The vibrant city of Portland is set to embark on a month-long celebration of textile arts with the arrival of October’s Portland TextileX Month, an extensive festival that highlights fiber arts and textile traditions from around the globe.
This citywide event will feature a variety of exhibits, workshops, artist talks, studio sales, and many other engaging activities, including community quilt-making projects, with several events being free for attendees.
The theme for the upcoming 2025 Portland TextileX Month is ‘legacies,’ focusing on the stories and traditions that are handed down through generations, captured in the fabric and fibers that create functional, fashionable, and purely artistic pieces.
Caleb Sayan, co-founder and director of Textile Hive in Portland, carries on a rich family legacy in the field of textiles. Sayan is the son of Andrea Aranow, a notable fashion designer and textile scholar who made a lasting impact on the industry, famously dressing guitarist Jimi Hendrix in iconic snakeskin bell bottoms over fifty years ago.
According to Sayan, his mother was not only a storyteller of textiles but also an explorer, curating an unparalleled collection of 50,000 textiles from over 70 countries, representing two centuries of design history.
The Andrea Aranow Textile Design and Material Design Collections, housed at Textile Hive, is considered a living library of cultures. It is cherished by artists, designers, educators, historians, and others who can access its extensive collection either in person or through the largest digitized independent textile database in the world.
The impact of Aranow’s collections continues to inspire fresh trends and influence key players across the apparel, home décor, and various other industries, including footwear, upholstery, wallpaper, and stationery.
Sayan elaborated on his mother’s deep knowledge of textiles, saying she understood not just the tactile and visual qualities of fabrics but also their cultural significance throughout history. Most importantly, she appreciated the artists who contribute to textiles, whether by embellishing materials or manipulating fabrics to create beauty in forms ranging from French curtains to Victorian laces.
One of the festival’s highlights will be the free tour of the Textile Hive showroom on October 23, featuring an event titled ‘Weaving a Living Archive: Space, Memory, Material, and Process.’ Scheduled from 5 to 7:30 p.m., this event will include a panel discussion with Sayan, Patricia Gohier of Gohier Interior Design, and Daniel Wallace, the executive director of Northwest Designer Craftartists.
The 2025 Portland TextileX Month festival will kick off on October 1 with a celebration of SCRAP, a center for reusable materials, at its new location in Southeast Portland. This opening event runs from 5 to 7 p.m. and features a collaborative activity where participants will create art using circular weavings on repurposed objects.
Registration for events is available in advance at textilex.org, and organizers emphasize that Portland TextileX Month is part of a social enterprise centered on fostering dialogue and exchange among the local textile community and beyond.
Sayan stated, ‘Creating fiber arts offers a way to preserve traditions and pass knowledge across generations while also transforming what we inherit into something new.’
He further expressed the importance of these practices in promoting creativity and resilience in times of societal uncertainty, allowing communities to come together for dialogue and collaboration. Additionally, fiber arts serve as a powerful medium for social and political expression, giving shape to stories, struggles, and visions for the future.
Festival organizers have planned a range of creative events throughout the month as part of the 8th Portland TextileX Month.
One notable event, ‘Past Threads, Future Fits,’ is a workshop scheduled for October 18, focusing on Black textile legacies and regenerative fashion. Organized by ELSO (Experience Life Science Outdoors) and Black Earth United crafted clothing, participants will create small textile pieces using recycled and donated fabrics under the guidance of facilitators Jocelyn Rice, Kenneth Turner, and Evette Gonzalez. This workshop runs from noon to 1:30 p.m., and a donation is requested for entry.
Another significant event, ‘Embroidered Stories,’ will take place on October 27. This free stitching circle, organized by artists Palmarin Merges and Merridawn Duckler, invites participants to transform clothing associated with significant women in their lives into embroidered journals. Beginners can learn three embroidery stitches, while everyone is encouraged to create fabric collages and share stories from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Additionally, there will be a hands-on workshop titled ‘Kombucha: Past, Present, and Future’ on October 4 from 1 to 2:30 p.m., organized by SuSeLi. Participants will engage with kombucha cellulose (SCOBY), learning brewing techniques and exploring the contested history of what can be termed kombucha ‘leather’. The workshop is free to observe, or participants can pay $60 to create a take-home craft.
On October 25-26, the Portland Japanese Garden will present a ‘Natural Patterns: Katazome Stencil Dyeing’ workshop led by Oregon artist Karen Illman Miller. Participants will learn about the Japanese katazome method of dyeing fabrics using intricately cut paper stencils and resist paste, combined with youth stencil exercises. The cost is $22.50 for this workshop.
The exhibition ‘Warp Speed: Contemporary Conversations in Fiber’ will run through October 25 at Pacific Northwest College of Art’s Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, curated by Marsha Mack. This exhibition features new works in fiber from local artists and is supported by the Ford Family Foundation. Admission to the show is free and includes lectures and a panel discussion on October 15, plus a tufting workshop on October 18.
Participants can also attend a free workshop titled ‘ThreaDNA: Personal Archive Pictures Embroidery x Collaging’ on October 25, where they will learn the art of tatreez, an ancient and culturally significant form of embroidery. This workshop will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and encourages participants to use personal photographs to embellish with stitches in geometric and floral patterns.
Lastly, Bea Fields will present ‘Slovak Kroj: Passing on Traditions Through Color and Needlework’ on October 26, a free talk that showcases the unique design and cultural meaning behind the Slovak Kroj, ceremonial dress that features various embroidery styles and colors, with designs traced back to different villages throughout Slovakia.
image source from：oregonlive
