SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.- The exhibition, Material Culture: The Fine Art of Textile, opened at the Salt Lake Art Center, brings together six contemporary artists who use textile and associated techniques as their primary medium and method. They shift the utilitarian into a fine art space, charged not only with admiration for technical proficiency but with aesthetic, civil and social concerns. The stylistic range of these artists’ work is extraordinary. Susan Taber Avila (Emeryville, California) uses hand and machine-aided stitching in her work; Lia Cook (Berkley, California) is a weaver; Jean Hicks (Seattle, Washington), is a felt-maker, milliner, and installation artist; Wendy Huhn (Dexter, Oregon) is a quilter; Elaine Reichek (New York City) is an embroiderer; and Judy Singer (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a painter. Their artworks represent the fusion of fine art and craft between tradition and innovation, remembrance of things past and a compulsion toward newness.