Jessica Hemmings writes about textiles. She also writes about fiction that contains textiles, materials that remind us of textiles and other things, as long as they are interesting.
She studied Textile Design at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a BFA (Honors) in 1999 and Comparative Literature (Africa/Asia) at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, earning an MA (Distinction) in 2000. Her PhD, awarded by the University of Edinburgh in 2006, is published by kalliope paperbacks under the title ‘Yvonne Vera: The Voice of Cloth’ (2008).
Jessica writes articles and exhibition reviews for publications such as Crafts, Selvedge and the Surface Design Journal. She has taught at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, the Rhode Island School of Design and was a Reader in Textile Culture at the Winchester School of Art until October of 2008. In 2010 she edited a collection of essays entitled ‘In the Loop: Knitting Now’ published by Black Dog and has recently compiled ‘The Textile Reader for Berg’ (2012).
Jessica is Head of Context at Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland.
Current projects include a book on experimental woven textiles for A&C Black (2012).