Past Exhibitions

Explore our archive of past exhibitions.

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  Ancestry and Artistry: Maya textiles from Guatemala

  May 29, 2013 - Jan 12, 2014

  Cloth holds great importance for Guatemala’s indigenous communities, and traditional dress plays an essential role in Maya identity today as a vital link with the ancestral past and a means of cultural reinvention. Whether worn for religious ceremonies or as an emblem of ethnic pride, textiles offer a medium for innovation and creative expression, as well as a marketable product for the tourist industry.

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  Shine

  Mar 27 - Sep 2, 2013

  For centuries, the light and lustre of materials have captivated cultures and societies, artisans and artists, attributing to even simple objects an allure of beauty, luxury and opulence. Throughout the world, reflective metals, mirrors, silver- and gold-wrapped thread, sequins, beads and even insect wings have been skillfully transformed to create some of the most mystifying and coveted cultural and personal expressions.

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  Marimekko, With Love

  Jan 21 - May 12, 2013

  Marimekko, With Love is a retrospective look at the company’s origins and role in shaping a new aesthetics and approach to living through fashion and design. Founded in 1951 by visionary designer Armi Ratia and her husband Viljo, Marimekko not only sparked an international revolution in post-WWII pattern and textile production but captured a new philosophy based on the power of design in everyday life – Marimekko was “a cultural phenomenon guiding the quality of living,” Armi recounted in 1962.

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  Richard Boulet: Stitched and Drawn

  Dec 3, 2012 - Mar 10, 2013

  Featuring the multifaceted work of Canadian artist Richard Boulet, Stitched and Drawn highlights the artist’s use of quilting and cross-stitching techniques to address his personal history of schizophrenia and broader issues of mental health. Formally trained in painting, drawing, and sculpture, Boulet aligned himself with poetic, literary and linguistic explorations of conceptual art of the 1960s, when he was a youong adult working on an architcture degree in the early 1980s.

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  Natural Resources: Textiles and Material Translation

  Oct 17, 2012 - Jan 6, 2013

  Drawing from the TMC’s rich international collection, Natural Resources explores artifacts from a variety of global sites and their translation into environmental materials through their structure, technology, function and surface design. While today's “smart” fabrics are frequently associated with architectural design, textiles as sustainable resources and architectural solutions have a long history going back to Palaeolithic times, representing an archetypal form of “green” material that has endured to the present day.

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