On Display October 28 – November 21, 2026 at Circle Gallery

Closing Reception will be November 21, 2026

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Introducing Fiber Options

Textile arts are a method of telling stories of war, politics, religious and mythical tales, and other folklore. From ancient Chinese garments and medieval European tapestries to Indigenous American weavings, nearly every culture has embraced techniques like embroidery, sewing, appliqué, quilting, and weaving to pass down narratives and traditions. Technology and techniques continue to evolve. To combat staggering amounts of textile waste, artists can recycle and repurpose fabric into sustainable masterpieces. Think about the intersections of function, purpose, and beauty and how you can use fibers to create artwork.

MFA seeks creative work using natural or synthetic textiles and/or fabric as a medium for artistic expression. Mixed media work incorporating textiles or textile techniques such as weaving or embroidery are also encouraged. Work that is simply a depiction (i.e. paintings, photos, prints) of fiber art will not be accepted.

Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) invites all artists residing in any of the states or territories of the US, Canada, or Mexico to enter our biennial Fiber Options exhibition. All original 2D or 3D work incorporating the use of textiles and following exhibition guidelines will be considered. MFA exhibitions are blind juried by professional and credentialed art experts. Works selected by the juror will be exhibited in MFA’s Circle Gallery from October 28 – November 21, 2026. Exhibition Chair: Angela Petruncio.

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Juror: Sydney Abady, Artist and Arts Educator

Syd Abady is an artist and educator who explores the politics and personalities of homes through a textiles-based practice. Her art incorporates architectural imagery, found objects, and fiber techniques to question issues of public and private spaces. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Textiles and Nature, Culture, Sustainability Studies with an emphasis on Urban Studies. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship in Chile and has exhibited at El Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), the Bronx Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA LA).

Juror’s Statement

The merit of an artwork is entirely subjective. This show is no different. Every person who submitted artworks put themselves out there, which I find infinitely admirable. My interest in selecting works for this fiber show, was to look for artworks that created their own logic system. Textiles, by definition, are organizations of fibers. How they are organized and what this can say about the materials and the work’s content is what guided my decisions. Sometimes this took the form of recreating a recognizable object in a new material, elsewhere it was through systems of material exploration. In each work, I looked for ways in which the artist was marrying craft and conceptualism. I loved spending time with these artworks and feel honored to have done so. Congratulations to all who created, shared, and showed, and please keep making!

-Syd Abady

Awards

First Place

• Inner Sanctuary, fiber art, Jayne Bentley Gaskins

Second Place

• The Elixir of Tea, tea bag, tea bag babel, beads, fire line, glass cloche with wooden base, Teresa Jade Jarzynski

Third Place

• Nature’s Loom, bush branch & raw wool, jim mackey

Honorable Mentions

• The Ancients, solid oil rubbed bronze armatures with hand woven waxed cotton and silk motifs, Sally Thomas Cooper
• Fields of Red, fiber, Sarah Lykins Entsminger
• Chronicle of Hidden Forms, encaustic, paper, fiber, mixed media on board, Irina Mackay