The little-known art of Berlin Work was once the most commonly practiced art form among European women. Pictorial Embroidery in England is the first academic study of both pictorial Berlin Work and its precursor, needlepainting, exploring their cultural status in the 18th and 19th centuries. From Enlightenment practices of copying to the development of an industrial aesthetic and the making of the modern amateur, Berlin Work developed as an official knowledge associated with notions of cultural and scientific progress. However, with the advent of the Arts and Crafts movement and modernist aesthetics, Berlin Work was gradually demoted to a craft hobby. Delving into the social, cultural and economic context of English pictorial embroidery, Pictorial Embroidery in England recovers Berlin Work as an art form, and demonstrates how this overlooked practice was once at the centre of cultural life.

In gold-rush Australia, social identity was in flux: gold promised access to fashionable new clothes, a grand home, and the goods to furnish it, but could not buy gentility. Needlework and Women's Identity in Colonial Australia explores how the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters who migrated to the newly formed colony of Victoria used their needle skills as a powerful claim to social standing. Focusing on one of women's most common daily tasks, the book examines how needlework's practice and products were vital in the contest for social position in the turmoil of the first two decades of the Victorian rush from 1851. Placing women firmly at the center of colonial history, it explores how the needle became a tool for stitching together identity. From decorative needlework to household making and mending, women's sewing was a vehicle for establishing, asserting, and maintaining social status. Interdisciplinary in scope, Needlework and Women's Identity in Colonial Australia draws on material culture, written primary sources, and pictorial evidence, to create a rich portrait of the objects and manners that defined genteel goldfields living. Giving voice to women's experiences and positioning them as key players in the fabric of gold-rush society, this volume offers a fresh critical perspective on gender and textile history.

This monograph presents the Norwegian artist Bente Saetrang (b. 1946) and her forty years of commitment to the medium of textile. Saetrang is known for her intensive investigation of trompe l'oeil drapery, bold textile printing, monumental abstract colour studies, and juicy charcoal drawings. She was Norway's first professor of textile art, and her political engagement and unique knowledge of colour and textile qualities permeate her work. Through essays, poems, interviews, montages, and rich imagery, this monograph sheds light on the different phases of Saetrang's artistic practice and provides an excellent overview of this exciting artistic work. Text in English and Norwegian.

Exploring the origins and lasting significance of a dynamic, subversive, and interactive art form This is the first publication to consider art to wear, also known as wearable art, as a discrete American movement that mirrored the cultural, political, social, and spiritual concerns of a generation that came of age in the late 1960s and 1970s. Trained primarily in the fine arts, they adopted nontraditional forms, materials, and techniques to create works using the body as an armature. Collectively, these practitioners have had a significant but underrecognized impact on art making and education. Their legacy continues today among younger artists who have embraced multimedia forms of expression. Rich archival and newly commissioned photography bring to life one-of-a-kind work by more than 75 artists, including Gaza Bowen, Jean Cacicedo, Marian Clayden, Ben Compton, Marika Contompasis, Nicki Hitz Edson, Tim Harding, Sharron Hedges, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Nina Vivian Huryn, Whitney Kent, Ina Kozel, Susanna Lewis, Janet Lipkin, K. Lee Manuel, Linda Mendelson, Norma Minkowitz, Anna VA Polesny, Debra Rapoport, Mario Rivoli, Dina Knapp, Joan Steiner, Arlene Stimmel, Jamie Summers, JoEllen Trilling, and Katherine Westphal. Off the Wall provides a detailed introduction to art to wear between 1967 and 1997 and elucidates the movement's origins by linking it to developments in the arts of the period, from fiber art to painting. Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art Exhibition Schedule: Philadelphia Museum of Art (November 8, 2019-May 17, 2020)

A CELEBRATION OF THE SCIENCE AND ART OF MAORI WEAVING, FOCUSED ON THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF MAORI CLOAKS IN THE WORLD Weaving is more than just a product of manual skills. From the simple rourou (food basket) to the prestigious kahukiwi (kiwi feather cloak), weaving is endowed with the very essence of the spiritual values of Maori people. This award-winning book opens the storeroom doors of the Te Papa Tongarewa Maori collections, illuminating the magnificent kakahu in those collections and the art and tradition of weaving itself. More than fifty rare and precious kakahu are featured within this book, with glossy colour detail illustrations of each, plus historical and contextual images and graphic diagrams of weaving techniques. These are accompanied by engaging descriptions bringing together information on every cloak - its age, materials, and weaving technique with quotes from master weavers and other experts, stories of the cloaks, details of their often remarkable provenance, discussion of how the craft is being revived and issues to do with cloaks held in international museums. A full glossary, illustrated guide to cloak types, and index are included. Contemporary cloaks made with novel materials also feature.