“Textiles and Technology” at Palo Alto Art Center + Studio Visit

Join us for a tour of the exhibit “Cut from the Same Cloth: Textile and Technology,” at the Palo Alto Art Center led by the curator of the exhibition, Christine Duval. Then a studio visit with textile artist Jaya Griscom.

The Palo Alto Art Center:

“Textiles have not only fueled the creative inspiration of artists throughout history, they also have provided the catalyst for technological innovation. Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French merchant, invented the “jacquard machine” in 1801, which simplified the manufacture of textiles and later became the inspiration for IBM's first computer introduced in the 1940s and 1950s. This exhibition investigates the many unexplored relationships between craft and technology and demonstrates, through the work of a group of artists, how contemporary art practice has seamlessly embraced both.”

Artists included in the exhibition:

Aziz + Cucher, Guillermo Bert, Daniel Canogar, Windy Chien, Lia Cook, Tara de la Garza, Kira Dominguez Hultgren, Ahree Lee, James Lanahan, LigoranoReese, Aubrey Longley-Cook, Hideo Mabuchi, Clive McCarthy, Jordan Nassar, Casey Reas, Laura Splan, Susie Taylor, Aiko Tezuka.

After a break for lunch, we will head over to textile artist Jaya Griscom’s studio in The Cubberley Artist Studio Program. The Studio Program consists of 22 studios for long-term and short-term artist residencies.

Jaya Griscom describes her work:

The soft, warm, quiet nature of fiber invites an intimate, tactile relationship with the body. Jaya's work is an aesthetic celebration of this bond between figure and material, deeply inspired by how enjoyable textiles feel. Blending figurative abstraction with cutting-edge textile technology, Jaya’s body of work reflects a journey that spans time, touch, and technique. Mastery of digital tools breathe life into ancient textile traditions. Synergy of pixels and threads depict the human form in intricate, tactile works that transcend the boundaries of imagination.

Griscom’s Bio:

Jaya Griscom is an abstract figurative textile artist. She has taught extensively in the Bay Area as the Marvegos Fine Art School COO and as the Weaving Teacher at Peninsula School. Jaya has recently completed a Zero Waste Fellowship with the San Mateo County Office of Education and has had residencies at InCahoots in Petaluma, California, The Weaving Mill in Chicago, Illinois, and Praxis Digital Weaving Lab in Cleveland, Ohio. When she’s not traveling, Jaya currently designs, prints, dyes, weaves, and sews predominantly textile-based mixed media work out of her studio in Palo Alto, California, where she is a long-term resident at the Cubberley Artist Studio Program (CASP).

Photo of Jaya Griscom in her studio by Britt Bradley, fellow CASP artist, 2024

Jaya Griscom Hand With Yarn, Handwoven cotton jacquard, 41 x 32 in., 2023

Image courtesy of Jaya Griscom

Jean Mandala , Deconstructed blue jeans and machine stitching, 640 x 70 x 1 in, 2014

Image courtesy of Jaya Griscom

Handwoven cotton and steel jacquard, 2021

Image courtesy of Jaya Griscom.

Host or Publisher Textile Arts Council