A Closer Look into Tim Harding's Stereoscopic Textiles

Cover Image: Gallery view, Double Vision: Stereotopic Textiles. Image courtesy of Groveland Gallery

I’ve had only a handful of moments in life where I’ve truly second-guessed what I was seeing. In the world of fine art, it doesn’t happen often—I can usually discern the technique, materials, and process with a practiced eye. That is, until I walked into Double Vision.

On view at Groveland Gallery through August 30, Double Vision: Stereoscopic Textiles is a solo show by Minneapolis-based artist Tim Harding. I wanted a moment alone with the work before our scheduled conversation, and as I explored the exhibition, what I found was something far more nuanced than I had anticipated. These were not flat photographs but thick, layered textiles projecting several inches off the wall.

 

Gallery view, Double Vision: Stereotopic Textiles. Image courtesy of Groveland Gallery

 

Harding, who began his career as a painter, told me his interest in textiles started almost accidentally. “I realized I was more interested in the canvas than the paint,” he shared. During his senior year at Hamline, unhappy with his figurative paintings, he cut them into pieces and reassembled the parts into collages. This act of cutting, layering, and reconfiguring set the course for a decades-long career working in fiber. “There’s a kind of sensibility that comes with textiles,” Harding reflected. “Pattern, color, texture—it’s about deconstruction and manipulation. That was the basis of a lot of my early work.”

While Harding has long explored layers and transparency in his textile art, the unique three-dimensional, painting-like effect seen in Double Vision is a more recent development, refined over the last three years. In fact, every piece in the current exhibition was created within the last 18 months.
 

Tim Harding Blue Sand 2024 | textile/photography, 55.25 x 47.75, unframed, photo by Cecile Hooker, courtesy of Groveland Gallery

His innovative process begins with his iPhone. He takes numerous photographs, but only about one percent of his camera roll makes the cut, selected for their graphic clarity and potential for fabric translation. The chosen image is first printed using dye sublimation onto a poly satin base layer, creating a smooth, vibrant surface. The same image is then printed again, this time at a larger scale, onto a layer of sheer poly organza. The magic happens when these two layers are meticulously gathered and stitched together. Because both layers carry the identical image, certain elements appear twice—once on the satin beneath and again on the gathered organza above. As Harding explains, “If you are standing in just the right position, that blade of grass lines up on both layers, but as soon as you move a little bit, it starts to shift.

 

This optical illusion is powerfully evident in works like Blue Sand. Standing before it, I found myself unable to decipher what I was truly seeing. To my surprise, Harding revealed it depicts a grassy path along a northern beach, illuminated by two light sources: a flashlight and a bright blue LED porch light. He stressed that no photoshopping or editing was involved; the disorienting effect is purely a result of the layered textile technique. 

Tim Harding Grassy Path 2024 | textile/photography, 53.5 x 44.75, unframed, photo by Cecile Hooker, courtesy of Groveland Gallery

Similarly, in Grassy Path, the interplay of the two printed layers makes a single blade of grass seemingly pop forward and recede as you shift your perspective.

What struck me most in speaking with Harding is how many gallery-goers initially struggled to understand what they were looking at. “During the opening, people came in not knowing what to expect,” he said. “They’d just stand there and wonder, ‘What is it?’ And I like that. That ambiguity, that mystery, is alluring.”

The way the fabric bunches and shifts in Harding’s pieces is oddly inviting, prompting a question that's almost taboo in a gallery setting: “Do people try to touch them?”

Harding laughed. “People do touch them.” He recounted a past commission for an airport lounge, where staff assured him the piece was safely installed without need for a protective barrier. “They had the piece mounted above a credenza,” Tim shared. Not long after, he discovered the work had to be placed behind glass—people were actually climbing up on the credenza to reach out and touch it. I couldn't help but chuckle. “These were businessmen? In suits?” he shrugs.

There’s something about textiles, especially these, that bypasses the polite distance we’re conditioned to maintain in galleries. “If it were a painting,” Harding observed, “no one would think to touch it.” He continued, “You go into a museum, and there’s often a sense of removal. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But to have something on the wall that has intimacy? That’s rare.” Textiles are both precious and familiar all at once; we wear them, sleep in them, wrap our children in them. There's an inherent connection that other mediums may not achieve.
 

Tim Harding “Purple Pines” 2024 | textile/photography, 51.5 x 38.25, unframed, photo by Cecile Hooker, courtesy of Groveland Gallery

 

We entered the second room and stood before Purple Pines. At first, I thought the purple was a waterfall—but it was actually tree bark.

After that moment, I asked Tim, “What do you think it is about textiles or craft that people and museums are becoming more aware of?”

“I think that high-touch quality is something people seek out,” he shared. “When you go into a museum and see the artworks on the wall, they often carry a sense of preciousness.” Textiles, in particular, are a very intimate material.

In the final moments of our conversation, Harding reflected on the significant shift he’s witnessed over the past 50 years—how textiles have moved from the margins to the center of contemporary art. He referenced the Walker Art Center’s 2023 exhibition of textile work by artist Pacita Abad, which spanned three floors.

“That never would’ve happened when I was starting out—in the ’70s, ’80s, even the ’90s,” Harding noted. “A woman. A textile artist. And a woman of color. That kind of show wouldn’t have happened back then. Now they are.”

Harding’s work is not just about clever technique—though it is undeniably clever—or beautiful images, which they certainly are. It’s about how the work disorients your perception, making you realize that your eyes and assumptions might deceive you. Through his innovative approach, Harding transforms textiles, moving them beyond the realm of craft to secure their rightful—and increasingly prominent—place in the world of fine art, as they should have been 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. ◼︎ 

Double Vision is on view at Groveland Gallery through August 30. The gallery will be hosting an artist talk with Tim Harding this Saturday August 9th at 3PM. Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday Noon-5PM