Last night Ted and I drove into L.A. to attend the opening reception of  "New Directions: A Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Textiles", put on by the Textile Society of America at CAFAM.  We were able to hear a few of the artists talk about their work, which I always love, because it seems to give the work more depth.  If you click on the TSA link above, you can look at the catalog,  but I have a few badly taken photos of my own favorites.

 At first look, this is an interesting image with lots of beautiful lines and shapes.  If you read the artist's statement below, you realize it's much more.

The theme of the show is to "Explore Themes of Change and Innovation" and I think this is an excellent example of that.

My second favorite is this beautiful work by Ana Lisa Hedstrom, who's name is well known in the world of shibori.

I dragged this image off the internet since I couldn't get  a good picture at the opening.  This is made of wool felt, dyed with natural dyes and hand stitched together.

My only disappointment was that at the end of the artists talks, the jurors were asked to say a few words, and they all said no, with one of them saying the work speaks for itself.  That may be true, but wouldn't it be interesting to know, how the work ties together in their minds.