A retrospective of textile artist Sheila Hicks wraps up this week at the TextielMuseum in Tilburg, Netherlands. The exhibit’s title, “Why Not?” was suggested by Hicks herself, according to the museum. “It refers to the playfulness and perseverance—characteristics echoed in her work—that illustrate the Dutch mentality for her. Short and sweet: Why not, indeed?” The show casts a spotlight on the artist’s textile installations, sculptures, miniatures and textile designs, as well as photos, films, sketches, drawings and personal documents, including some new work created for the exhibition.
Hicks’ work can be found in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Tate Modern in London. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich, and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam all loaned works for the retrospective.
courtesy collection of the Centraal Museum Utrecht
The artist created a piece in Guatemala specifically for the exhibit, called “Struggle to Surface.” As Victoria Anastasyadis, junior curator at TextielMuseum, shared with Interior Design magazine, “[Hicks] told me to reserve a space in the museum for a new work. She gave me a rough measurement of 6 meters, and started weaving the piece by hand, and later had it FedExed to the museum.”
This summer, Hicks’ work will also appear in exhibits and events at Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, and Galleria Massimo Minini in Brescia, Italy.
