Exhibition: Harwood Steiger: Fabrics of the West

Event Details

Harwood Steiger developed one of the most recognizable bodies of textile design to emerge from the twentieth-century Southwest. Working in Tubac, Arizona, Steiger translated the landscape, plants, animals, colors, and visual traditions of the desert into bold hand-screened fabrics that were unmistakably modern yet deeply rooted in place.

Originally trained as a painter and illustrator, Steiger brought a strong graphic sensibility to textile design. Simplified forms, dramatic color, rhythmic repetition, and hand-drawn imagery gave his fabrics an immediacy that distinguished them from mass-produced postwar textiles. Working alongside his wife, Sophie, he created fabrics for clothing, interiors, and decorative use, building a design practice that connected fine art, craft, and everyday life.

Steiger’s work emerged at a moment when artists and designers across the American Southwest were searching for a modern visual language appropriate to the region. His textiles embraced the imagery of the desert while rejecting literal representation, transforming familiar forms into patterns that were playful, sophisticated, and distinctly contemporary.

Exhibition Hours:

Open Wednesday–Saturday, 10:00 AM–3:00 PM throughout Tucson Modernism Week.

The Bondante House will also host the Tucson Modernism Week Bookshop.