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Review Of Islamische Textilkunst Des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Problemne, Edited By Karel Otavsky., Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Problemne. Edited by KAREL OTAVSKY. Riggisberger Berichte 5. Riggisberg, Switzerland: Abegg-Stiftung, 1997. Pp. 219 + 214 figs.

Focusing on textiles of Egypt and North Africa in the Fatimid period (A.D. 909-1171), this volume presents the edited proceedings of a scholarly conference on medieval Islamic textiles held at the Abegg-Stiftung in Riggisberg, Switzerland, 10-11 November 1995. Eighteen papers (published in English, French, or German) by fourteen authors are organized in three sections that deal with the functions, inscriptions, and weaving techniques, followed by a bibliography of references cited, a list of illustrations, and the authors' …

Embodying Embroidery: Researching Women's Folk Art In Western India, Michele Hardy

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

South Asia is home to an incredibly rich variety of embroideries that include folk, courtly, ritual, and commercial traditions. The scholarly literature on South Asian embroidery has been meagre however and historically emphasized professional embroideries at the expense of the folk^l. With few recent exceptions² folk embroidery in the Sub-Continent has most often been described and classified without reference to the women who make it or the specific cultural traditions that support and give meaning to it³. These 'characterising' accounts of folk embroidery are likely the result of historic circumstance and ancient bias⁴ but …

Japanese Kimono Fashion Of The Early Twentieth Century, Annie Van Asche

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

This paper examines the development of popular kimono fashion from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. I focus on kimono worn by modem-thinking young women whose wardrobes, by the 1920's, included both new Western and recreated Japanese garments and accessories. The meisen kasuri kimono, the most popular new style of kimono among women living in the growing urban metropolitan centers, is highlighted. It covers an unprecedented historical period of rapid modernization and Westernization of Japan, which brought about societal changes that dramatically--and positively--transformed the lives of Japanese women. I begin with a historical sketch of the industrialization of …

Textiles, Scholarship, And Art Education: An Art College Perspective, Wendy Landry

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

In many communities the art college is the last formal refuge of active textile-making knowledge and heritage. This location appears to value playful, risky, or challenging material explorations which might result in creative design or meaningful visual expression. This should be the best environment for cultivating adventurous students able to integrate a wide range of experience and resources towards generating new ideas for interesting contemporary textiles. It could be a good place in which to discover how textiles contribute to human experience and history, and how they are meaningful. However, I submit that this art environment is still detrimental to …

"Gabba" In Encyclopædia Iranica, Jean-Pierre Digard, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

GABBA (gava in Kurdish and Lori, Īzadpanāh, s.v.; ḵersak in Baḵtīārī, Digard, pp. 128-31), a hand-woven pile rug of coarse quality and medium size (90 x 150 cm or larger) characterized by an abstract design that relies upon open fields of color and a playfulness with geometry. This kind of rug is common among the tribes of the Zagros (Kurdish, Lori-speaking ethnic groups, Qašqāʾīs). The first known reference to gabba is found in a farmān by Shah Ṭahmāsp (r. 930-84/1524-76) dating to the middle of the 16th century (Opie, 1992, p. 124). Gabbas were said to have originated in …

Choices And Constraints: Pattern Formation In Oriental Carpets, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Patterns in nature result from dynamic relationships of forces and constraints. What is analogous for patterns in art? Art is created by human hands motivated by inspiration and thought. It is the product of creativity and skill. Creativity is constrained by cognitive processes and skill by the limits of technology. Based upon the author’s studies of Oriental carpets, this paper suggests that patterns in art result from dynamic relationships of choices and constraints. Typically, traditional Oriental carpets from historical rug-weaving regions of the world exhibit a multiplicity of patterns—field patterns and border patterns that express a vast array of designs …

Circles And Centers: A Review Article, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Review of: Geometric Patterns from Islamic Art & Architecture, by Robert Field. Tarquin Publications, Norfolk, UK, c1998. AND "The Nature of Islamic Ornament, Part III: Geometric Patterns," exhibition on view March 17-July 18, 1999 in the Hagop Kevorkian Fund Special Exhibitions Gallery at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Circles of equal radius, when tight-packed, naturally combine in two ways. One method yields centers that form a triangular grid; the other method yields centers that form a square grid. These basic mathematical considerations underlie the play of pattern in Islamic art. By selecting centers in a triangular grid, one may establish …

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group, Volume 21 (2000), Virginia Gunn, Laurel Horton, Xenia E. Cord, Phyllis S. Herda, Ethel Ewert Abrahams, Rachel K. Pannabecker, Susan Price Miller, Lisa Gabbert, Marsha Macdowell

Uncoverings Journal

Preface by Virginia Gunn

Research Papers

An "Old-Fashioned Quilting" in 1910 by Laurel Horton

Textiles and Cooperative Commerce in Colonial America: The Example of William McCormick by Xenia E. Cord

Creating a New Tradition: Quilting in Tonga by Phyllis S. Herda

"Better Choose Me": Addictions to Tobacco, Collecting, and Quilting, 1880-1920 by Ethel Ewert Abrahams and Rachel K. Pannabecker

Hubert Ver Mehren and Home Art Studios by Susan Price Miller

"Petting the Fabric": Medium and the Creative Process by Lisa Gabbert

Quilts and Their Stories: Revealing a Hidden History by Marsha MacDowell

Authors and editor

In memoriam: Bill Charles Garoutte …