MS. SCHIRA: I think fiber has a hard time fitting into the overall definition of craft. And I think that's shown in many of the shows and the marketing and the whole thing. It fits beautifully, of course, into the history of textiles, but somehow, in my mind I see it differently. Although it's a very three-dimensional thing -- the weaving part, not printing, necessarily -- the concept of object seems different. It seems quite different to me. It seems to spill over into some of the issues of painting the more illusionary idea of the image and the illusion that happens, even the illusion with the physicality of the surface.

It just -- when I think about metal and glass and wood, all those, their objectness is paramount, and it doesn't seem to be always paramount with fiber art. If you're dealing with baskets, then it does, but then there's this whole realm of the two-dimensional pieces that hang on the wall and do play with this illusionary quality, even with their physicality. So it's a little bit -- you know, it seems to be slipping on the side to me.
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