Surface Design Association is excited to announce Modern Weavers / New Spirit, our Summer 2025 edition of Surface Design Journal. This issue takes a deep dive into contemporary weaving while acknowledging a long list of modern innovators whose threads can be located in contemporary approaches. As Patricia Malarcher points out, “textile art produced since the …

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 not only in fibers and textiles, but in printmaking, sculpture, and more. It is an honor for the Education Committee …

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 …

Colorful, garish, and joyful worlds made primarily from fiber and mixed media are at the center of my work. I utilize a variety of needle and wet felting techniques, which allows me to produce unique textured painterly images with a high degree of precision and detail, often coupled with mixed media elements to create sculpture …

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 …

Surface Design Association is excited to announce Felting: Wet & Dry, our Spring 2025 edition of Surface Design Journal. This issue of Surface Design Journal highlights the material and cultural qualities of wool and the practice of felting across the world…It would seem that no matter where you are located in the world, wool and …

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 …

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 …

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 …

SDA is committed to supporting the efforts of community members to realize their creative goals and positively impact the world of textile and fiber art. SDA’s Grants & Awards program provides an array of opportunities to support members as they demonstrate excellence in the studio and in exhibitions, engage in professional development, organize events, and …