Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This beautifully designed book, edited by Stroud, founder and director of The Fabric Workshop, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization, documents the activity of The Workshop since its beginning in 1977. The Fabric Workshop, bringing artistic expression and innovation to fabric printing as well as using the media towards fine-arts ends, features visual artists from outside the textile design field who both design for fabric and collaborate in its execution. Workshop activities include an apprentice and training program, exhibition and limited commercial distribution of the work, and an archives. The essays, written by directors and curators of museums and galleries, focus on the projects produced by The Fabric Workshop in a wide area of art and design, ranging from performance, interiors, installations, and useful objects to fine-arts pieces. The most interesting essays include interviews with Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (visiting artists) on their working processes, and with Marion Boulton Stroud and Patterson Sims on various issues tied to the Workshop's function. Most important is the visual information provided by the generous number of illustrations; high-quality, mostly color, photographs of the work and its creators. There is a glossary of important technical terms and a list of the artists-in-residence and visiting artists to the program. Should interest both students and professionals in art and design.-M. Tulokas, Rhode Island School of Design