New Harmony B 

Editor: This is Miriam Schapiro’s *New Harmony B*, a mixed-media collage on canvas. The patterns are intense, almost overwhelming at first glance, but then you start to notice the textiles, the little pieces of fabric... the way they're arranged in these repetitive, almost quilt-like patterns. What should we be paying attention to here? Curator: The material choices are critical, aren’t they? Think about Schapiro's engagement with "femmage"—her term that connected traditional women’s crafts like quilting with high art. She deliberately elevated these domestic skills, challenging the art world's patriarchal structure by asserting the value and labor embedded in these undervalued practices. Editor: So, the fabrics themselves are important...almost like found objects with their own histories? Curator: Exactly. Each scrap tells a silent story – a piece of clothing, a curtain remnant… They all carry social meaning, hinting at lives lived. How does layering these patterns and materials alter how you perceive traditional collage? Does the work reinforce any gendered ideas related to materials and labor? Editor: It definitely makes me think about the time and care involved. And now I am reading about Pattern and Decoration, how Schapiro questions this separation between art and craft, which feels so relevant. Is that what Schapiro and others were fighting for? Curator: Precisely. Schapiro wanted to liberate both women and art from those stifling constraints. It goes beyond the aesthetic and reaches a statement on art production itself, about the makers behind materials, what kind of people do particular art actions. It pushes us to reassess hierarchies, asking, whose labor counts and what materials are worthy of artistic consideration? Editor: I see this piece very differently now. Thinking about art making this way reveals the importance of materials and labour. Curator: Precisely, by spotlighting materials traditionally dismissed as mere “craft,” Schapiro elevates not just the objects, but the hidden histories and human labour ingrained within their fibers.