for that delightful analog joy. Purchase them through Amazon.com’s philanthropic programs to generate a donation to support SDA – at no cost to you….

This issue celebrates socially engaged artistic practices from natural dyeing and slow fibers to sustainable fashion and political art projects that unite communities around the globe….

Ever tried itajime? Let shibori artist Ana Lisa Hedstrom show you the history, process – plus contemporary adaptations – of this time-honored resist technique that uses folding, clamping and dyeing to create stunning pattern on cloth and other substrates. The only limits are your imagination! Learn this compelling process from a master via this 2nd in her series of shibori DVDs….

Whether or not you were able to attend, get an overview of some hot spots & highlights of “Made/Aware: Socially Engaged Art” – Surface Design Associaton’s 1st Craft + Concept Intensive held at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in October 2015. Emerging artist, educator (and 2nd generation SDA member!) Tamryn McDermott shares her play-by-play experience here.
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Brooks Harris Stevens uses the universally acknowledged value of gold – in the form of thread – to stitch healing energy into buildings and cultures. Marvel at these 2 recent installations where she mended the built environment to build awareness about the value of progress in post-communist Albania & recession-ravaged Romania, while simultaneously stretching the boundaries of the fiber medium….

“Materialities: Contemporary Textile Arts” juried exhibition of SDA members’ work is on view at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts through 10/31/15 or via a special edition print catalog. View installation shots and award winners of this unprecedented benefit of membership plus link for ordering your own catalog to savor or give. …

We’ve all been hearing about 3D printing – but what’s it got to do with makers working in fiber media? SDA Member Leisa Rich has a sixth sense for what’s coming next and has been exploring that connection for several years. Let her take you to one of the frontiers of fiber, here!…