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TCU Chicago 2025
tsa programs
Textiles Close Up: Chicago
Join Us On November 16-17, 2025
Sign Up Today

Gur Inbar, A Thread of Clay, 2024, sheep wool yarn; dyeing, freehand tufting, 165×140 cm (photo: David Seth).

TCU Chicago 2025
bftn Film Screening
tsa programs
Woven From Nature
Film Screening + Conversation
with Black Fiber & Textile Network
Held Virtually on November 6th at 12PM EST
Register Today

Gur Inbar, A Thread of Clay, 2024, sheep wool yarn; dyeing, freehand tufting, 165×140 cm (photo: David Seth).

bftn Film Screening
Textile Tour 2026
tsa programs
TSA x Ai Kijima
21-Day Textile Study Tour
to Rajasthan & Gujarat
January 3–24, 2026
Learn More and Register

Gur Inbar, A Thread of Clay, 2024, sheep wool yarn; dyeing, freehand tufting, 165×140 cm (photo: David Seth).

Textile Tour 2026
Institutional Memberships 2025
tsa membership
New Institutional Memberships
For Museums, Universities, Libraries, Guilds, Businesses, and More
Join Today

Gur Inbar, A Thread of Clay, 2024, sheep wool yarn; dyeing, freehand tufting, 165×140 cm (photo: David Seth).

Institutional Memberships 2025
2024 Symposium Proceedings
TSA Announcement
2024 Symposium Proceedings
Shifts and Strands:
Rethinking the Possibilities and Potentials of Textiles
Now Available Online
2024 Symposium Proceedings
TSA Membership Updated July 2025
TSA membership
Become a Member Today
Be a Part of Our Global Textile Network
Join. Connect. Discover.

Gur Inbar, A Thread of Clay, 2024, sheep wool yarn; dyeing, freehand tufting, 165×140 cm (photo: David Seth).

TSA Membership Updated July 2025
Spring 2025 Newsletter
TSA FALL 2025 NEWSLETTER
Read the TSA Fall 2025 Newsletter
Read the Articles Here
Spring 2025 Newsletter
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Our Mission

Building a foundation of anti-racism and a culture of care, the mission of the Textile Society of America is to foster an international collective community—diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible—for the exchange and dissemination of knowledges and experiences about textiles worldwide.

Our Focus on Diversity

The Textile Society of America, an international organization, recognizes the profound global reach of textiles. We are committed to developing leadership initiatives, membership, and programming rooted in the plurality of textile histories, producers, and purposes. With an eye toward expanding our voices and audience, we will focus on inclusion of underrepresented groups, and advocacy for robust diversity of our personal and professional viewpoints.

About the TSA

Read TSA News

Textiles as Living Memory: Reflections on Six Months in India

Textiles as Living Memory: Reflections on Six Months in India

Author: Ai Kijimia When I arrived in Udaipur in October 2024, the city was alive with Diwali celebrations. Candles glowed in doorways and courtyards, marking the festival of light. It felt like a beginning touched by warmth and renewal. I carried no fixed plan beyond one intention: to listen. For six months, I traveled through Rajasthan and Gujarat: Udaipur, Jodhpur, ...
Read More
2025 Fall News, 2025 News, TSA News
A Letter from the Executive Director

A Letter from the Executive Director

Dear TSA Community, As I approach the ten-month mark as TSA’s Executive Director, I’ve been reflecting on how much we’ve already accomplished together and the possibility that lies ahead. Stepping into this role has been both humbling and energizing. Every day, I’m reminded that what makes TSA so special is not only our programs, but you: the people who make ...
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2025 Fall News, 2025 News, TSA News
TSA Textile Research Travel Grant Award Recipient Article: Francisco Álvarez Montoya and the Indigo Tradition of the Barrio de los Mexicanos in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. 

TSA Textile Research Travel Grant Award Recipient Article: Francisco Álvarez Montoya and the Indigo Tradition of the Barrio de los Mexicanos in San Cristóbal de Las Casas. 

Author: Katarin María Laruelle Aránguiz Edited by: Jennifer Pellman This is a members only article. Become a member [memberonly] The Barrio de los Mexicanos was founded by the Mexicas (Aztecs), Spanish allies during the conquest of the Chiapas Highlands, during the foundation of the colonial city of Ciudad Real in 1528, which is now known as San Cristóbal de Las ...
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2025 Fall News, 2025 News, Members Only, TSA News
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Events

Textile as Object: Centering Cloth in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Textile History

Textile as Object: Centering Cloth in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Textile History

Starts:
November 13, 2025
Ends:
November 13, 2025
Venue:
Livestreamed and in-person at CUNY Graduate Center
Interwoven: the Fiber Arts Legacy of Arthurdale

Interwoven: the Fiber Arts Legacy of Arthurdale

Starts:
November 11, 2025
Ends:
November 11, 2025
Venue:
Frank & Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center
Woven From Nature:  A Virtual Film Screening + Conversation

Woven From Nature: A Virtual Film Screening + Conversation

Starts:
November 6, 2025
Ends:
November 6, 2025
Venue:
Zoom
View More Events

Help Support the Textile Society of America

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TSA’s 17th Biennial Symposium

Hidden Stories/Human Lives, our first virtual symposium, was a big success! Video recordings from all sessions are now available on Youtube.

Recorded Sessions

Symposium 2020 Boston MA

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“Black hair braiding and styling are enduring te “Black hair braiding and styling are enduring techniques and practices that have persisted across time and geography. This legacy is reflected in several objects featured in On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival, such as the Bamiléké hat, Adinkra wrapper, and Adinkra hair stamps, positioning hair braiding as an ephemeral textile, an extension of the body that moves and journeys with it. Artist Nneka Kai transforms the Art Institute’s textile galleries into an intimate space of care, recreating the ritual of Sunday hair-braiding sessions from her childhood—moments where the body and hair became tools of resistance and survival, serving as both medium and message. These gestures become lessons in touch, memory, and kinship. 𝗢𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝗺𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁.”

“This activation invites us to reconsider material as a form of embodied knowledge—one that carries the weight and wisdom of tradition, resilience, and cultural memory.” - Artist, curator, and author @nneka_kai Nneka Kai

On November 16-17, Textiles Close Up offers an immersive look at the exhibition “On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival,” textile exhibition at AIC, along with hands-on, close-looking study of textiles in the SAIC’s Textiles Resource Center collection.

🎟 Register: Link in bio

Attendees will join in a gallery conversation with Kai, led by Leslie Wilson, PhD (AIC Academic Curator & Director of Research Programs). There will be a curator-led tour of “On Loss and Absence” with a special conservation-focused displays offer insights into the histories carried in textile loss, degradation, and repair.

Lasting 'Til Sunday video still, filmed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Stock Exchange Room, 2025 - Image is credited to the artist. The people in the image are artist Nneka Kai, and artist mother, Michelle Scruggs. Photography by Imaging, the Art Institute of Chicago
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Textile Society of America Newsletter (Online) ISSN 2642-7532

© 2013–2025 · Textile Society of America

Header image courtesy of The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., 1982.37.2, Ruth Lincoln Fisher Memorial Fund