Surface Design Association is excited to announce our first Journal of the year: SDA 45th Anniversary, Spring 2023 edition of Surface Design Journal. The 45th Anniversary issue revisits the evolution of the Journal, to take a deep dive into the issues that mattered then, and still matter today. The issue begins with former editor Patricia …

I recently received a Small Event Grant from SDA for this collaborative Kansas and Missouri meetup at the Kansas City Art Institute (co-sponsored by Missouri Fiber Artists) this past February. KCAI Fiber students were involved under direction of Fiber Chair Pauline Verbeek. We were exposed to a prominent BFA Fiber program plus a presentation and …

We arrived in Vadodara, Gujarat, India in late May 2022. The temperature was over 110 degrees fahrenheit, but the town was familiar: we had lived in the city on three previous stays. My husband, Jay Kreimer, was working on a Fulbright-Nehru project creating invented musical instruments from common Indian materials found in local markets. I …

Each/Other: Marie Watt and Cannupa Hanska Luger edited by John P. Lukavic Each/Other is an exhibition catalog from the show of the same title. It was on display May 23 to August 22, 2021, with contributing essays by Jami C. Powell and Namita Wiggers. An exhibition catalog is, by design, a memento of someone’s viewing …

If you are a creative, how often do you spend time truly thinking about what influences your work? Lately, I have spent a great deal of time alone; no schedule, no commitments, and removed from my studio. I have always known that nature is my muse, but I’ve also realized that the everyday plays a …

Repetition is the spice of life for Korean-American artist Ran Hwang. She practices an art of obsessive accumulation, deploying buttons, beads and crystals with a fierce exactitude. Impaled on pins, these tiny sewing notions coalesce into culturally laden imagery of plum blossoms, Buddhas and architectural edifices. Some of the slow, painstaking work of pounding her …

Patternalia: An Unconventional History of Polka Dots, Stripes, Plaid, Camouflage & Other Graphic Patterns by Jude Stewart “This is going to be fun,” I thought as I flipped through Jude Stewart’s book Patternalia for the first time. The book’s graphic style and layout were ideally suited to a book about pattern. Skimming over a few sentences suggested …

I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Rena Wood during Arrowmont’s Winter Pentaculum, and learning about Rena’s practice as an artist and arts educator. What fascinates me most about Rena’s work is the subject of memory and the use of slow and labor-intensive textile processes.  Rena, please tell us a bit about yourself and …

All That She Carried by Tiya Miles This book is all about a small cloth sack, where “she” in the title is not the maker, but becomes the carrier. As the book unfolds, we learn this sack carried not just past, tangible things, but it has become a means, a carrier of stories. All That …

Autobiographically driven, my work combines a variety of sources and materials. From figurative and digital imagery, to hand- and machine-woven fabrics with drawing and painting, the sculptural pieces I create are infused with the emotional, often humorous themes of heartbreak. Weaving and sewing are meditative, even when the result is uncomfortable—capturing romance’s physical pain. Conversely, …