The Fabric Workshop and Museum

The Fabric Workshop and Museum Collaborating with artists, revealing new possibilities. https://linkin.bio/ig-fabricworkshop
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The Fabric Workshop and Museum was founded in 1977 with a visionary purpose: to stimulate experimentation among leading contemporary artists and to share the process of creating works of art with the public. Providing studio facilities, equipment, and expert technicians, FWM originally invited artists to experiment with fabric, and later with a wide range of innovative materials and media. From th

e outset, FWM also served as an education center for Philadelphia’s youth who, as printing apprentices, learned technical and vocational skills along with approaches to creative expression. Today, FWM is recognized as an internationally acclaimed contemporary art museum, uniquely distinguished as the only institution in the United States devoted to creating work in new materials and new media in collaboration with artists coming from diverse artistic backgrounds—including sculpture, installation, video, painting, ceramics, and architecture. Research, construction, and fabrication occur on-site in studios that are open to the public, providing visitors with the opportunity to see artwork from conception to completion. In fact, the FWM’s permanent collection includes not only complete works of art, but also material research, samples, prototypes, and photography and video of artists making and speaking about their work. FWM seeks to bring this spirit of artistic investigation and discovery to the wider public and to area school children in particular, to ensure and broaden their access to art, and to advance the role of art as a catalyst for innovation and social connection. FWM offers an unparalleled experience to the most significant artists of our time, students, and the general public. The FWM has developed from an ambitious experiment to a renowned institution with a widely-recognized Artist-in-Residence Program, an extensive permanent collection of new work created by artists at the Museum, in-house and touring exhibitions, and comprehensive educational programming including lectures, tours, in-school presentations and student apprenticeships.

08/22/2026

Jesse Krimes is in the national spotlight! Check out this interview taking place within his Elegy Quilts exhibition at FWM.

Sometimes you gotta get up close for the work to reveal its secrets. The thousands of rolled paper beads in Ugandan arti...
08/22/2026

Sometimes you gotta get up close for the work to reveal its secrets.

The thousands of rolled paper beads in Ugandan artist Sanaa Gateja’s works show traces of text from magazines, vintage posters, and outdated textbooks. The beads are collectively made by members of Gateja’s community, whom the artist has trained and employed since the early 1990s. Each piece is then sewn onto bark cloth in an act of spiritual repair.

See it for yourself in You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry. Free tickets>> https://bit.ly/YouStretchedDiagonally

Images: Sanaa Gateja. "Star Fest,” 2023. Paper, acrylic, natural dyes, and stitching on bark cloth, 73 5/8 x 67 inches. The Rachofsky Collection. Photo credit: Constance Mensh.

08/21/2026
08/21/2026
08/19/2026

🚨 Last call for early bird tickets!
Join the festivities alongside friends, colleagues, and artists for a memorable evening. Celebrate the past 50 years of creative experimentation with a sneak peek into our biggest year to come. Your experience includes:

⋆ Cocktail reception
⋆ Artist meet-and-greet opportunities
⋆ Behind-the-scenes archives and collection tours
⋆ Live printmaking demonstration in our onsite studio

⋆ And much more!
🎟️ Early bird tickets>> bit.ly/50thPreviewParty

08/18/2026

School or no school, August is the time to revamp your work supplies. 💻

Beginners are welcome in this workshop where you’ll use a sewing machine to upcycle a tote into a padded laptop case, complete with your own custom screenprinted plaid pattern. All materials provided.

✍️ Sign up: https://bit.ly/4bMiL4Q

Print + Sew a Padded Laptop Case
THU AUG 77
3:30–6 PM

08/16/2026

☞ Consider it sorted.

Shop this ✨ brand new ✨ tee created in collaboration with Artist-in-Residence Qualeasha Wood. Only a limited number were produced 💅

https://bit.ly/4yOyDgT

Who Gave Us a Sponge to Erase the Horizon? Warsaw-born artist Goshka Macuga borrows the title of her 3D tapestry from Fr...
08/16/2026

Who Gave Us a Sponge to Erase the Horizon?

Warsaw-born artist Goshka Macuga borrows the title of her 3D tapestry from Friedrich Nietzsche's Parable of the Madman, which confronts a crisis of meaning after famously declaring the death of God.

Donning 3D glasses, viewers become immersed within a panoramic protest set in a polluted coral reef. The aquatic scenario features disguised human sympathizers and animal protagonists—some with protest signs—urging elusive action.

On view in “You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry.” Get free tickets>> https://bit.ly/YouStretchedDiagonally

FWM is very saddened to learn of the passing of Mary Heilmann, one of the foremost abstract artists of our time and a de...
08/15/2026

FWM is very saddened to learn of the passing of Mary Heilmann, one of the foremost abstract artists of our time and a dear friend to the Workshop.

During her FWM residency in 1995, Heilmann developed her iconic Serape yardage, which explored connections between painting and printmaking. She even found a way to keep the sumptuous texture of her brushstrokes in the design by hand-painting each stripe immediately after printing. Ever popular, Serape has been reprinted many times over the years; our Studio has been emulating Heilmann’s technique ever since.

“I’m not averse to gorgeousness,” the artist once stated. “I just want it to look like it happened without a struggle.”

Over the decades, Mary Heilmann has been one of the most generous artists to the Workshop. We’ve worked with the artist to develop Serape into two lamp editions and have sold the hand-printed design in two colorways as yardage, bags, pillows, dinner napkins, and neck ties—all to support our work. This year, the artist collaborated with the bag company MZ Wallace to develop a luxury Serape tote with 100% of the proceeds benefiting FWM.

Thank you, Mary. We are forever grateful for our friendship.

08/13/2026

Learn the same processes FWM has used to produce custom textiles for Artists-in-Residence since 1977!

Learn more and register for this two-day intensive workshop: https://bit.ly/45TZIlE

Professional Studio: Repeat Pattern Printing Master Class
SEP 12–13
12–5 PM each day

Address

1214 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA
19107

Opening Hours

Wednesday 12pm - 6pm
Thursday 12pm - 6pm
Friday 12pm - 6pm
Saturday 12pm - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+12155618888

Website

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