‘Green: The Color and the Cause’

In the Textile’s Museum’s current exhibition, contemporary and historical textile works explore the color green and the concept of “green,” or environmental, thinking.

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In Islam, the color green symbolizes paradise, and has special significance, as in this 18th-century silk panel from Turkey or Egypt. Decorated with Koranic verses, it was used as a tomb covering.

Photo by Renée Comet/Courtesy of The Textile Museum /

The organic shape of this basket comes from a gourd grown by the artist Jóh Ricci, who has embellished the natural form with knotted fibers symbolizing the interconnectedness of life.

Courtesy of Jóh Ricci

Symbols of fertility and rebirth (such as stylized cicadas) grace this 19th-century silk woman's coat from China.

Photo by Renée Comet/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

Recycled silk blouses are tightly coiled together to form this sculptural vessel, called "A Woman of Substance," by artist Jackie Abrams.

Photo by Liz LaVorgana/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

Made of woven sisal fiber and dyed fishing line, artist Shigeo Kubota's "Shape of Green II" evokes both temple architecture and the nose cone of a rocket ship, suggesting both hope and a prayer for the future of our planet.

Photo by Kouichi Nisimura/Courtesy of Shigeo Kubota

Emily Dvorin's "Verdundant" repurposes electrical wire and plastic connectors to make a basket that calls to mind more organic materials.

Photo by Kate Cameron/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

Made of apple tree and grapevine prunings, artist Gyöngy Laky's text-based sculpture was originally used as a cover illustration for the Sunday New York Times magazine.

Photo by Tom Grotta/Courtesy of Browngrotta Arts

Be sure and stop by the Textile Museum's outdoor garden, where artist Michele Brody has installed a walk-through structure of synthetic lace in which real grass is growing.

Photo by Katy Uravitch/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

Made with floral embroidery found in secondhand shops, Maggy Rozycki Hiltner's "Hothouse Flowers" (seen here in close-up detail) alludes to how many of today's children are disconnected from nature.

Courtesy of The Textile Museum

This swing coat from Alabama Chanin shows meticulous hand embroidery. The clothier is known for using organic and local materials.

Photo by Robert Rausch/Courtesy of Alabama Chanin

"Enmesh," by artist Kristina Estell, consists of dead, skeletonized leaves, individually displayed in mesh canisters like an array of lab specimens.

Courtesy of The Textile Museum

There's a surprising amount of wry humor in "Green." No animals were harmed in the making of Ruth Marshall's "Gold Jaguar," which is is made from knitted wool.

Courtesy of The Textile Museum

William Knight collected exploded car tires from the New Jersey Turnpike to make "Wall Tapestry," a sculptural abstraction of knotted and woven rubber.

Photo by Katy Uravitch/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

The green used in this formal Japanese man's silk kimono, or noshime, is luxurious, but suitably understated.

Photo by Renee Comet/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

Artist Brigitte Amarger's "Osmose" (seen in detail here) is an installation of human sihouettes, cut from x-rays featuring plant forms and other natural imagery.

Photo by Michael O'Sullivan / Photo by Michael O'Sullivan

Jodi Colella's visually striking sculpture "One Day" is made from plastic newspaper sleeves, cut into strips, spun into fiber and crocheted.

Photo by Michael O'Sullivan / Photo by Michael O'Sullivan

The concept of recycling garments to get more use out of them is nothing new. This woman’s green silk jacket from 19th-century Persia boasts contrasting red cuffs that were originally part of an old shawl.

Photo by Renee Comet/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

Take a close look at the green background of this mid-19th-century Chinese embroidery fragment. Its iridescent hue comes from filaments of peacock feathers, wrapped around individual threads.

Photo by Renee Comet/Courtesy of The Textile Museum

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