About this item
A worldwide history for anyone with a passion for textiles and textile arts, whether creative, professional, or educational. There are few aspects of our lives—physical, emotional, spiritual—in which thread and fabrics do not play a notable part. Beverly Gordon reminds us memorably and movingly of the powerful significance of fabric throughout human history. Her study of textile art and history is combined with her own hands-on experience: spinning silk from silk- worm cocoons, weaving cloth, and creating natural dyes. The author bridges past and present from the Stone Age, when humans first learned to make cordage or thread, to twenty-first-century “smart fabrics,” which can regulate body temperature or measure the wearer’s pulse.
About the Author
Writer, artist, teacher... I have been passionate about textiles for more than 40 years--and teaching about their meanings and how to make them for 30 of them (mostly at University of Wisconsin). Previous books include Shaker Textile Arts; Feltmaking: Traditions, Techniques and Contemporary Explorations; Bazaars and Fair Ladies: The History of the American Fundraising Fair; and The Saturated World: Aesthetic Meaning, Intimate Objects, Women's Lives. I make figural sculpture using materials like fiber, bone and shell, and I do collage. Everything I work on seems to synthesize diverse images, ideas, and materials, and everything is done with a deep sense of appreciation.You can find out more about "the fiber of our lives: why textiles matter," at my blog: fiberofourlives.blogspot.com.
