In this video Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez reflects on two blankets woven by his great-great-grandmother, Manuelita Cisneros. These objects form part of an immensely important extant group of nineteenth century blankets woven by Diné (Navajo) women who were enslaved by, or worked as servants in Hispanic households in the Southwest region of the United States. Combining...

In celebration of Women’s History Month, March Object of the Day posts highlight women designers in the collection. Sheila Hicks is one of the most important living artists today, who has chosen fiber as her primary medium. The museum is fortunate enough to have over sixty works spanning more than fifty years of her career,...

Andean cloth has many meanings. Some are expressed through complex iconographic representations, others employ a strictly geometric vocabulary. Another form of meaning comes from the materiality of the cloth itself and way it was made. This simple cloth is composed of interlocking stepped squares in contrasting colors. The duality of the design, like the Chinese...

Felt Lace X-Change 2010-3-1 Company: Studio Structure Designed by Pauline Verbeek-Cowart Woven by The Oriole Mill 2008 Medium: merino wool Technique: fulled double cloth with hand finishing Place made: North Carolina, U.S.A. One of the favorite parts of my job is inspecting all of the new acquisitions coming into the textile collection. Earlier this year...