Textile arts

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Not to be confused with Fiber art.

Textile arts in ancient Egypt

This portrait illustrates the practical, decorative, and social aspects of the textile arts. Henry Frederick, Prince of
Wales by Robert Peake the Elder, 1610.
Persian Silk Brocade. Persian Textile (The Golden Yarns of Zari - Brocade). Silk Brocade with Golden Thread
(Golabetoon). Pattern and Design: Paisley Left and Right (Bote Jeghe), With Main Repeating Motif (Persian
Paisley).

Textile, painted silk, 45 × 291⁄2 in. (114.3 × 74.93 cm), Qing Dynasty, China, mid-18th century, LACMA textile
collection
Chamba Rumāl with scenes of gopis worshiping Krishna. Late 18th to early 19th century, Himachal Pradesh,
India. Ceremonial/ritual furnishing, silk embroidery on cotton. LACMA textile collection

Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct

practical or decorative objects.
Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization.[1]
[2]
 The methods and materials used to make them have expanded enormously, while the
functions of textiles have remained the same, there are many functions for textiles.
Whether it be clothing or something decorative for the house/shelter. The history of
textile arts is also the history of international trade. Tyrian purple dye was an important
trade good in the ancient Mediterranean. The Silk Road brought Chinese silk
to India, Africa, and Europe, and, conversely, Sogdian silk to China. Tastes for imported
luxury fabrics led to sumptuary laws during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
The Industrial Revolution was shaped largely by innovation in textiles technology:
the cotton gin, the spinning jenny, and the power loom mechanized production and led
to the Luddite rebellion.

Contents

 1Concepts
 2Functions
 3Textiles as art
 4History of plant use in textile arts
o 4.1Flax
o 4.2Cotton
 5Plant fiber identification in ancient textiles
 6Future of plants in textile art
 7Textile arts by region
 8List of contemporary textile artists
 9Gallery
 10See also
 11Notes
 12References
 13Further reading
  14External links

Concepts[edit]
The word textile is from Latin texere which means "to weave", "to braid" or "to
construct".[1] The simplest textile art is felting, in which animal fibers are matted together
using heat and moisture. Most textile arts begin with twisting
or spinning and plying fibers to make yarn (called thread when it is very fine
and rope when it is very heavy). The yarn is then knotted, looped, braided, or woven to
make flexible fabric or cloth, and cloth can be used to make clothing and soft
furnishings. All of these items – felt, yarn, fabric, and finished objects – are collectively
referred to as textiles.[3]
The textile arts also include those techniques which are used to embellish or decorate
textiles – dyeing and printing to add color and pattern; embroidery and other types
of needlework; tablet weaving; and lace-making. Construction methods such
as sewing, knitting, crochet, and tailoring, as well as the tools employed
(looms and sewing needles), techniques employed (quilting and pleating) and the
objects made (carpets, kilims, hooked rugs, and coverlets) all fall under the category of
textile arts.

Functions[edit]
From early times, textiles have been used to cover the human body and protect it from
the elements; to send social cues to other people; to store, secure, and protect
possessions; and to soften, insulate, and decorate living spaces and surfaces. [4]
The persistence of ancient textile arts and functions, and their elaboration for decorative
effect, can be seen in a Jacobean era portrait of Henry Frederick, Prince of
Wales by Robert Peake the Elder (above). The prince's capotain hat is made of felt using
the most basic of textile techniques. His clothing is made of woven cloth, richly
embroidered in silk, and his stockings are knitted. He stands on an oriental
rug of wool which softens and warms the floor, and heavy curtains both decorate the
room and block cold drafts from the window. Goldwork embroidery on the tablecloth and
curtains proclaim the status of the home's owner, in the same way that the felted fur hat,
sheer linen shirt trimmed with reticella lace, and opulent embroidery on the prince's
clothes proclaim his social position.[5]

Textiles as art[edit]
Traditionally the term art was used to refer to any skill or mastery, a concept which
altered during the Romantic period of the nineteenth century, when art came to be seen
as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science". [6] This
distinction between craft and fine art is applied to the textile arts as well, where the
term fiber art or textile art is now used to describe textile-based decorative objects
which are not intended for practical use. [7][8]

History of plant use in textile arts[edit]

Natural fibers have been an important aspect of human society since 7000 B.C., [9] and it
is suspected that they were first used in ornamental cloths since 400 B.C. in India where
cotton was first grown.[10] Natural fibers have been used for the past 4000 to 5000 years
to make cloth, and plant and animal fibers were the only way that clothing and fabrics
could be created up until 1885 when the first synthetic fiber was made. [9] Cotton and flax
are two of the most common natural fibers that are used today, but historically natural
fibers were made of most parts of the plant, including bark, stem, leaf, fruit, seed hairs,
and sap.[10]
Flax[edit]

Linen (flax) cloth that was used in mummification.

Flax is believed to be the oldest fiber that was used to create textiles, as it was found in
the tombs of mummies from as early as 6500 B.C.[10][9][11] The fibers from the flax are
taken from the filaments in the stem of the plant, spun together to create long strands,
and then woven into long pieces of linen that were used from anything from bandages
to clothing and tapestries.[11] Each fiber's length depends on the height of the leaf that it
is serving, with 10 filaments in a bundle serving each leaf on the plant. Each filament is
the same thickness, giving it a consistency that is ideal for spinning yarn. [9] The yarn was
best used on warping boards or warping reels to create large pieces of cloth that could
be dyed and woven into different patterns to create elaborate tapestries and
embroideries.[10] One example of how linen was used is in the picture of a bandage that a
mummy was wrapped in, dated between 305 and 30 B.C. Some of the bandages were
painted with hieroglyphs if the person being buried was of importance to the community.
Cotton[edit]
Cotton tapestry that was woven into an intricate pattern in India

Cotton was first used in 5000 B.C. in India and the Middle East, and spread to Europe
after they invaded India in 327 B.C. The manufacture and production of cotton spread
rapidly in the 18th century, and it quickly became one of the most important textile fibers
because of its comfort, durability, and absorbency.[9] Cotton fibers are seed hairs formed
in a capsule that grows after the plant flowers. The fibers complete their growth cycle
and burst to release about 30 seeds that each have between 200 and 7000 seed hairs
that are between 22 and 50 millimeters long. About 90% of the seed hairs are cellulose,
with the other 10% being wax, pectate, protein, and other minerals. [9] Once it is
processed, cotton can be spun into yarn of various thicknesses to be woven or knitted
into various different products such as velvet, chambray, corduroy, jersey, flannel, and
velour that can be used in clothing tapestries, rugs, and drapes, as shown in the image
of the cotton tapestry that was woven in India.[10]

Plant fiber identification in ancient textiles[edit]

Light microscopy, normal transmission electron microscopy, and most recently scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) are used to study ancient textile remains to determine what
natural fibers were used to create them.[12] Once textiles are found, the fibers are teased
out using a light microscope and an SEM is used to look for characteristics in the textile
that show what plant it is made of.[12] In flax, for example, scientists look for longitudinal
striations that show the cells of the plant stem and cross striations and nodes that are
specific to flax fibers. Cotton is identified by the twist that occurs in the seed hairs when
the fibers are dried to be woven.[12] This knowledge helps us to learn where and when
the cultivation of plants that are used in textiles first occurred, confirming the previous
knowledge that was gained from studying the era in which different textile arts aligned
with from a perspective of design.[10][12]

Future of plants in textile art[edit]

While plant use in textile art is still common today, there are new innovations being
developed, such as Suzanne Lee's art installation “BioCouture.” Lee uses fermentation
to create a plant-based paper sheet that can be cut and sewn just like cloth- ranging in
thickness from thin plastic-like materials up to thick leather-like sheets. [13] The garments
are “disposable” because they are made entirely of plant based products and are
completely biodegradable. Within her project, Lee places a large emphasis on making
the clothing look fashionable by using avant-garde style and natural dyes made from
fruits because compostable clothing is not appealing to most shoppers. [13] In addition,
there is a possibility to create designs with the plants by tearing or cutting the growing
sheet and allowing it to heal to create a pattern made of scars on the textile. [13] The
possibilities to use this textile in art installations is incredible because artists would have
the ability to create a living art piece, such as Lee does with her clothing.

Textile arts by region[edit]

 For articles on textile arts by region, see All pages with titles beginning
with Textile arts of.

List of contemporary textile artists[edit]

 Magdalena Abakanowicz
 Olga de Amaral
 Caroline Achaintre
 Alicja (Alice) Kozłowska
 Anni Albers
 Carla Freschi
 Ian Berry[14]
 Alighiero Boetti
 Nick Cave
 Tracey Emin[15]
 Rodrigo Franzao
 Sheila Hicks
 Britta Marakatt-Labba[16]
 Mascha Mioni
 María Teresa Muñoz Guillén
 Martin Nannestad Jørgensen
 Grayson Perry[17]
 Erin M. Riley
 Faith Ringgold
 Judith Scott
 Kiki Smith
 Joana Vasconcelos
 Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada
 Brent Wadden
 Pae White
 Billie Zangewa