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Introduction

Term Limits

Textiles in Contemporary Art
November 8, 2005 - February 5, 2006

Early in the twentieth century, artists of many nationalities began to explore the textile arts, questioning and expanding the definition of art to include fabrics for apparel and furnishings as well as unique textile works for the wall. Their work helped blur, for a time, distinctions among the fields of fine art, craft, and design. By the 1950s and 1960s artists working in fiber, influenced both by their studies in ancient textile techniques and by twentieth-century art theory, began to construct sculptural forms in addition to the more conventional two-dimensional planes. The term Fiber Art was coined in the 1960s to classify the work of artists who chose fiber media or used textile structures and techniques. It was joined in the 1970s by Wearable Art, applied to work that moved Fiber Art into the participatory realm of fashion.

These labels did not only define and introduce these movements, they also set them apart, outside the mainstream. Some critics, focusing solely on medium and process, and disregarding conceptual values, associated work in fiber automatically with the terms craft and design, a distinction that renewed old and often arbitrary hierarchieswithin the art community. Although categorization sometimes provides valid context, it is important to remember that any given term has a limited capacity to encompass and explain an object, an idea, or a movement.

At the same time, it limits one's ability to perceive creative endeavors without the shadow of another's point of view. The boundaries implied by terminology can marginalize or even exclude artists whose work blurs the traditional lines separating art, artisanry, and industry. This exhibition includes both unique works and production pieces made after about 1950. In all cases there is theoretical rigor, a fiber medium, a textile structure, and technical mastery. These qualities both celebrate and transcend process and function, giving rise to visually and emotionally powerful art. Each piece has pushed the limits of its medium and challenges the term that attempts to define and confine it. We invite you here not merely to set aside, but to question the assumptions and conventions inherent in these term limits.

Selected Objects

Dorothy Liebes

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Ed Rossbach

Western Star, 1989

Dorothy Liebes

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes, designer

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes, designer

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes

Textile Sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes, designer

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Dorothy Liebes, designer

Textile sample, ca. 1947-72

Ferne K. Jacobs

Tower, 1987-1988

Francoise Grossen

Fire, 1979

Richard Landis

Cluster, 1981

Bonnie Cashin, designer

Jacket, 1968

Bonnie Cashin

Woman's suit, 1968

Issey Miyake, designer

Pleats Please Guest Artist Series, no. 1, 1997

Bonnie Cashin, designer

Weskit, 1968

Diane Itter

Kente Fan II, 1981

Kay Sekimachi

Ikat Box, ca. 1989

Cynthia Schira

Dark Light, 1985

Lillian Elliott

Figure, 1989

Wendy Wahl

Goddess Girdle, 1996

Bonnie Cashin, designer

Skirt, 1968

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

Arche de Noé (Teddy Bear Jacket), Winter 1988-89

Sheila Hicks

Mapped Satellite, 1990

Olga De Amaral

Cesta Lunar 24 (Moon Basket), 1989

Junichi Arai

Nuno Me Gara (Fabric Patterned Fabric), ca. 1980

Claire Zeisler

Private Affair III, 1986

Mark Pollack, designer

Labyrinth, 1981

Chunghie Lee

Breeze, ca. 1998

Reiko Sudo, designer

Agitfab, 1993

Mark Pollack, designer

Flapper, 2001

Hisako Sekijima

Basket No. 330, 1988

Mary Merkel-Hess

Paper Sculpture, 1989

Norma Minkowitz

Barrier, 1985

Sheila Hicks

The Principal Wife, 1968

Alighiero Boetti

Il Tesoro Nascosto (The Hidden Treasure), 1986-1988

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Term Limits : Textiles in Contemporary Art

November 8, 2005 - February 5, 2006
View Checklist PDF

RISD Museum

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