What is Textile Art?

An art form that used to be on the far periphery of fine arts for many years and occasionally found its way into contemporary art in the second half of the 20th century has become one of the most trending artistic disciplines today: Textile Art. As a result, in this article, we will define this art form, recite its pioneers, and discuss ten artists who are leading this trend in today’s art world.

Textile Art is an artistic discipline in which natural or synthetic fibers are used to construct contemporary artworks, encompassing sculptures, installations, and wall objects reminiscent to painting, in the form of tapestries, weaving, embroidery, knitting, and crocheting. These creative activities used to be situated in the realms of functional crafts or decorative arts and crafts—with the exception of tapestries, think of Medieval tapestries and its ongoing circulation in the art market.

So how did these crafts find their way from the very outside of the periphery of fine art to the deep center? Which artists trailblazed and shaped Textile Art as we know it today, and who are the leading artists in the 21st century?

History: 4 Artists Elevating Textile as a Craft to High Art

In the 1960s and 1970s and with the arrival of the postmodern era, the creative urge to popular culture or so-called low art with high art—think of Pop artists being inspired by billboards, consumer culture and popular icons—and supported by Feminist Art, elevated a women’s craft to become Art with a capital A. Anni Albers (1899–1994), Fred Sandback (1943–2003), Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), Judith Scott (1943–2005), among others, pioneered textile as a high-end contemporary art form.

1. Anni Albers

Born in 1899 in Berlin, Anni Albers started her studies in weaving at the Bauhaus in 1922 before using that arts and crafts background to integrate avant-garde geometric abstractions with weaving for the very first time in history. Due to her deep and intuitive understanding of materials and process with her inventive and engaging exploration of form and color, her contributions to Textile Art, but also printmaking, made Albers one of the most important abstract artists of the previous century. Albers was strongly influenced by pre-Columbian textiles, resulting in her pictorial weavings of the 1950s. ¹ Up to this day, South-American history and weaving will continue to function as a craddle of inspiration—resulting in a large number of South-American artists leading this trend today, merging their roots and history with contemporary art.

In 2017, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao held “Anni Albers: Touching Vision,” a comprehensive survey of her work. This exhibition underscored her influence and innovation in textile art. In 2018, her work was featured at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, an exhibition that later traveled to the Tate Modern in London, further solidifying her status in the art world. The following year, in 2019, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art hosted “Paul Klee and Anni Albers,” a two-person exhibition that explored the interplay of her work with that of her contemporary, Paul Klee. Her artistic relationship with her husband, Josef Albers, was the focus of “Anni and Josef Albers: Art and Life,” which was showcased at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris in 2021 and moved to the IVAM (Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno) in Valencia, Spain, in 2022. This exhibition provided insight into their shared creative and personal life, highlighting their mutual influences.

2. Fred Sandback

Born in 1943 in Bronxville, New York, Fred Sandback used acrylic yarn or elastic cords to elaborate on the phenomenological experience of space and volume. Sandback stretched single strands of yarn point-to-point to create geometric figures and shapes as near intangible objects. The precise and subtle dileanitions of pictorial planes and architectural volumes, made him one of the most important Minimal Artists alongside the likes of Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, and Carl Andre. His ingenious, singular and minimal formal vocabulary redefined sculpture and introduced fabrics as a medium to create full-scale and site specific installation. A pioneering act that paved the way for the significant amount of textile installation artists working today.^{2 3}

The American artist completed his undergraduate studies in philosophy and sculpture at Yale University, earning his BA in 1966. He continued his education at Yale, obtaining an MFA in art in 1969. Over the decades, he has held numerous solo exhibitions that underscore his significant contribution to contemporary art. His exhibitions include a 2018 show at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, NJ; “Light, Space, Facts: Glenstone” in Potomac in 2016; “When Attitudes Became Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013” at Fondazione Prada in Milan, Italy in 2013; and an earlier exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery in London, UK in 2011. Further back, his work was showcased at the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in Vaduz in 2005; PS1 in New York, NY, USA in 1978; Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland in 1973; and Museum Haus Lange in Krefeld, Germany in 1969. His first commercial gallery shows were held in 1968 at Galerie Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf and Galerie Heiner Friedrich in Munich. His work is also part of the permanent collection at Dia, NY, where visitors can engage with his artistic legacy on an ongoing basis.

3. Louise Bourgeois

Born in 1911 in Paris, fabric played an essential role in Louise Bourgeois’s life. Her parents had a tapestry restoration workshop, and as a child, she helped with various tasks ranging from restitching to wringing water out of the fabric when washing it. Bourgeois’ oeuvre is marked by psychological repair, intertwining personal trauma, and experiences with her multidisciplinary practice, including fabric artworks in the form of abstract fabric drawings, creating environments known as Cells filled with household items such as clothes, tablecloths, napkins, or bed linen, up to sculptural figures of with a twisted head, as she dreamt of wringing the neck of her father’s mistress as she wrung water out of the washed fabric with a twisting motion. With Bourgeois, the power of the domestic nature of fabric and the connection of textile with personal memories was illustrated, leaving a lasting mark and influence on the up-and-coming art form of Textile Art.⁴

Bourgeois’s contributions to contemporary art were notably recognized in the groundbreaking exhibition “Eccentric Abstraction,” curated by Lucy Lippard at New York’s Fischbach Gallery in 1966. This early recognition paved the way for significant international acclaim, including a retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1982, her participation in Documenta IX in 1992, and her role representing the United States at the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993. In 2001, Bourgeois achieved a landmark in her career by becoming the first artist to be commissioned to fill the Tate Modern’s expansive Turbine Hall. This installation was a part of her growing international prominence and was followed by a major retrospective in 2007 at the Tate Modern. This retrospective not only celebrated her extensive oeuvre but also traveled internationally, visiting the Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and The Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.

4. Judith Scott

To conclude, one must also mention the work of Judith Scott, born with Down Syndrome in 1942 in Columbus, Ohio. She redefined the use of yarn and textile in combination with found objects to create powerful sculptures, as every object is palpably charged by an intense and generative act of wrapping and binding the found object, concealing it, but also solidifying and bounding it in an unbound manner. Her works resonate with a wide array of material and cultural practices that involve intentional accreditation for the purpose of healing. However, although the artist is not directly influenced by any cultural tradition, it seems to show an inherent human desire and anthropological structure initiating this uncanny parallel. As a result, her works exude a sense of mystery, contemporary freshness, and aesthetic appeal that is clearly echoed in today’s textile sculptures.⁵

Judith Scott has had one person exhibitions at renowned institutions, such as the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore the United States of America; the Brooklyn Museum, the United States of America; Collège des Bernardins in Paris, France; White Columns in New York, the United States of America; Museum Gugging, Austria; Musée de l’Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland. As a result, Scott’s work is featured in renowned public collections, encompassing American Folk Art Museum, New York
American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, the United States of America; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Collection ABCD, Paris, France, and Prague, Czech Republic; Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne, Switzerland; Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Chicago, IL; to name just a few.

Today: 10 Leading Textile Artists You Need To Know

Having discussed some of th most important pioneers of Textile Art, now it is time to have a closer look at todays landscape of textile artists, featureing ten of the very best and most pertinent artists in the art world.

1. Cecilia Vicuña

Cecilia Vicuña, born in 1948 in Santiago, Chile, working and residing between Santiago and New York, is a contemporary artist and activist whose work intertwines ancient indigenous knowledge with contemporary issues. Her artistic practice serves as both a critique of unchecked capitalism and environmental degradation and a call to collective activism. Vicuña’s work is deeply rooted in her Chilean heritage and the traumatic context of her exile during the military coup in the 1970s. Vicuña’s art is renowned for its integration of traditional Andean cultural elements, particularly through her ongoing series of works called “precarios” and “quipus.” The precarios combine natural and synthetic materials to form delicate spatial poems that reflect on fragility and impermanence. The quipus, inspired by an ancient method of Andean communication using knotted strings, are reimagined through Vicuña’s installations that incorporate unspun wool, transforming these into contemporary expressions of communal memory and resistance.

Vicuña has been honored with numerous accolades, including the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 2022. Other notable awards include the Premio Velázquez de Artes Plásticas in 2019, and the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts the same year. Her impact and contributions to contemporary art are celebrated worldwide, with major retrospectives and exhibitions showcasing her work. Notably, a significant traveling retrospective is currently being held through 2023-2024 at leading institutions such as the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) in Santiago, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), and the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. Recent solo exhibitions have also taken place at prestigious venues including the Tate Modern in London, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP).⁶

2. Chiharu Shiota

Chiharu Shiota, born in 1972 in Osaka, Japan, is a renowned contemporary artist who has been based in Berlin since 1997. Shiota’s artistic practice is characterized by her innovative use of woven yarn to create installations, often monumental in scale that incorporate elements of performance and body art. Her work focuses on themes such as temporality, movement, and dreams, engaging viewers on both a physical and emotional level. Shiota’s multifaceted approach to art often transforms spaces into visually compelling environments in which the spectator has to navigate and experience her web-like structures firsthand.

Over the years, Shiota has gained international recognition, exhibiting her works globally. Notable exhibitions include her 2003 show at MoMA PS1 in New York, her participation at the New Museum of Jakarta and the SCAD Museum of Art in the USA in 2017, and displays at the K21 Kunstsammlung NRW in Düsseldorf and the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. in 2014. Additionally, her work was featured at Japan’s Kochi Museum of Art in 2013. A highlight of her career was in 2015, when Shiota represented Japan at the Venice Biennale. More recent exhibitions include a 2018 show at the Museum of Kyoto and a comprehensive survey of her oeuvre in 2019 at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, which illuminated the breadth and depth of her artistic journey.⁷

3. Sheila Hicks

Born in 1934 in Hastings, Nebraska, working and residing in Pairs, France, Hicks has been recognized as a leading figure working in textile and is perhaps best known for her monumental works, showcasing her mastery of scale and color through striking installations. Her fascination with the textile practices of pre-Incan cultures led her to explore weaving, using a loom she constructed from tree branches and painting stretchers—a technique she continues to use in her smaller works, referred to as minimes. Hicks’s art, whether vast or intimate, speaks to a blend of tactility, sensuality, and intellectual engagement, reflecting her belief in the inseparable connection between passion, intellect, and the physical act of making.

Hicks’s formal art education took place at Yale School of Art from 1954 to 1959, where she studied painting under Josef Albers and attended George Kubler’s class on pre-Columbian art and archaeology. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1957, Hicks traveled extensively through South America, where she documented and studied indigenous textile techniques—this period culminated in a significant stint in Guerrero, Mexico, from 1959 to 1964, where she immersed herself in a community that crafted all of their garments and goods. Today, Hicks is one of the most established artists in Textile Art and has exhibited at the Sydney and Venice Biennale.⁸

4. Otobong Nkanga

Otobong Nkanga, born in 1974 in Kano, Nigeria, residing and working in Antwerp, Belgium, is a renowned multidisciplinary artist working in drawing, installation, photography, sculpture, and performance, sound art, and tapestries. Her work often addresses the concept of land as a place of non-belonging, providing a nuanced perspective on identity and societal structures. Nkanga is known for her innovative use of textiles, among other mediums, to delve into themes such as the commodification of nature and the interconnectedness of land, culture, and community. Her artworks frequently incorporate materials that highlight the socio-economic and historical narratives tied to their origins, reflecting on how these elements converge in the landscape of modern global exchange.

Nkanga’s notable solo exhibitions include “Craving for Southern Light” at IVAM Centre Julio González, Spain, in 2023, and “Gently Basking in Debris” in Nashville, TN, in the same year. She has also been featured in prestigious group exhibitions such as the 58th Venice Biennial and Documenta 14. Her works are held in major public collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the Tate Modern in London. Among her accolades, Nkanga received the Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award in 2019, the Special Mention Award at the 58th Venice Biennale, and the Flemish Cultural Award for Visual Arts – Ultima in 2018. ⁹

5. Joël Andrianomearisoa

Born in 1977 in Antananarivo, Madagascar, residing and working between his native Madagascar and Paris, France, Joël Andrianomearisoa is a contemporary artist working in installation, drawing, , performance, video, photography, and of course, textile—creating both tapestries as sculptures and as wall objects. His work blends traditional crafts with contemporary digital sentimentality, adding a poetic and sentimental dimension to the minimalist tradition. The artist views his creations as ongoing exercises, mining the artistic potential of materials such as textiles, silk paper, glass, flowers, and various objects like mirrors to forge a diverse and polyphonic body of work.

In 2019, Andrianomearisoa had the honor of representing the first-ever Madagascar Pavilion at the 58th Venice Art Biennale. His works have been exhibited at prestigious institutions worldwide, including MAXXI in Rome, Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington DC, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among others. Recent exhibitions include those at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, MACAAL in Marrakech, and Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Andrianomearisoa’s contributions to the art world are recognized in numerous international collections, including those of the Smithsonian in Washington DC, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Museum Sztuki in Łódź. In addition to his art practice, he is the founder and artistic director of Hakanto Contemporary, an independent non-profit space for artists in Antananarivo, supported by the Fonds Yavarhoussen, showcasing his commitment to fostering artistic expression in Madagascar.¹⁰

6. Joana Schneider

Joana Schneider, born in 1990 in Munich, Germany, currently residing and working in The Netherlands, is a distinguished artist known for her textile wall objects, sculptures, installations, and sculptural environments that engage deeply with organic materials. Her work highlights the significance of local creativity and industry, and it reverently acknowledges the labor-intensive techniques of Dutch craftsmanship, which play a central role in her artistic practice. Schneider’s approach is deeply rooted in a reverence for traditional working practices, notably inspired by netmaking in the fisheries sector. She is particularly known for her innovative use of discarded fishing ropes, which she repurposes as the foundational elements of her creations, alongside viscose threads made from recycled plastic bottles. This commitment to sustainable materials not only defines the aesthetic of her work but also underscores its environmental consciousness.

Schneider’s artworks are featured in several prestigious public collections, reflecting her growing influence and recognition within the art community, think of Museum Aalborg, Germany; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Lakeside Collection—the private compartment in Depot Boijmans van Beuningen Museum; Fondazione D’Arc in Rome, Italy, or the Groningen Museum, the Netherlands.¹¹

7. Gabriel Dawe

Born in 1973 in Mexico City, Gabriel Dawe has developed a unique artistic practice deeply influenced by his early fascination with needlework and a critical response to the restrictive gender norms he encountered during his childhood. His work boldly challenges the conventional categorization of textiles as merely domestic crafts, weaving together complex reflections on gender, fashion, and architecture. Dawe is renowned for his large-scale installations that mimic the optical phenomena of refracted light, creating environments that transform venerable art institution spaces into ethereal, celestial experiences. He describes his intent as an effort to materialize light, to give it density, to offer the viewer an approximation of things otherwise inaccessible.

He holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Dallas. In 2020, Dawe was honored with the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant and the Texas State 3D Visual Artist Award. His influential work has been exhibited at prestigious venues including the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR; the Courtauld Institute in London, U.K.; the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico; the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; and Museum Rijswijk in the Netherlands. Dawe’s solo exhibitions have graced institutions such as the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio; Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, TX; The National Centre for Craft and Design in Lincolnshire, UK; Newark Museum in NJ; Brigham Young University Museum of Art in Provo, UT; Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum in San Antonio, TX; and The Luminary Arts Center in St. Louis, MO, among others.¹²

8. Maria Abaddon

Maria Abaddon, born in 1988 in Lima, Peru, where the artist continues to work and reside, is a contemporary artist whose work deeply explores the visceral and macabre aspects of human existence. The Peruvian artist is lauded for vibrant textile tableaus and sculptures that utilize thread, wool, felting, and embroidery, examining themes such as mortality, isolation, societal issues, violence, and the physical form. Abaddon aims to portray spaces and landscapes that echo architectural forms, layered like skin and textured with organic patterns, thus juxtaposing anthropomorphic elements with architectural structures, and interweaving notions of the internal with the external.

Abaddon’s work has garnered several accolades, including finalist selections for the Alliance Française in 2019, the IPAE Award in 2019 and 2021, the ICPNA Contemporary Art in 2021, and the XIII National Painting Prize by the Central Reserve Bank of Peru in 2023. Significant solo exhibitions include shows at Ginsberg Gallery and Callao Monumental in Lima, Peru, and 66p Gallery in Wroclaw, Poland, and group exhibitions at venues such as the Centro Cultural de España in Lima, the Cultural Palace in Warsaw, Poland, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) in Lima.¹³

9. Sarah Zapata

Sarah Zapata, born in 1977 in Antananarivo, Madagascar, currently lives and works between Paris and Antananarivo, is best known for her vibrant handwoven sculptures, rug-like canvases, and installations, incorporates Peruvian weaving techniques alongside American rug-making traditions into her work. Her art, often anthropomorphic and mixed-media, includes pieces featuring coiled fiber vessels inspired by ancient burial practices from the Paracas, a pre-Columbian Peruvian society. The labor-intensive nature of her textile work pays homage to the historical craft traditions upheld by Peruvian women for millennia, connecting her modern practice to deep-rooted cultural heritage.

As a contemporary artist, Zapata is part of a new generation that revitalizes traditional craft techniques with modern contexts and themes. Her works have been exhibited in notable institutions such as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, El Museo del Barrio, the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, and Museo MATE in Lima, showcasing her role in the evolving dialogue between craft and contemporary art.¹⁴

10. Tanya Aguiñiga

Tanya Aguiñiga, born in 1978 in San Diego, California and raised in Tijuana, Mexico, working and residing in Los Angeles, is an artist, designer, and craftsperson renowned for her use of traditional craft materials such as natural fibers. Her work encompasses a broad range of media including sculptures, installations, performances, and community-based projects, reflecting her binational upbringing and the daily cross-border journeys she made from Tijuana to San Diego for school. In her practice, Aguiñiga frequently employs textiles such as cotton and wool, drawing on Mesoamerican weaving techniques and traditional crafts. One of her notable projects, AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides), initiated in 2016 amid growing polarization about the U.S.-Mexico border, aims to foster binational artistic collaboration. The project’s inaugural work, Border Quipu, uses brightly colored fabric strands to form a quipu—an ancient Andean system of communication and record-keeping—to document the daily experiences of cross-border commuters.

Aguiñiga holds an MFA in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BA from San Diego State University. She has been recognized as a United States Artists Target Fellow in crafts and traditional arts, a National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures awardee, a Creative Capital grantee, and a recipient of the Americans for the Arts Johnson Fellowship for Artists Transforming Communities. Her significant solo exhibitions include displays at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, both in 2018. Her works have also been featured at the Annenberg Space for Photography and the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles.¹⁵

1. David Zwirner, Ani Albers at https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/anni-albers#survey consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
2. David Zwirner, Fred Sandback at https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/fred-sandback consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
3. Lisson Gallery, Fred Sandback at https://www.lissongallery.com/artists/fred-sandback consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
4. Hausert & Wirth, Louise Bourgeois: The Fabric Works at https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/3595-louise-bourgeois-the-fabric-works/# consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
5. Andrew Edlin Gallery, Judith Scott at https://www.edlingallery.com/artists/judith-scott consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
6. Xavier Hufkens, Cecilia Vicuña at https://www.xavierhufkens.com/artists/cecilia-vicuna consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
7. Templon, Chiharu Shiota at https://www.templon.com/artists/chiharu-shiota-2/ consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
8. Alison Jacques, Sheila Hicks at https://alisonjacques.com/artists/sheila-hicks consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
9. Otobong Nkanga, Home at https://www.otobong-nkanga.com consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
10. Almine Rech, Joël Andrianomearisoa at https://www.alminerech.com/artists/7722-joel-andrianomearisoa consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
11. Rademakers Gallery, Joana Schneider at https://www.rademakersgallery.com/artists/66-joana-schneider/ consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
12. Tallery Dunn Gallery, Gabriel Dawe at https://talleydunn.com/project/gabriel-dawe/ consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
13. Verduyn, Maria Abaddon: Soft on the Inside at https://verduyngallery.com/soft-on-the-inside-maria-abaddon consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
14. Artsy, Sarah Zapata at https://www.artsy.net/artist/sarah-zapata-1 consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎
15. Tanya Aguiñiga, About at http://www.tanyaaguiniga.com/about consulted August 23, 2024. ↩︎

Last Updated on August 24, 2024