NEWPORT, RI.- The Newport Art Museum announced a new exhibition, "Social Fabric: Textiles and Contemporary Issues," which will be on view to the public from December 3, 2022, through June 11, 2023.  

This exhibition brings together a diverse array of contemporary textile artists who are weavers, sculptors, quiltmakers, and visionaries to examine the complex issues of our time. Together, their practices demonstrate and reimagine the expressive and social functions of textiles. Some of the themes include: climate change and sustainability, adaptation and reuse, war and survival, human rights and social justice, the reclamation of history, the reaffirmation and celebration of communities, and gender, ethnic, and racial identities.

The artists in this exhibition take on the challenges of a variety of materials, pushing textiles in new directions and seeing how far they can go. Through textiles, they inspire new conversations about contemporary issues.

Featured artists and organizations include: AIDS Quilt RI, Jim Arendt, Judy Chicago, and International Honor Quilt artists, Elizabeth Duffy, Brooke Erin Goldstein, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Letitia Huckaby, Tamara Kostianovsky, Jesse Krimes, Dinh Q. Lê, Aubrey Longley-Cook, Veronica Mays, the National AIDS Memorial, L. J. Roberts, Alison Saar, Marie Watt, Emma Welty, and Nafis M. White.

The Newport Art Museum was founded in 1912 on the belief that arts and culture have the power to bring diverse groups of individuals together, which ultimately promotes civic engagement and strengthens the social fabric of our communities. This core belief continues to guide the Museum’s direction today. Museum offerings range from exhibitions and lectures to art classes in its Museum School and art trips to other cultural institutions. Located on 3-acres along beautiful Bellevue Avenue in Newport, RI, the Museum’s galleries are housed in two historically significant buildings and feature notable special exhibitions as well as selections from its growing permanent collection.