THE MATERIAL INTELLIGENCE OF TOUCH

February 10, 2026 - March 19, 2026

Marks Art Center, College of the Desert


Handwork: The Material Intelligence of Touch is an exhibition that honors the human hand as both a tool and a form of thought. Featuring work by Los Angeles fiber artists and makers, the exhibition is presented in collaboration with Craft in America’s Handwork 2026 initiative.

Inspired by artist Ann Hamilton’s idea that “My first hand is a sewing hand,” the exhibition explores how textile practices—weaving, basketry, stitching, felting, and surface design processes—reveal a deep intelligence of touch. Each artist reflects on the relationship between body, material, and method, uncovering the ways handwork sustains knowledge, memory, and presence.

Handwork: The Material Intelligence of Touch invites audiences to rediscover the quiet radicalism of the handmade—where gesture becomes language, and touch becomes knowing.  

“The hand is our first language. Every gesture in textile work—pulling thread, weaving cloth, tying knots—holds a kind of thinking. Inspired by Ann Hamilton’s idea of the ‘sewing hand,’ this exhibition invites us to see how making by hand is an act of attention and connection. The artists of Textile Arts LA remind us that the handmade is not a relic of the past but a living dialogue between body, material, and community.” — [Carrie Burckle], Curator, Handwork: The Material Intelligence of Touch

Title of work: The Cosmos

Date: 2025

Materials and technique:  Based on an Alabama Pine Burr quilt, made of recycled cotton sheets, cotton, linen and silk scraps. Machine sewn.

Size:  36” X 36”

My ongoing love of quilts and exploring the use of found and repurposed fabric has led me to examine and connect to the technique of the Alabama Pine Burr quilts.  I am fascinated by how the attention to creating a field of cohesion, depth and movement can be achieved by unifying these small squares around a central medallion. As I worked on this piece the sense of the night sky, the universe and the Cosmos emerged.   

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