One of the oldest aesthetic traditions in the world, textile art is currently on the cutting edge of contemporary art practice and critical inquiry.

Rooted in material and process, the discipline is expanding to include intellectual discourses based on the poetic nuances of the medium. One of the preeminent fiber departments in the United States, the Textile Program advances these new paradigms while acting as a custodian of past traditions.

The mission of the Textiles Program is to educate students about technical, material, and conceptual issues related to the field. Through an integrated art, craft, and design curriculum, students engage in creative practice and critcial dialogue that addresses historical and contemporary issues alike.

The program has three areas of concentration: fiber sculpture, textile printing, and weaving. Within those areas fall specific techniques such as netting, twining, spinning, knitting, embroidery, felt making, image transfer, hand painting and hand printing on fabrics, photo- and computer-generated imaging, dye technology, loom weaving, and creating computer-aided structures. A strong, skill-based curriculum builds dexterity, sensitivity to materials, and technical competence.

At the center of the curriculum is a comprehensive series of courses on the history of textiles. The study of diverse traditions offers cross-cultural insights on topics such as cultural continuity, innovation, gender, domesticity, race, religion, individualism, industrialization, and colonization. A historical and theoretical knowledge of the field provides students with an informed perspective from which conceptually strong and thoughtful work can emerge.

Textile art, by its very nature, is interdisciplinary, involving an integration of disparate elements and a synthesis of knowledge from many fields. Students are encouraged to move beyond conventional definitions and engage in the current multidisciplinary discourse among fine arts, craft, and design.

Many students choose to work on the boundaries of the medium, folding fashion, video, glass, ceramics, painting, jewelry / metal arts, furniture, performance, or installation into their textile work.