The Textile Society of America is pleased to announce that Tali Weinberg is the recipient of the 2026 Brandford/Elliott Award for Excellence in Fiber Arts.
Tali’s body of work that thoughtfully engages some of the most pressing issues of our time. Through innovative textile and fiber-based practices, Weinberg examines the complex intersections of climate change, biodiversity loss, public health, and environmental justice. Their work transforms scientific research and data into compelling visual forms that invite viewers to consider the relationships between human and ecological systems, while drawing attention to the impacts of extraction, pollution, and environmental change. Blending conceptual rigor with material sensitivity, Weinberg’s practice demonstrates how fiber art can serve as a powerful vehicle for inquiry, reflection, and connection, making a significant contribution to contemporary textile discourse.
As part of the TSA Fall 2026 Colloquium, please join us for a virtual studio visit with Tali Weinberg to learn more about their process, current work, and the ideas shaping their practice. The conversation will be moderated by Nastassja Swift, recipient of the 2024 Brandford/Elliott Award for Excellence in Fiber Art.
About Tali Weinberg
Tali Weinberg is an artist whose practice centers hand-based processes, including weaving, dyeing, and coiling, to explore the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and human health. Working with plant, insect-derived, and petrochemical materials, she draws compelling parallels between the landscape and the body, often referencing objects associated with care, healing, and mourning, such as hospital gauze and burial flags.
Situated at the intersection of art, science, and social justice, Tali’s work examines the complex relationships among ecological systems, public health, and climate resilience. Through sculpture, drawing, and textile-based practices, she bridges data and materiality, technology and craft, and experiences of collective grief with visions of adaptation, renewal, and future possibility.
2025
39” x 42”
Traced ash borer larvae tunnels, organic and conven+onal coQon, linen, plant and petrochemical-derived
dyes, plas+c monofilament, handwoven on a digital jacquard loom
2026
29” x 72” x 5”
Expired petrochemical-derived enteral feeding tubes, 126 years of annual average temperature data for
18 major US river basins, hand-coiled plant fibers, plant and insect derived dyes, mineral mordants
About the Brandford/Elliott Award
The Brandford/Elliott Award for Excellence in Fiber was established to honor the lives and work of the late and beloved fiber artists Joanne Segal Brandford and Lillian Elliott. Extraordinary textile artists and scholars who were long-time friends, they died within a few days of one another in April 1994. The award, formerly known as the Lillian Elliott Award, became a well-known honor in a very short time, perhaps because there are no other awards specifically designated for emerging artists working with fiber, and because the need is so great.
To see more of Tali Weinberg’s work and learn about previous awardees, please click the button below.
If you would like to support the Brandford/Elliott Award and future emerging fiber artists, please donate using the button below.
The Brandford/Elliott Award is supported in part by the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation.
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