The Wondrous World of Fiber Arts

Written by Miles McKeller-Smith
November 15, 2023

Fiber arts have been a constant in our daily lives since the earliest days of history. From the clothes we wear to some of our everyday tools, fiber arts have made tremendous contributions to art history while often being overshadowed by other visual art forms.  Artist, curator, and educator, Adrienne Trego, curated the Material World exhibit to help increase exposure to the world of fiber arts.  We had a chance to speak with Adrienne in the final days of the exhibit to talk about its conception, response, and her hopes for the fiber arts community.

How would you define the fiber arts?

I think at this point when we talk about contemporary fiber arts they’re really going to include anything that involves fabric.  Paper is also part of what people are now considering fiber arts.

When we had the idea for this exhibit in particular we were focused on expanding the definition of fiber arts. So also looking at people who incorporate fiber arts into other work. This can include some of the work here in this exhibit but also includes beadwork. And most of the work that is under fiber arts now has long been looked at as a craft versus an art. That’s an interesting and problematic distinction within the arts world for me. Because I think it establishes artistic hierarchies that are really damaging.

For the most part when you look at the history of fiber arts it’s typically women who have been in that world because it was one of the few things that women were allowed to do. It was considered a very feminine thing to do.

I think that that has continued because when we talk about art versus craft – you have people who want to continue to have those hierarchies exist. They are going to establish art versus craft, not necessarily on what’s being created, but who’s creating it. 

You have the same thing with a lot of folk art. We’ll say “folk art” to people who are typically BIPOC, who haven’t necessarily gone through traditional schooling in art, and we’ll say, well, that’s folk art. So in many ways, it can be a way that we look at defining arts, but it’s really a way to relegate folks to different places.

I hate the terms “high art” and “low art” because that’s exactly what people are talking about. But I will use it in a sense to talk about the elevation of certain art and art forms, which is what this exhibit and a lot of exhibits like it are starting to do.

One of the special things about the fiber arts is how often they’re brought down from generations. Often we think of functional art as a craft as well. Well, it keeps you warm, so the fact that it’s aesthetically beautiful isn’t important. Which is completely false. It was not only a work of art, but it was a witnessing of a moment in time. So you do have these quilts that tell stories that folks were not allowed to tell, or did not have the means to tell.

The idea that we don’t think of that as high art really speaks to the problematic institution of art itself – which I think people and organizations, like The Arts Council, are interested in breaking down.

What are some of the more common types of fiber arts that we might encounter in our lives?

This is a good exhibit for that. So I’m mainly an embroidery artist, but I do dip into other things like beadwork and weaving. But most of what I do is based in embroidery. And so that is very much considered a traditional fiber art.

You can go back pretty far and find what they called samplers. They were, especially in the Victorian era, little girls who were able to embroider things like their A’s and their B’s. And it was considered a very appropriate feminine craft. It was really just tracing and doing those sorts of things.

That has expanded into many other types of fiber arts. Quilting, like we mentioned, is absolutely fiber art. A work doesn’t have to be just something you can display on a wall. It can be something you use every day and still be art. So quilts for sure. Beadwork, when we look at a lot  of traditional indigenous beadwork – we have a whole lot of that (in the exhibit).

And there’s some newer stuff like some punch needle work. So using that technique with their own designs. There’s a lot of other folks who will embroider on paper. We have some folks who do different weaving with a loom, or sometimes hand weaving. We have sculpture pieces and just clothing. Not necessarily the stuff that’s mass produced everywhere, but there’s some work in here where you will see the technique that has come through clothing.

So fiber arts is one of the arts that is, pardon the pun, woven into everything that we do. So it’s interesting that it’s also one of the things that we constantly forget about as an art form because We’re surrounded with it more than a lot of other kinds of art.

Jim Arendt, Maggie Tested, Denim Appliqué, Machine and Hand Topstitch, 48″, 150″, 0″

How do fiber arts fit into the larger landscape of art?

It’s a good question. I remember when we were talking about doing this exhibition, I was really pushing it. What I think happened is – during COVID, folks started teaching themselves craft oriented things. And I think what resulted from that is certain people really figured out how to elevate that craft. To do something that’s a little bit off the wall contemporary, which is kind of what we’re looking at here.

Read the full interview in Issue 3 of crEATe Magazine