For most, one of our first sensory experiences after human touch is fabric—think of a newborn baby’s swaddle cloth. From birth, we are in constant contact with this material, and its general associations lean toward the feminine and domestic. Perhaps those are some of the many reasons why art made with fabric and fiber has been so long relegated to the category of craft and not the realms of academically rigorous or contemporary art. It was only last year that the New York Times wrote “Fiber Art is Finally Being Taken Seriously.”

In reality, artists of many disciplines have had a long history of exploration and exemplary works in fiber and fabric. Here are a few examples. 

Juvana Soliven

My work subverts and utilizes object languages to speak to issues regarding intimacy, labor,  bodily autonomy, human rights, and women’s positionality within the patriarchal system — many works resulting in amalgamate forms of the censored body, medical implement, weapon, adornment, and trap. Themes regarding the queer and femme body are used broadly in her work and are interrogated through the tedium of craft practices — beading, weaving, paper crafts, metalsmithing, enameling, sewing — as a meditation on labor and the endless work needed to fight for what is ours.

Juvana Soliven is a visual artist and educator from Honolulu, Hawaii. Soliven is a Lecturer in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Soliven has exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Netherlands, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Finland, and Argentina. Instagram: @juvanasoliven.

Bailey Anderson

I WISH HE LOVED ME AS MUCH AS THAT DAMN TRUCK is based on the structure of V8 engine block suspended on an engine hoist, made out of lace, satin, and pearls. Its title speaks to the relationship of some men and their cars. Utilizing feminized aesthetics, this work is also about objectification, subjectivity, and femininity in relationship to ownership of items that are prescribed to masculinity. 

Bailey Anderson is a multidisciplinary artist critiquing masculinity and patriarchal structures. Anderson untangles systemic violence using cultural reference through paint, fabric, and cast metal. Anderson is from Las Vegas and is currently working on her MFA from UNLV.

Rachel Deane

My work explores trauma, shame, and healing processes through storytelling and alchemical, astrological, physiological and folkloric schools of thought. Using repetition and testimony, I aim to address, dispel, and heal from past experiences. Immersive environments, hidden text, and delicate materials engage viewers in close inspection, emphasizing their role in my act of storytelling. Each object serves as a vessel for visual and perceptual memory, allowing for the destruction of the shamed past-self and a clearer understanding of my current point of view.

Rachel Deane, a California-based artist, holds a BFA in Painting, an MA in Art + Design Education from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA in Art Studio from UC Davis. Her work has been exhibited nationally and collected by the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

Sally C. Garner

The Symbiosis series questions the notion of human control over nature and contrasts this pursuit against nature’s inherent ungovernability. Textiles are the story of our own existence and journey through time — from ancient basketry to empires built on textile trade. While exploring this deeply rooted connection to humanity, my artwork also embodies a commitment to eco-conscious creation. I symbolically use handwoven structures within these ecologically driven sculptures to investigate the idea that technology has promoted humanity’s faulty belief that we have the right to meddle in nature’s processes and ecosystems. Nevertheless, the artwork ultimately encourages a more sustainable future.

Sally C. Garner is a fiber artist and educator based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, currently exploring the opposing forces between nature and humanity through site-specific installation, sculptural basketry and traditional weaving. She received her textiles MFA at Georgia State University and sculpture BFA at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.