Textile Museum Press Room

Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain

May 15, 2010 – September 12, 2010 

The art of textile design changed radically after World War II as Britain was transformed from a country devastated by war into an optimistic consumer society. Three women designers were pivotal in this artistic revolution: Lucienne Day (1917- ), Jacqueline Groag (1903-1985) and Marian Mahler (1911-1983). Incorporating dramatic saturated colors and bold motifs inspired by artists like Alexander Calder and Joan Miró, these young designers transformed the market by inspiring elegant yet affordable product lines that brought the world of contemporary art into everyone’s homes.
Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain will showcase the work of these groundbreaking women designers, highlighting the work of Lucienne Day, through the display of textiles together with preliminary drawings and collages, ceramics and period furniture, all drawn from the Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown, III Collection of British Textiles. 

Colors of the Oasis: Central Asian Ikats

October 16, 2010 through March 13, 2011 

In the streets of Central Asian oasis towns, a man’s clothing defined his status in society and proclaimed his wealth. In the home, the place of honor was filled with the richest ikat textiles. Many family ceremonies were celebrated in surroundings made beautiful with textiles. Ikats display Central Asian artists’ and weavers’ attention to the harmony between design, color and execution in order to create their master works. These textiles are visually stunning because of their bold graphic designs, rich fabric texture and deep, rich and brilliant colors, all of which make them a key source of inspiration for contemporary designers and artists.
Colors of the Oasis will feature a selection from the 148 high caliber Central Asian ikats given to The Textile Museum by collector Murad Megalli in 2005.The stunning, colorful textiles on view will include coats for men and women, and women’s dresses and pants, as well as cradle covers, hangings and fragments — all on view for the first time ever. 

GREEN: the Color and the Cause

April – September 2011 

Many cultures traditionally associate the color green with nature and its attributes, including life, fertility and rebirth. In recent years, green has become a symbolic color of environmentalism. This exhibition will celebrate green both as a color and as a cause, exploring the techniques people have devised to create green textiles, the meanings this color has held in cultures across time and place, and the ways that contemporary textile artists and designers are responding to concerns about the environment.
The exhibition will include approximately 25 textiles from the museum’s collection, as well as a section of work by contemporary artists and designers. To have your work considered for inclusion, please review the call for entries application.