TEXTILE TALK; Identity Is… Expansive: A Conversation with Michael Sylvan Robinson + Elissa Auther [Video]

This Textile Talk was presented by the Surface Design Association.
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Join us for Identity Is… Expansive with artist Michael Sylvan Robinson and Elissa Auther, MAD’s Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and William and Milford Lasdon Chief Curator. For his appearance at the MET Museum’s Gala in 2021, award-winning theater producer and fashion icon Jordan Roth commissioned the textile artist and queer activist Michael Sylvan Robinson to design a garment that represented Roth’s embrace of identity as an expansive concept. Starting in April the Identity Is… garment gets a special installation in the lobby of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD). We’ll hear from Robinson about the process of creating the elaborately embellished garment and how the coat also relates to their queer activism in which garments function as performance tools in public contexts. Robinson has described the coat and its pairing of words, images, and ornamentation: “it’s queer activism meets decorative arts meets fashion meets street art meets art history.”
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Textile Talks features weekly presentations and panel discussions from the International Quilt Museum, Quilt Alliance, Studio Art Quilt Associates, and Surface Design Association. The programs are held online at 2 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific) each Wednesday. More info at https://www.saqa.com/textiletalks
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Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. (SAQA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the art quilt: “a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.”
Founded in 1989 by an initial group of 50 artists, SAQA now has over 4,000 members: artists, teachers, collectors, gallery owners, museum curators, and corporate sponsors. With access to our museum-quality exhibition program, SAQA members challenge the boundaries of art and change perceptions about contemporary fiber art.
As a part of SAQA’s dynamic creative community, members can take their artwork and career to the next level. We offer a wide range of exclusive resources, mentorship programs, and professional opportunities.
In addition, SAQA documents the art quilt movement – our publications include full-color exhibition catalogs, the Art Quilt Quarterly magazine, and books like Art Quilts Unfolding: 50 Years of Innovation, and the Exploring Art Quilts with SAQA series.