Sara Rabinowitz

Textile traditions have long been the voice I choose as an artist and designer. The objects that surround me, quilted, embroidered, and looped become sources of connection to my family’s histories. These objects contain a resonance that speaks to labor, social mobility, and economic challenges.

As an artist and an educator, I shine a light on one of the most ubiquitous and often unnoticed areas of design: surface and textiles. Fibers hide in plain sight as skins in architecture, interiors, objects, garments, art, and paper. Due to its abundance, it can play an important role in sustainability. Textile design must grapple with some of our most urgent cultural, environmental, and economic issues. Looking forward and looking backward at techniques may provide insight into innovative and responsible solutions to working in the field.

My work is stitched, cut, sewn, and bound tightly to historic traditions of textile process. The process is a conduit to all of my teachers, formal and informal. The slow, often repetitive, process of production becomes the site of exchange, compassion, and of empathy.