“I found my voice and my footing in my small work. It enabled me to build bridges between art, design, architecture, decorative arts, crafts.”—Sheila Hicks

“Chunky and chalky, with a blind-embossed textile cover and the shaggiest deckle edges you have ever seen, Weaving as Metaphor turns heroic graphic design into an act of impersonation.”—Alexandra Lange, Curbed
 
First published in 2006, this book examines the small woven textile works produced by artist Sheila Hicks (b. 1934) over a fifty-year period. Focusing on some one hundred miniature tapestries from public and private collections, the book demonstrates the breadth of Hicks's concerns: her playful subversions of weaving traditions, her persistent inquiry into the mysteries of color, her surprising range of materials, and her exploration of new technology. The volume, designed by Irma Boom and named “the most beautiful book in the world” at the 2007 Leipzig Book Fair, includes essays by Arthur C. Danto, Joan Simon, and Nina Stritzler-Levine as well as illustrations of the artist’s working tools, related drawings, photographs, and chronology.

Published in association with the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture