Textile Arts Council
In support of the Textile Department
of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
We are a support group of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco with the goal of advancing the appreciation of the Museums' textile and costume collections.
A Bay Area forum that provides lecturers, workshops, events and travel opportunities for artists, designers, aficionados and collectors of ethnic textiles, rugs, tapestries, Western costume, and contemporary fiber art.
All Power To The People
(after Man with Afro, San Francisco, California by Leon A. Borensztein, 1984)
2023 Bisa Butler
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
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Latest News
Exciting News From Our Upcoming Bazaar
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Coming in August
All Things TAC Fall Bazaar!
Save the Date
Saturday, November 8th, 2025
Calendar
Lectures, Tours and Workshops
Fall Lecture Series 2025
Lecture
Saturday, September 20th, 2025
Regional Textile Systems;
Evolving within our Fibershed
The Foundations of our Fibershed
with Rebecca Burgess
Date and time
Saturday, September 20 · 10 - 11:30am PDT
Location
de Young Museum
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive San Francisco
©️Photograph by Paige Green
The presentation will take place in the Koret Auditorium at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Attendance in person is free.
Eventbrite tickets are for those who cannot attend in person and would like to view the live Zoom broadcast.
A recording will be available for 14 days following the talk.
Textile Arts Council Members: You do NOT need to purchase a ticket, your link will be emailed to you.
A Fibershed is a geographically defined area where natural fibers are grown, processed, and made into textiles, with the goal of creating a closed-loop system that supports local economies and ecological health. It's a regional approach to the textile industry, emphasizing local sourcing, processing, and the eventual return of textiles to the soil through composting.
The materials required for a flourishing Fibershed are present throughout California’s coastal hills, the San Joaquin Valley and the foothill regions. This presentation will explore the foundations of our Fibershed, while providing updates as to what is emerging between the urban and the rural, the communities where the infrastructure of material culture is being rebuilt, and where culture building hotspots are emerging through skill sharing and ecological restoration.
Book by Rebecca Burgess, & Green, P. (2011). Harvesting color : how to find plants and make natural dyes. Artisan.
Rebecca Burgess is the Founder and Executive Director of Fibershed, and the Board Chair for Carbon Cycle Institute. She has over a decade of experience writing and implementing a hands-on curriculum that focuses on the intersection of restoration ecology and fiber systems. She has taught at Westminster College and Harvard University, and has created workshops for a range of NGOs and corporations.
Rebecca is the author of the best-selling book Harvesting Color, a bioregional look into the natural dye traditions of North America, and Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy released in 2019.
The Fibershed Learning Center is a multi-use space, demonstrating the connections to natural fiber and dye systems. It is a part of the Black Mountain Ranch community of agrarians and artists located in Point Reyes Station, California.
Tours and Workshops
Tour
Saturday, September 6th
Curator's Tour of Contemporary Hand Woven Tapestry Exhibit
"What's Going On?" is an exciting show of thirty-two contemporary hand woven tapestries responding to the issues of our times.
Date and time
Saturday, September 6th · 10 - 11:30am PDT
Location
Mills Building
220 Bush Street San Francisco
Cost
TAC members $25, non-members $30.
Deborah Corsini Golden Boy / Black Widow, (detail) 2022 photo credit: Don Felton
About this event
"What's Going On?" is an exciting show of thirty-two contemporary hand woven tapestries responding to the issues of our times. Sponsored by Tapestry Weavers West, this juried exhibit showcases how artists have embraced a diverse array of materials and methods, fiber and fiber processes. Textiles’ strong materiality – texture, color, physicality – and their associative power – personal, cultural and political - make them a potent resource for tapestry artists.
The show, located in the lobby of the Mills Building, 220 Montgomery St, San Francisco, will be on view weekdays until September 26, 2025.
Join us for a private tour on Saturday, September 6 when the Mills building is closed to the public. The tour is lead by jurors and exhibiting artists, Alex Friedman and Deborah Corsini. Both are long time tapestry weavers and both exhibit internationally. TAC is honored to have Alex on its advisory board. Deborah is a former TAC board member.
Alexandra Friedman Let's Talk, 2025
photo credit: Craig Kolb
Tour
Wednesday, October 1st
Tour of Berkeley Art Museum's African American Quilts Exhibit
Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California
Date and time
Wednesday, October 1st · 11 - 12:00pm PDT
Location
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2155 Center Street Berkeley
Cost
TAC members $25, non-members $30.
Photo courtesy of BAMPFA
About this event
Join TAC for a private tour of the stunning exhibit, led by curator Dr. Elaine Yau.
Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California traces the flow and flourishing of quilts during the Second Great Migration. This exhibition features over 100 quilts from BAMPFA's collection, created by more than ninety artists—predominantly Black women with ties to the San Francisco Bay Area. It explores the medium's unique capacity for connecting kin across time and distance, holding memory and ancestral knowledge, and opening up space for beauty and artistic ingenuity.
Dr. Elaine Yau is an Associate Curator and Academic Liaison at the Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive. Her work with the African American quilt collection emphasizes collaboration with descendant's families, contemporary quiltmakers, artists, curators, and scholars to ensure equitable paths for the quilts' care and interpretation.
Photo courtesy of BAMPFA
Photo courtesy of BAMPFA
Tour
Saturday, October 25th
Sunday, October 26th
Discover Hidden Treasures at the Antique Rug and Textile Show (ARTS)
An Exclusive TAC Tour
Date and time
4 time slots -
See details and registration for more information
Saturday, October 25th · 11:00 - 12:00pm
Saturday, October 25th · 2:00 - 3:00pm
Sunday, October 26th · 11:00 - 12:00pm
Sunday, October 26th · 2:00 - 3:00pm
Location
Motel Capri
2015 Greenwich Street San Francisco
Cost
TAC members $30, non-members $35
Photo courtesy of Renee Cocke
About This Event
Join us for an exclusive TAC tour experience at the renowned Antique Rug and Textile Show (ARTS)! Dive deep into the captivating world of antique rugs and ethnographic textiles, and explore the hidden treasures waiting in each unique room.
Over the last decade, ARTS has solidified its reputation as the premier venue, both nationally and internationally, for authentic and unique antique rugs and ethnographic textiles. It has become an eagerly anticipated annual highlight for collectors and dealers alike.
A Rich History: The ARTS show's roots trace back to the 1990s, when San Francisco's Motel Capri became the unofficial hub for rug dealers exhibiting at a major tribal-art fair. Inspired by this vibrant energy, one exhibitor envisioned a more relaxed, intimate, room-to-room showcase right at the motel. The first edition launched in 2011, initially spanning two weekends, before evolving into its now ideal, concise Friday-through-Sunday format. Fifteen years on, the show continues to attract esteemed dealers from across the globe, offering a unique opportunity to share expertise and allow visitors to experience exquisite rugs and textiles up close. It also warmly welcomes select tribal-art specialists, further broadening its ethnographic appeal.
This TAC tour offers a special opportunity to explore this rich history and the exceptional offerings of the ARTS show. Don't miss your chance to delve into a world of unparalleled artistry and cultural heritage!
Meet Your Tour Host: Renée Cocke
Leading your TAC tour through the vibrant ARTS show will be Renée Cocke, a seasoned veteran and passionate advocate for antique rugs and ethnographic textiles. With over two decades of experience in the rug industry, her profound knowledge was cultivated during her long tenure at the esteemed KRIMSA fine rugs and décor on Union Street, and further refined by her business partner, renowned rug expert Paul Ramsey.
As a dedicated TAC Board Member, Renée's commitment to the textile community is evident. Her intimate, yearly involvement with the ARTS Show provides unparalleled insight into its history, evolution, and unique treasures. With an extensive network, Renée knows every dealer, offering you exclusive access and enriching behind-the-scenes perspectives. Prepare to explore ARTS with an unparalleled guide who can illuminate the stories and significance behind each magnificent textile.
Photo courtesy of Renee Cocke
Photo courtesy of Renee Cocke
Tour
Saturday, August 16th
Tour the Exhibits of Kay Sekimachi and Virginia Davis
Join the Textile Arts Council for a private tour led by the curator Melissa Leventon.
Saturday, August 16th, 11:00am-12:00pm
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
520 South 1st Street, San Jose
TAC Members $30, non-members $35
The price includes admission and $25 of the ticket fee goes to the museum to help sponsor the exhibit.
Kay Sekimachi, Ogawa II, 1969. Translucent nylon monofilament, glass beads, plastic tubing. Six-layered weave.
Collection of Forrest L. Merrill. Photo by Ellin Klor
Kay Sekimachi: Ingenuity and Imagination
This exhibit showcases more than 40 of Kay Sekimachi’s works from Berkeley collector Forrest L. Merrill’s comprehensive holdings, a represention across every decade of this internationally renowned Bay Area artist’s long career. Sekimachi combined influences from her Japanese heritage and early training in painting and drawing with a thorough exploration and mastery of complex technique. On view are ethereal hanging sculptures; delicate, origami-like printed artist “books,” bright seamless lidded boxes; abstract textile wall hangings; and weightless bowls and baskets made of Japanese paper and desiccated leaves that push the boundaries of what might be considered a textile. This is a not-to-be-missed chance to see the full scope of this pioneering artist’s work.
Virginia Davis: Art and Illusion
Art and Illusion celebrates the museum’s recent acquisition of 21 textiles, a generous gift from Davis’ sons that explore Davis’ interest in optic phenomena, art and textile history, and technique. Master weaver Virginia Davis (1929-2023) discovered weaving in the 1970s and over the ensuing 40 years created a significant body of work that manages to be simultaneously elegant and bold.
The Museum Collection Survey is a dive into Kay Sekimachi's contemporaries and weavers from the California weaving movement, selected from the permanent collection. The curator of this collection survey, Joyce Ertel Hulbert, is a former staff member and member of SJMQT's Collection Committee 2006 - 2018. Since leaving the Museum in 2013 to return to her art and textile conservation practices, she has been researching and mapping the history of the California textile art movement, and has organized exhibits and built grant proposals to advocate for an online archive of this history.
At 2:00 pm on the day of our tour at SJMQT, Melissa Leventon will give a 45 minute lecture on Kay Sekimachi's work within the wider context of fiber art in the 20th century. TAC tour participants are cordially invited to attend the lecture.
Viginia Davis,
The Persistence of Vision Series,
1985.
Linen, acrylic. Double ikat,
Gift of the sons of Virginia Davis.
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.
Photo by Ellin Klor
Virginia Davis,
Which Side Are You On?
ca. 1992.
Linen, acrylic. Double ikat.
Gift of the sons of Virginia Davis.
San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.
Photo by Ellin Klor
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