Textiles x Art: How Textiles Are Shaping Contemporary Art

by Ramona Barry, Beck Jobson

Overview

A fascinating exploration of how artists are using traditional textile techniques to tell modern, global stories.

Why are so many contemporary artists turning to thread, fabric, and fiber to make their most powerful work?

Textile art has surged into the spotlight, shedding its long-standing association with domesticity and craft to take center stage in galleries, biennales, and critical discourse. Authors Ramona Barry and Beck Jobson explore this vibrant resurgence, and the way artists across the globe are embracing traditional techniques like weaving, embroidery, quilting, and dyeing, while pushing them into bold, new territories. Far from decorative or nostalgic, these works speak to urgent contemporary themes: identity, gender, migration, and the environment.

Textiles have become a site of resistance, storytelling, and innovation. This global survey of forty-four artists reveals the shifting boundaries between craft and fine art, as well as the expressive power of cloth in the hands of today’s most boundary-pushing creatives. Textile art isn’t just having a moment, it’s reshaping the conversation. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781760765514
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	07/14/2026
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Ramona Barry is a writer and curator who specializes in craft and design. She has written catalog essays and articles, curated exhibitions, and taught over two-hundred craft workshops focused on textile techniques. Her current practice focuses on artist residencies and community-based projects, in addition to her own fine art and creative writing.

Beck Jobson is a textile designer, writer, and curator, with more than twenty years’ experience in the craft and design industry. With a focus on woven textiles, she develops creative projects, residencies, and collaborative partnerships for artists. Her most recent works use slow handcraft techniques and salvaged materials to critique labor, utility, and aesthetic value systems. She is currently head of studio at the Australian Tapestry Workshop.