Erica Warren

Erica Warren is an Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Chicago's Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH), where she teaches courses on decorative arts and design history. She holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Minnesota and has over a decade of experience as a curator and scholar, including positions at the Art Institute of Chicago (2016-2022) and Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Her research focuses on decorative arts, textiles, and alternative modernisms, with specific interests in the ecological impacts of industrial textile production, Dorothy Liebes' design legacy, 'Good Design' exhibitions, and contemporary textile practices. She explores intersections of materiality, cultural narratives, and modernist experimentation across the 19th-21st centuries.

Warren's publications demonstrate sustained engagement with textile historiography, craft methodologies, and modernist reinterpretations, frequently examining transdisciplinary approaches and underrepresented narratives in design history.

Awards & Honors:

• Lenore G. Tawney Foundation Fellowship (2025)

She co-founded The Craft Chronicle digital humanities project and serves as editor of the James Renwick Alliance for Craft's Craft Quarterly. She has curated major exhibitions including Bisa Butler: Portraits and Weaving beyond the Bauhaus at the Art Institute of Chicago.