Textiles

Textiles can refer to anything made of a soft, flexible material. Humans have been making textiles from available materials for over 30,000 years. Textiles have been felted, spun, netted, looped, knotted, pressed, knit, crocheted or woven to create cloth which then is made into baskets, blankets, rugs, clothing, homes, decorations, storage and tools.

As people have created machines to make textiles, innovative materials and uses are still being found. People have often put a lot of thought into the cloth that they make and made it beautiful as well as useful. People also create textiles solely as works of art.

Can students identify textiles in the classroom? On each other?

Sample Projects:

Molas (1st Grade) art lesson.
Wet Felted Germs (1st Grade) art lesson.
Analogous Color Weaving (3rd Grade) art lesson.
Wet Felting Landscapes (4th Grade) art lesson.
Painting with Wool (5th Grade) art lesson.
Make a small Batik (use just two colors).
Tie-dye baby wipes. (tie up baby wipes with rubber bands and then color with markers).
Simple weaving, knitting, or even finger crocheting. You could even make clover chains.
Weave two similar magazine pictures together.

Bayeux Tapestry, 1073. Used for decoration and to help keep drafty castles warm, but it also tells a story.

Chair, Denham Maclaren (English), 1930. Textile used as design element. The tiger pattern is key to the look of this chair.

Almoravid Dynasty, 13th c. “Persian” rug – demonstrating a long tradition in rug making and the development of pattern. Notice the writing woven into the ends of the rug. Decorative art is sometimes more important than representative art.

Congo Mask, before 1950. Notice all the different textures and elements used to make this mask – also the contrasting colors.

Liturgical Glove, 1181, Palermo. Intricate design of valuable materials for a sacred object.

Cleveland Henricks, Crazy Quilty, 1885. American tradition which sticks only marginally to a pattern in order to use up all materials but is still fun to look at.

Hair Wreath, Manti Relief Society, 1888. A serious craft around the 18th and 19th centuries was making objects out of hair. It could be done to remember someone (like making a watch chain out of a loved one's hair) or just for pure decoration like this piece.

Choson Dynasty, Rank Badge, 17th c. Korean. In many Asian cultures, an elaborate and beautiful block would be put on the front of clothing to indicate your rank or importance in the society or army.

Autumn Leaves, Calder and Pinton Freres, 1971. Decoartive tapestry.

Tlingit Robe. Native American robe with intricate weaving that reflects the designs found on other Tlingit objects such as totem poles, boats, etc.

No Kimono, Japanese formal dress. This is an especially elaborate robe that was used in No Theatre.

King Roger’s Royal Robe (Norman), 11thc. Made in Norman Sicily with heavy Middle Eastern influence (notice the Arabic writing along the edge). It was brought to Austria when Sicily was invaded by the Ottomans and used by Austrian Emperors as well.

Shoes, Vivienne Westwood, 1987. Just a funky use of animal skin and color which add to the overall design.

Reiter Family Album, Quilt (American), 1891. A good example of the intricate, illustrative (meaning it tells stories) and personal quilt designs of the 19th century.

QainLong Emperor Armor (China) 18th c. Stark, elegant design for the serious business of leading an army.

Silk Turkish Army Tent, 17th c. Even the fabric of this tent is intricately woven and designed. Shows how much people care for beauty in every day objects.

Korean Court Garments, 1880. In contract to much that we have seen, these Korean garments use bold color blocks instead of intricate designs to create a powerful, beautiful look.

Wall Hanging in Red and Green, Gunta Stoltz, 1926 (Bauhaus). Decoartive tapestry using abstract principles of design.

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