The Fabric Workshop and Museum

Cool, unique modern art gallery. The building is a residency for artists, especially in textiles/​screen printing/​etc. Walking past, I almost thought it was a retail store.
It’s free, so if you’ve got an hour to kill around Center City, stop in.

Often too weird for my taste, and doubt I’ll return unless there’s a very intriguing exhibit.
Agree about gift shop staff.

Our docent/​guide was excellent for the large Richard Tuttle show which was also excellent. She was also super cool in the way you wish you could be friends with her, but she was also good at backing off when you wanted to contemplate the work alone and answered most of our questions knowledgeably. Thank you Tuttle for writing those poems to go along with your work. Can’t wait to visit again.

A friend in Philly took me here one time, and I really enjoyed it. The visitor services staff also act as kind of docent that lead you through the galleries. It’s awkward because you are like, am I hanging out with this young cool person, or are they giving me a tour? It feels like both.
Every time a fellow new yorker texts me, «What do I do in Philly?» while they are wandering center city, I recommend they roll into this place. And they are always super stoked! I want to go back.

This is my favorite museum EVER, and it’s now FREE. The name is misleading, its not clothing and quilts. It’s contemporary and interesting, but also brief. You can spend under an hour here, but leave with your mind delighted and expanded by art created in new materials. The entire thing is lead by a docent, so even if the current exhibition is a little to much what I like to call «artists personal shrine» then there’s someone there to explain what they were thinking. They’ve had some of the best contemporary artists in the world including Nick Cave and Tristin Lowe, and they have a killer permanent collection.
Make sure you check out the gift shop! It’s filled with lovely and fun things.

The Fabric Workshop and Museum is the perfect bite-​sized stopping point for budget-​conscious travelers interested in the modern art scene and thought-​provoking exhibitions. It’s also conveniently located near the Reading Terminal market and Chinatown, so it’s a good area to checkout anyway for ambitious tourists.
Sign their guest book at the door, then take your time pondering the exhibits with a tour guide who will lead you through the separate buildings and floors. Don’t be shy about asking questions! The exhibitions are typically funded by public grants and private donations, which makes them free and open to the public.

I really like the Fabric Workshop and Museum. The exhibits change every few months so you never know what you will see here. Over the years we have witnessed a giant inflated fabric whale that took up an entire floor and we saw projected and animated images of people doing things that were all of a few inches tall. While they were really cool I was waiting for The Exorcist music to cue up.
Make sure to say «hi» to Tracey in the Museum store. She is really nice!

The Fabric Workshop has neither the «ease of use» of a museum /​gallery nor the delightful idiosyncrasies of an open workshop. Instead, it’s an awkward, poorly run gallery where visitors need to be escorted to the bathroom, shepherded to disparate parts of the exhibits by grumbling docents, and generally exposed to a place that has a level of institutional anxiety that makes it really difficult to enjoy the work therein. If you’re able to enjoy art in an environment where you’re made to feel like an intruder give it a shot. If this sort of art viewing situation troubles you like it does me, spare yourself.

I have to agree with those who thought this place is poorly run. When I first walked in I thought maybe I was participating in some sort of performance art. The staff were cryptic and gave me weird looks. The security guard was friendly but the guide basically said nothing. I was thrown in with a group and we were led up and down to galleries. When she brought us back to the lobby I realized I hadn’t been to two floors. «oh you were suppose to stay with the guide.» we’ll, she didn’t tell me that! She didn’t say anything!!! The installations were really interesting however. I wish pieces from the permanent collection were on display tho. I had hoped to see Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach.

Gotta agree with Brizzle. Fantastic art, but outside of the giftshop is run in a very unfriendly manner.
The old space was pretty awesome. It was a functioning workshop with a prestigious list of visiting artists. you could SEE the workshop, the work happening, and then go look at the work that has been produced in the past.
The new workshop is a gorgeous building, but lacks the open spaces that was so key to the original and educational feel of the old workshop. The art-​making happens on floors that the public has no access to. And yes, just to make sure you don’t stray or touch or, well, enjoy your visit you have a personal escort to guide you through. Ours was digging his iPhone the whole time.
Museums have recently been looking at having their work be more accessible to the public, to work more towards being welcoming and less «tsk tsk don’t step outside the lines» so it’s weird to see a museum go backwards on this. If I weren’t in the arts and wanting to see the Nick Cave show so badly, I would NEVER have gone in there. It is the epitome of snobby-​we-​know-​more-​than-​you attitude that has mostly died at art institutions, and for good reason.
BUT, the art is pretty amazing, gift shop is nice, but over-​priced (mostly, not all). Just seems the people who run it need to decide if they really want the public in there or not.

Well, I can’t say much about this place good or bad, because it was inexplicably CLOSED during its posted business hours. We checked online before we attempted to visit and we were sorely disappointed when we could not get in. Their website says to call for holiday closings, we tried calling, but no answer after eight rings left us still confused and sad. And I’m unsure why they would need to close for Halloween. I can’t give it one star because it looks SO COOL through those windows, but the lack of communication in business hours fully deserves the revocation of three stars.

Anything but soft and fuzzy, the Fabric Workshop and Museum’s recent show New American Voices exhibit featured the astounding work of five national artists working with tractors, totems, mechanics, magnets and more. Of particular note, Ruben Ortiz-​Torres elevates lowrider subculture with his explosive cranes (featured in video and print) while Bill Smith’s «Decline of Eastern Songbirds» uses whistles and gas torches, amongst other media. Jaw-​dropping work worth checking out…

With the general recommendation from most Unilocalers I decided to check this museum out. First and foremost, I am not artistically inclined. Being so, I failed to fully appreciate the art displayed in this gallery. Though most of the fabrics shown were nicely done, I couldn’t understand them at all. The two floor museum was a quick go through.

This is an exciting, vibrant place of which Philadelphians should be proud. Artists-​in-​residence have included Faith Ringgold and Kara Walker. The exhibits are unusual and thought-​provoking.
But despite the name, don’t expect just clothing and quilts.
Founded in 1977, the workshop supports artists working in new media. You are just as likely to find sound and video installations as you are works with woven fabrics. It’s a one-​of-​a-​kind organization.
As a casual observer of art, I’ll admit that a few installations were lost on me. Without proper cultural and personal context, I have trouble connecting to some works. But other times I was thrilled with artists pushing boundaries and creating pieces that moved me, upset me, made me laugh, or all of the above.
I encourage everyone to check it out. For just a $ 5 suggested donation, what have you got to lose?