medium

: Fiber

Keanahala weaver Lise Michelle Sugitan Childers repairing a moena lauhala (pandanus leaf mat). Blake Abes

Puʻuhonua Society is a Native Hawaiian women-led non-profit organization based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi.

Active at the intersections of contemporary art, traditional cultural practices, environmental stewardship, and transformational education, Puʻuhonua Society creates opportunities for Native Hawaiian and Hawaiʻi-based creatives to express themselves and engage with diverse audiences.

Through six interwoven initiatives, we support those who serve as translators/mediators/amplifiers of social justice issues within communitie. Our primary efforts include:

  • Aupuni Space an artist-run gallery, venue, and studios;
  • Hoʻākea Source, a Regional Regranting Program Partner of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts;
  • Hoʻomau Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina, a cataloging and public programming partnership aimed at preserving and making accessible Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina’s vital moving-image archive of over 6,000 tapes;
  • KEANAHALA, an inclusive and collaborative weaving program that perpetuates the Native Hawaiian practice of ulana lauhala, pandanus weaving;
  • KĪPUKA, a makers’ space and educational environment offering a series of classes and workshops that are focused around the transmission of ancestral knowledge and material practices;
  • THE MUʻUMUʻU LIBRARY, a volunteer-run community closet, workspace, and gathering place; and
  • NiUNOW!, a cultural agroforestry movement affirming the importance of niu and uluniu, coconut and coconut groves to the health and wellbeing of Hawaiʻi and its peoples.

Honolulu,
HI
Arts/Cultural Organization
Fiber Mixed Media Other Wood
California Fibers logo

California Fibers, exhibiting since 1970, brings together artists whose imagination and mastery place them among the foremost in their fields. Their extensive exhibition history in the United States and abroad reflects a remarkable breadth of creative expression, encompassing weaving, basketry, sculpture, quilting, embroidery, felting, surface design, knitting, crochet, wearables, and mixed media.

CA
Arts/Cultural Organization
Fiber
Uhuru Quilters Guild, Inc. Logo. Uhuru Quilters Guild

We seek to promote the work and accomplishments of African American quilters and members by preserving the traditions, culture and history of quilting. The guild shares this rich legacy with others through workshops, exhibits, displays, demonstrations, research, and speaking engagements. Contributions to community outreach projects are completed through donations of quilts, other items, and fundraising activities.

The word uhuru is Swahili for “freedom”. Uhuru’s first meeting was held the third Saturday in March 1994 at the Oxon Hill Library in Oxon Hill, MD. A brief notice in the Quilters Newsletter Magazine prompted Carol Williams to contact Barbara Pietila, founder of the National Association of African American Quilters (NAAAQG) (now defunct) in Baltimore, MD. Invitations were extended to other NAAAQG members to form a chapter in the Washington, DC area, resulting in the guild formation.

Meetings are held on the third Saturday of each month, 10:30am EST.
Communications welcome at Uhuruqg1994@yahoo.com.

District Heights,
MD
Arts/Cultural Organization
Fiber
Floyd Center for the Arts. Keela Dooley Marshall

Nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Floyd Center for the Arts is a vibrant hub for creativity, learning, and community. Established in 1995 on the site of a former 1940s dairy farm, the Center has transformed the historic barn and surrounding buildings into galleries, classrooms, and working studios that serve artists and the public alike. Today, the campus offers exhibitions, workshops, and free community events that bring people together through the arts, including the annual Floyd Living Traditions Festival, which celebrates the region’s rich heritage of art, craft, and music. Through art education for all ages and abilities, scholarships, and a welcoming environment, the Center ensures that everyone has the opportunity to see, learn, and create!

Mission Statement:
The Floyd Center for the Arts connects people through visual arts, handmade craft, and music – honoring living traditions while embracing innovation.

Floyd,
VA
Arts/Cultural Organization Craft School Gallery
Clay Fiber Glass Metal Mixed Media Other Paper Wood
Front entrance to the Denton Maker Center. James Thurman

The Denton Maker Center, a non-profit organization, strives to be the central location for creative making in the greater North Texas region. This is accomplished by providing activities and resources that nurture a community of makers. Activities include workshops (both in-person and online), exhibitions, sales, open studio times, and related special events. Resources include tools/equipment, expertise of personnel, safe workspace, exhibition space, and a retail store. Generation of public interest and appreciation is accomplished through promotion of these activities and resources through personal networking, social media, website, print materials, and shared distribution by aligned institutions.

Denton,
TX
Arts/Cultural Organization Craft School
Clay Fiber Glass Metal Mixed Media Paper Wood
HINGED GOLD GORGET from Kerala, India, of high karat gold and ruby, early 19th Century. Photograph by Robert K. Liu/Ornament

Ornament celebrates a unique art because its context is the human being. We cover jewelry and clothing, from our ancient beginnings to the contemporary era. Our creative energies are drawn from an appreciation that what we make to adorn ourselves is a beautiful and meaningful expression of life.

Our vision is rich in contemporary, ethnographic and ancient history, anthropology, and archaeology. We believe that we can help sustain a healthy and compassionate society when we know more about our own and other cultures. As an international resource for forty-seven years, Ornament encompasses the world.

From the beginning we set ourselves the exciting challenge of documenting the art and craft of personal adornment. Ornament demonstrates the richness and diversity of this vast subject with a stunning display of creative works, past and present.

With informative profiles we support emerging and established artists in jewelry and wearable fiber who create artworks that stimulate, enrich and invigorate us today and are a profound and exquisite legacy for the years ahead.

Knowledge shapes the present and future when we renew our bonds both with the recent past and antiquity, revealing or tracing historical roots and customs, aesthetics, materials, and technical processes. Ornament exists to educate, inform and inspire.

San Marcos,
CA
Arts/Cultural Organization Other
Fiber Metal
Hallie Ford Museum of Art exterior. courtesy of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University

The only liberal arts college art museum in the Northwest, the the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University is located near the Oregon State Capitol in the heart of Salem, Oregon. The museum is a leader in the research on the art of the Northwest, with one of the most significant collections of Northwest art and a history of important publications and exhibitions. The museum’s collections reflect the rich Pacific Northwest culture and explore the history of art around the world.

In 2021, the collection of the former Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland was transferred to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. It is now part of the museum’s permanent collection.  This collection of over 1300 objects is one of the oldest craft collections in the country.

Salem,
OR
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
Clay Fiber Glass Metal Wood
Huntington Beach Art Center Logo.

The Huntington Beach Art Center creates opportunities for local, regional, and national artists and the community to share in a climate of experimentation, education, and experience. HBAC is a public/private partnership with the City of Huntington Beach and the Huntington Beach Art Center Foundation, a non-profit private corporation. The Art Center is operated through the City of Huntington Beach Community Services Department, Cultural Services Division.

Huntington Beach,
CA
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
Fiber Mixed Media Other
This is the second in Mel Beach's series of wholecloth art quilts layered with painted and block-printed Evolon, free-motion quilting, hand embroidery and a few sequins for bling factor. Each transformation is both meditative and fun. This is a piece in VMOTA's Permanent Collection. Courtesy of Mel Beach

Visions Museum of Textile Art (VMOTA) began as Quilt San Diego, a non-profit arts organization founded in 1985 to promote contemporary quilt making as fine art. The organization’s mission was to present the prestigious, international, juried Quilt Visions biennial which was hosted at various museums in the San Diego area. In 2007, volunteers organized a community build and created our permanent location in the arts district at Liberty Station in San Diego, California.

VMOTA now features 20 exhibitions per year including online exhibitions, Member Challenges, and the Quilt Visions and Interpretations biennials. The museum also presents lectures and workshops by noted quilt and textile artists.

Visions Museum of Textile Art celebrates and advances contemporary quilting and textile art through exhibitions that explore cultural traditions, contemporary relevance, and innovative creativity. By fostering connection, dialogue, and inspiration, we empower individuals to appreciate, engage with, and contribute to the rich legacy and evolving practice of textile art, building a community that values diversity, creativity, and shared experiences.

San Diego,
CA
Museum
Fiber
Textile Center is a national center for fiber art, free and open to the public. Situated near the confluence of Minneapolis and St. Paul, it is located in the Prospect Park neighborhood, directly across from the Prospect Park Station on the METRO Green Line light rail. Textile Center

Textile Center is unique as a national center for fiber art, with a mission to honor textile traditions, promote excellence and innovation, nurture appreciation, and inspire widespread participation in fiber arts.

The Center’s resources include exceptional fiber art exhibitions that are free and open to the public, an artisan shop, a secondhand fiber art supplies shop, the region’s only accessible professional-grade dye lab, a natural dye plant garden, and one of the nation’s largest circulating textile libraries open to the public.

Textile Center produces more than 200 classes a year for all ages and skill levels through its youth, adult, older adult, and outreach programs. A dynamic hub of fiber activity for more than 30 years, Textile Center brings people together in community to learn, create, share, and be inspired by fiber art.

Minneapolis,
MN
Arts/Cultural Organization Gallery
Fiber Mixed Media
Nordic Echoes in the Scandinavia House Galleries. Photo by Eileen Travell

Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America is the leading center for Nordic culture in the United States, offering a wide range of programs that illuminate the culture and vitality of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. It is the home of the American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF), an American non-profit organization offering fellowships, grants, intern/trainee sponsorship, publishing and memberships.

ASF is the organizer of “Nordic Echoes — Tradition in Contemporary Art,” the first major traveling exhibition of contemporary Nordic folk arts and cultural traditions from the Upper Midwest. On view at Scandinavia House in 2025, the exhibition will travel to the South Dakota Museum of Art in Brookings, SD (October 2025-January 2026), the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, MN (February-June 2026), and Vesterheim in Decorah, IA (October 2026-January 2027), and other locations in 2027.

New York,
NY
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
Fiber Glass Metal Mixed Media Other Paper Wood
Image of a booth from The Potters Market at The Mint Museum, 2024. Artist: Trista Hudzik. The Mint Museum

The Mint Museum welcomes all to be inspired and transformed through the power of art and creativity. Among the most significant public institutions in Charlotte, the museum holds a permanent collection of nearly 35,000 objects, one of the largest in the Southeast, spanning art, craft, and design from around the world.
Widely recognized as an invaluable cultural and educational resource, The Mint is committed not only to the growth and quality of its collections but also to nurturing appreciation of the vital role the arts play in our lives.

Each year, the museum celebrates this mission through programs and events such as the annual Potters Market, which showcases exceptional ceramic artistry and supports both artists and the community.
The next Potters Market will be held on September 27, 2025. Guided by values of inclusivity, innovation, collaboration, and empathy, the museum engages communities in lifelong relationships with art, enhancing lives and creating a more connected and welcoming world.

Charlotte,
NC
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
Clay Fiber Glass Metal Mixed Media Paper Wood
Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Jane Winslow

Located in the vibrant Warehouse Arts District of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, Ogden Museum of Southern Art holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Southern art and is recognized for its original exhibitions, public events and educational programs, which support its mission to broaden the knowledge, understanding, interpretation and appreciation of the visual arts and culture of the American South.

Located in the Ogden Museum Store, the Center for Southern Craft & Design (CSCD) extends the Museum’s mission by offering Southern artisans and designers a platform from which to showcase and sell their work, and connects the field of craft to Museum visitors through vibrant programming throughout the year. The CSCD features a monthly workshop series called Craft Happy Hour and presents a quarterly Artist Spotlight exhibition, showcasing leaders in craft fields of jewelry, ceramics, glassworks, woodworks, metalworks and textiles, while highlighting the important place of craft at the heart of Southern Art. Since 2008, the CSCD has also presented the annual juried exhibition, Art of the Cup, which celebrates the aesthetic and design freedom the ceramic medium offers to enhance everyday routine and highlights the diverse methods artisans use to blur the boundaries of form and function.

 

New Orleans,
LA
Arts/Cultural Organization Museum
Clay Fiber Glass Metal Mixed Media Paper Wood
Building Exterior - South to North view from across Broadway St. Gabe Swinney, Swinney Creative

Mission

The Center for Craft amplifies how and why craft matters by increasing access to resources that catalyze artists and scholars nationwide. Proudly based in Asheville, it has been at the center of the conversation about the future of craft since 1996.

What We Do

The Center for Craft resources the preservation and innovation of craft. We catalyze the makers and thinkers behind the objects that shape our lives. 

How We Do It

  • Grants and fellowships that provide funding, networks, and peer-to-peer learning nationwide
  • Exhibitions that illuminate 21st-century practices of craft
  • Public programs that tell the story of how and why craft matters

Asheville,
NC
Arts/Cultural Organization Gallery
Clay Fiber Glass Metal Mixed Media Other Paper Wood
BARN's facility on Bainbridge Island, WA, is home to eleven member-run studios. BARN/Rick Gordon

BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network) is a regional center for craft on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Our dedicated volunteers and staff provide fun, welcoming spaces where everyone can explore creativity, learn new skills, work with others, and give back to the community.

BARN operates eleven member-run studios spanning woodworking, glass arts, fiber arts, metal fabrication, culinary arts, jewelry making, and more. Since opening our 25,000-square-foot facility in 2017, we’ve grown to serve over 1,400 members with 2,700+ classes and events annually. BARN’s mission centers on growing and inspiring creative community through craft, learning, and service.

Beyond skill-building, BARN members actively contribute to the region through dozens of community service projects—from building furniture for at-risk youth to preparing meals for community events. We believe everyone can be creative, and we offer comprehensive tuition assistance and programming designed to remove barriers to participation. Whether someone is a complete beginner or seasoned artisan, BARN provides the tools, expertise, and supportive community to help creativity flourish.

Bainbridge Island,
WA
Arts/Cultural Organization Craft School
Fiber Glass Metal Mixed Media Other Paper Wood