Concurrent with the exploration of the cultural, political and human meaning of cloth, Lia has explored the technology of cloth making, and in particular the jacquard process and its application to contemporary art. She received an NEA grant in 1981 to study historic examples of Jacquard weaving in France and England. Since that time she has participated in a number of artist-residencies and jacquard projects which have ranged from the re-creation of old silk techniques at Lisio's in Florence, Italy, to state-of-the-art computer Jacquard technology in Germany. This technology allows for potentially infinite complexity, detail and scale of image, an image that is actually part of and embedded in the physical structure of cloth itself. Each thread can now be operated independently and immediately without the use of punch cards. This technological development allows the artist ultimate flexibility, immediacy and control of the imagery in the creation of cloth.

The pieces in her most recent series Presence/Absence are woven by hand on TC-l Loom from Norway. Many of the hand and portrait images are self-studies using video capture and emphasizing the rough quality of the particles forming the image. The images are translated pixel by pixel into a weave structure that resembles a damask tablecloth. Much of the work is light and physically draped. The subsequent distortion of the images gives them a sense of being a live and emphasizes the immediacy of touch. Sometimes they seem like old photographs that have captured a fleeting instant of a sensual experience.