Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Head Coverings In The Virtual Umma: The Case Of Niqab, Heather Marie Akou

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

A growing body of literature points to the Internet as a place where Muslims are re-imagining themselves as part of a global, interconnected, religious culture—a new virtual umma. Along with issues such as politics, Islamic law, the interpretation of text, and procedures for rituals, hijab (modest dress) is a frequent topic of conversation. Compared to the physical world, where debates are heavily framed by time, place, and the habits of daily life, on the World Wide Web ideas and products flow much more easily. A new convert in Canada, for example, could use the Internet to read translated passages from …

Of Gods And Gangs: Indigo As A New Educational Model, Jenny Balfour Paul

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

In late August 2009, a multi-year educational initiative called Silk Road Connect was launched in five pilot schools in underserved neighbourhoods of New York City as part of its Department of Education’s Campaign for Middle School Success. The brainchild of cellist Yo Yo Ma and his Silk Road Project, Silk Road Connect ‘inspires passion-driven learning by empowering students and educators to seek connections across all areas of study and to follow their interests from the familiar to the foreign. In a spirit of playfulness and investigation, collaboration and creativity, this program invites students to experience learning as a continual process …

Trousseaux: From Weaving Handwoven Textiles To Collecting Mass Commodities, Kimberly Hart

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

In rural Turkey, trousseaux are a personal and socially representative collection of textile practices, economies, and desires. This paper addresses the questions of how, when, why and in what forms handweaving gave way to the collection of mass-produced commodities and handmade goods reflecting urban styles in trousseaux. It considers how local communities abandon cultural heritage production for their own consumption and make the transition to desiring, making and buying decorative goods, which reflect current fashions in both local and national terms. The paper is based on long-term ethnographic research in rural villages in western Anatolia, where handweaving once demonstrated cultural …

Mapping Textile Space: Stitched And Woven Terrains, Elizabeth Ingraham

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Mapping is a fundamental way of converting personal knowledge to transmittable knowledge and maps are unique in the way they use space to represent space. Maps are selective in what they choose to represent, seductive in their contours and calligraphic marks and powerful in their ability to locate, describe, demarcate and ground.

I will present a visually rich journey through the work of contemporary artists who use stitching and weaving to map both literal and metaphorical terrains in a textile space. Among the artists we will look at are:
• Linda Gass, whose stitched topographic reliefs are at once descriptive …

Artisanal Textile Manufacturing, Bethanne Knudson

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Two entrepreneurs from North Carolina went to the International Textile Machinery Association exposition in Paris, in 1999. Opening their own mill was a possibility. However, the “state of the art” in industrial textile machinery was not to make interesting fabric, but to make a lot of it, and fast. Of course the machine manufacturers would cater to the demands of the textile manufacturers, but those manufacturers had begun failing in “western” countries—North America and Europe.

By mid-2000 the American textile industry would be unrecognizable. The two went to the next exhibit, in Birmingham, England, in 2003, and saw more of …

New Insights From The Archives: Historicizing The Political Economy Of Navajo Weaving And Wool Growing, Kathy M'Closkey

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

After the formation of the reservation in 1868, the government issued licenses to regulate trade in wool, textiles, and pelts that traders acquired from Navajos. In 1890, blanket sales were 10% of wool sales; by 1930, weavers processed one-third of the clip, their textiles were valued at $1 million, and provided one-third of reservation income. Only Navajos raised hardy coarse-wooled churros whose wool is ideal for hand processing. Recently analyzed archival evidence reveals that blankets were transformed into rugs when tariff removal (1894-97) triggered imports of one billion pounds of duty-free wool, much of it from China. Thus Navajos underwent …

Red Gold - Raising Cochineal In Oaxaca, Eric Chávez Santiago, Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Oaxaca’s diversity may be appreciated in its geography, people, and food. Therefore, artistic expressions throughout the state are truly rich in their variety. Textiles are one of the major expressions that have transcended through time and among the vast offer of materials, cochineal has been one of Oaxaca’s treasures. Capable of producing many different shades, cochineal has been widely used for dyeing since Pre-Columbian times. After reaching a point of extraordinary production as an exporting good, the cochineal cultivation started to decrease as the use of synthetic dyes started to spread. The Museo Textil de Oaxaca (Textile Museum of Oaxaca …

Tracing Cochineal Through The Collection Of The Metropolitan Museum, Elena Phipps, Nobuko Shibayama

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Cochineal, with its origin in the Americas, by the 16th century was exported throughout the world. From the time of the Spanish encounter with the Americas in the late 15th and early 16th century, a dyestuff for a strong, fast, red color was in high demand. While many archival documents and scholarly writing exist on the use and shipment of cochineal throughout the world, and on its impact on the textile industry, this paper traces the pathway of its use through an examination of artworks in the Metropolitan Museum. Scientific analysis aids the study in the identification of cochineal (and …

Development Of A Personal And Non-Pictorial Style In Contemporary Tapestry, Michael F. Rohde

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Some contemporary American tapestry weavers are working in a style that deliberately breaks the link with centuries of European tapestry weaving, which most often aims to be representational or pictorial in content. While a great number of remarkable works by contemporary tapestry artists are produced in this pictorial manner and are well worth consideration and commendation, a strong case can be made for more abstract imagery. The few American tapestry weavers who consciously break from the linkage to European style have developed styles that may be said to be more American, than from other influences. By examining my own work …

Woven Images: All Techniques Considered, Tommye Mcclure Scanlin

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

What motivates an artist to create images using textile media? What weaving techniques are suitable for image making? Weavers through the ages have taken colored weft threads in hand and inserted them into the warp, row-by-row, building shape upon shape in the powerful and nuanced, yet structurally simple, technique of weft-faced tapestry. With the invention of the jacquard loom, the kind of complex image making that was previously only common in tapestry weaving became mechanized, and available on a commercial level that involved faster production rates, lower costs and the creation of multiples. In recent years, the innovations in, and …

Coast Salish Textiles: From ‘Stilled Fingers’ To Spinning An Identity, Eileen Wheeler

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

When aboriginal women of south western British Columbia, Canada undertook to revisit their once prolific and esteemed ancient textile practices, the strand of cultural knowledge and expertise linking this heritage to contemporary life had become extremely tenuous. Through an engagement with cultural memory, painstakingly reclaimed, Coast Salish women began a revival in the 1980s that includes historically resonant weaving and basketry, as well as the more recent adaptive and expedient practice of knitting. This revitalization faces continuing cultural challenges as a new generation is presented with the opportunity to engage its heritage.

Through interviews with principals in this movement plus …

A A Rice Sacks Secrets: Once Hidden From Ourselves And Others, Flo Oy Wong

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

In this paper I will discuss the intersections of art and history with a focus on family and community and will examine immigration, resettlement, loyalty, and mental health concepts in a traditional Chinese American perception.

During my 30 year career as an artist, I have used oral history as a foundation to explore the impact of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Law on my family and community, including later immigrants; I have transformed these little-known chronicles into art that speaks to the universality of adjustment to space and place. The iconic materials that I have used to convey these narratives are …

Surrounded: Large And Small Work By Lillian Elliott Awardees, Concurrent Exhibitions, Tugboat Gallery

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Tugboat Gallery
www.tugboatgallery.com
(402) 477-6200

Surrounded: Large and Small Work by Lillian Elliott Awardees
October 1 - 29, 2010

Featuring Lillian Elliott Awardees Frances Dorsey (1995), Marcie Miller Gross (1996) and Soonran Youn, (2002)
Lillian Elliott tapestry, “Color it Twill” on exhibit, available for bidding in silent auction.