The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philly’s Fabric Workshop and Museum was established in the 1970s to uplift and illuminate work in the fabric arts. The space was always envisioned as a center for community participation, providing space, tools, and pedagogy to aspiring makers and artists as well as a curatorial destination for working artists to show their bodies of work.

In the contemporary art world, textile and fabric arts occupy a liminal space between handicrafts and fine arts. Artists who work in mediums like tapestry, weaving, quilting, and screen printing are carrying on longstanding traditions, some of which have been practiced since the beginning of recorded civilization.

As modern understandings of art have evolved, the fabric arts have been reconsidered as practices as rigorous as classical mediums like oil painting and sculpture. At the Fabric Workshop and Museum, the fabric arts are showcased in two ways: as objects of spectacle to be gazed at on the gallery walls, and as living processes that students and visitors can observe and participate in.

This kind of engagement with process is notable in contrast to the way art is typically separated from viewers in a museum or gallery context. Through offerings like hands-on workshops in screenprinting and tapestry making, and artist-in-residency programs that connect makers with fans and community members, the Workshop and Museum pushes back on the very idea of what a museum can be in relation to the communities it serves.

To step into the space is to be pleasurably overwhelmed by sensory inputs. The work on display is offered in group and solo exhibition format and shifts from year to year. Highlights of the 2020s include  Moki Cherry’s work in tapestry and acrylic, which is so visually arresting that it is difficult to look away from the multidimensional, radiant compositions; and Lisa Alvarado’s work in “vibrational aesthetics,” which considers the intersections of sight, sound, and touch through monumental installations with auditory elements.

A visit can range from a pleasantly passive stroll through the gallery, absorbing the work of the artist-in-residence, to a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-messy immersion in the practice of fabric arts. The museum offers popular studio tours in which visitors can check out the facilities, watch artists at work, and then make their own screenprint to take home.

Artist talks from the resident makers are also a popular draw and often sell out well in advance.