Rag Manifesto: Making, folklore and community by Rachael Matthews On the last page of Rag Manifesto, Rachael Matthews writes “If we lose touch with the earth due to the… taboo over the use of trashed material, the rag pile becomes an alternative space to open our heads… Perhaps in some instances, rag could be the …
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The Red Dress: Conversations in Stitch, by Kirstie Macleod and voices from the embroidery project In 2022, fifteen female survivors of conflict-related sexual violence gathered together at the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were meeting with Kirstie Macleod, creator and facilitator of The Red Dress, a scarlet silk dupion dress embellished …
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Mixed Media Textile Art in three dimensions by Ann Goddard Ann Goddard’s Introduction lays out what her intentions are with this work, explicitly clarifying and owning her unusual approaches to art-making. “A friend described me as working with ‘extreme mixed media,’” and indeed she does. Further, she declares her practice as ‘hybrid’, quoting Laurie Britton …
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On Mending: Stories of damage and repair by Celia Pym Mending has always seemed a chore to me. While I enjoy the meditative process of needlework, I’ve never achieved any sentiment other than a satisfactory, “Well, that’s done,” feeling when a hole has been repaired. After reading On Mending: Stories of damage and repair by …
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Mauka to Makai: Hawaiian Quilts and the Ecology of the Islands edited by Marenka Thompson-Odlum This group of essays is a companion to a commissioned collection of fifteen Hawaiian quilts at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford in the UK. In this book editor Marenka Thompson-Odlum opens with narratives from each of the collective …
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Textiles on Film by Becky Peterson Take a moment to look at the cover of Becky Peterson’s book, Textiles on Film. One man watches as another crochets an object that has been tinted pink, the only spot of color in the sepia-toned image. Would it surprise you to learn that this is an image of …
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Nature’s Colorways: Conjuring the Chemistry and Culture of Natural Dyes edited by Linda Ligon and Anne Merrow Nature’s Colorways appears to be a spin-off (no pun intended) of The Long Thread Podcast, hosted by editors Linda Ligon and Anne Merrow. It offers brief, succinct and inviting views into the dye research and practices of many …
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Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross As I type the word “neuroarts” into my computer, auto-correct underlines the word, suggesting that I’ve made an error. I haven’t. My computer has. Neuroarts is a relatively recently coined term and a broad label describing the burgeoning scientific field …
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The Valkyries’ Loom: The Archaeology of Cloth Production and Female Power in the North Atlantic by Michele Hayeur Smith This work, based on research funded by the National Science Foundation’s 9 NSF Arctic Social Sciences Program might, at first perusal, seem to have predominantly a niche appeal, but as an interdisciplinary study, it is much …
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Fashion & Motherhood: Image, Material, Identity edited by Laura Snelgrove In 1976, Adrienne Rich published Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, ushering in motherhood studies as a field of academic inquiry. At the time, it was provocative to consider something perceived as “natural” as worthy of critical analysis, but the past decades have …
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