Cascade. Claire Zeisler 1968

The Origins of Soft Sculpture

by Paulina Berczynski

When we’re not plotting the overthrow of society through hand-made community banners, we’re talking about textile art forms– and soft sculpture is a particular favorite. We’ve even developed a full curriculum on the subject! We’re that obsessed!

We found this excellent vintage book on the origins of the medium and what with the current popularity of textile art forms and soft sculptures in the contemporary art scene, it’s so fun to poke around art documentation from half a century ago when textile art outside of craft was completely new, and all of the ideas were fresh. Check out some faves below: