Follow the Flock: How Sheep Shaped Human Civilization by Sally Coulthard Among the many book reviewers for Surface Design Journal, I am on the fiber beat. I continue to be fascinated by the physical materials and processes that form the foundation of all textiles and the books written about them. Further, I am on the …

It’s no surprise that responses to Covid-19 have been as numerous and diverse as we are individual. Interestingly, many artists I’ve spoken to have found a silver lining in the hours and days of uninterrupted solitude the pandemic gave them to work. I count myself among that fortunate contingent. More than 15 months ago, SDA …

I make art to learn and understand what I am thinking and feeling. While it is always an internal investigation, I am engaged with the world and culture around me. There is much to horrify me: violence at home and abroad, global climate crisis, racism, rapacious capitalism and more. In  response, I began to collect …

Worn: A People’s History of Clothing by Sofi Thanhauser Organized by fiber type, Worn is absolutely a history of clothing, but to be more precise, a history of its manufacture, and the labor therein. These intersections allow Thanhauser to explore firsthand this attribute of being human—our need for clothing and what it means for those …

The winners of SDA’s Outstanding Student Awards were recently announced for the students who have demonstrated excellence in fiber arts. The work of these artists embodied inventive and innovative use of technique, materials and concepts in fiber art. Check out the last three week’s OSA Spotlight: Part 1,  Part 2, Part 3. Congratulations to all …

The winners of SDA’s Outstanding Student Awards were recently announced for the students who have demonstrated excellence in fiber arts. The work of these artists embodied inventive and innovative use of technique, materials and concepts in fiber art, and will continue to be spotlighted over the next two weeks. Check out the last two week’s …

Surface Design Association is excited to announce Raised by a Maker, our Summer 2022 edition of Surface Design Journal. This issue is filled with stories of those who have touched our lives in profound ways. Looking outside the traditional higher education and craft school systems of teaching, this edition continues to expand on what SDA …

The winners of SDA’s Outstanding Student Awards were recently announced for the students who have demonstrated excellence in fiber arts. The work of these artists embodied inventive and innovative use of technique, materials and concepts in fiber art, and will be spotlighted over the next three weeks. Check out last week’s OSA Spotlight: Part 1. …

The winners of SDA’s Outstanding Student Awards were recently announced for the students who have demonstrated excellence in fiber arts. The work of these artists embodied inventive and innovative use of technique, materials and concepts in fiber art, and will be spotlighted over the next four weeks. Congratulations to all 41 awardees. For more information …

The Nature of Things: Essays of a Tapestry Weaver by Tommye McClure Scanlin In his artist statement in the 1988 World Tapestry Today exhibition catalog, Archie Brennan wrote that tapestry is a frequently boring 20th century activity (1). Author and tapestry artist Tommye McClure Scanlin concedes the point. She notes it can be boring when …