Stories are embedded in what we wear; language and cloth are intricately connected. The words text and textile come from the Latin texere, to weave. Fabric and fabricate come from fabrica – something skillfully produced. The words lingerie, lining and linoleum all originate in linen. We talk of life “hanging by a thread”, being “on tenterhooks” or “spinning a yarn”.
The drive to establish textiles as a fine art movement began in the 1960s and has gathered momentum all around the world. A major new exhibition in Dublin Castle places international fibre artists from the Milan-based collective Fringe and their invited guests alongside Wild Donegal Tweed, a recent collaboration between five Irish tweed companies and the fashion and textile students of NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) in Rome.
The Fine Art of Textile exhibition is curated by Milan-based Irish artist Nuala Goodman. She points out that the last two Venice Biennales have sanctioned the shift of textiles from the marginal confines of “low art”, relegated to being a homely practice and mainly the prerogative of women, to a phenomenon that travels to the heart of the art system and market.
This was confirmed by the extraordinary work of Olga de Amaral at the Cartier Foundation in Paris recently. Such popularity has been attributed to the changing face of recent art history and the work of dedicated scholars, curators and critics.
In May, Art News reported that the New York art scene has been “fibre bombed” with textile exhibitions not only in institutions such as MOMA but also in blue chip commercial galleries. Dealers are responding to the work of international curators so that weaving, embroideries and other textiles formerly classified as craft or denigrated as women’s work are now being reassessed.
The French modernist Sonia Delaunay once said, “For me there is no gap between my painting and my so-called ‘decorative’ work”, illustrating how artists across the past century have bridged the gap between painting and textile art.
Goodman, who had the idea for the exhibition on her mind for years, believes the creative disciplines of painting, sculpture, textile, design and architecture have always been of equal value. “I see no hierarchy. Many of the international artists in the exhibition are incorporating one or more of these media into their works,” she says.
“There is a special place in my heart for textile, for there is something free and intuitive about it. It is wonderful also to show the contemporary twists on traditional Donegal tweed in the work of young international design and fashion students in Rome.”
[ Dream weavers: Donegal tweed inspires younger talent to make new ‘music’ in clothOpens in new window ]
The Fine Art of Textile opens at the Coach House Gallery in Dublin Castle next Friday, June 6th and runs until August 24th. There will be an embroidery talk and workshop on Saturday, June 7th. See See @fineartoftextile on Instagram or dublincastle.ie for details.
