Art and Design Commons^™

Textiles And Tradition In The Marketplace, Philis Alvic

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Textiles and traditional textile techniques have been part of economic crafts development in many countries for a long time. Many of the schemes for helping the poorest of the world’s poor involve using or adapting textiles and creating products to appeal to the tourist and export markets. Individual styles become marketing tools because they are unique to a particular culture. In coming up with items that will sell, rarely does the product honor the culture that it came from.

While any TSA member would realize the value of traditional textiles, most customers prefer that the fabric be used to make …

Natural Dyes, Our Global Heritage Of Colors, Dominique Cardon

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

In the past, each civilization throughout the world has selected its own specific range of plant and animal sources of color, each from their respective natural environments. These included dyes and colorants that were used for the hair and skin, for everyday or festive food, for clothing and furnishing textiles, matting, etc. Scientific research into the colorants present in historical and anthropological textiles and objects have revealed a common empiric logic for this selection, and astonishing parallels can be found in the technical processes developed by ancient and traditional dyers of all continents. This lecture will consist of a discussion …

Kyrgyz Felt Of The 20th And 21st Centuries, Dinara Chochunbaeva

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Kyrgyz people, representing the ancient nomadic civilization of Central Asia, manufactured felt from time immemorial and utilized it in all aspects of their lives. The portable house of Kyrgyz tribes, the yurt, was covered by felt, while the interior decoration and richly ornamented rugs, household goods, clothes, and toys were felt as well.

Felt also had sacral meaning and played an important role in the social life of the tribe. The elected leader was lifted up by tribe members on a piece of white felt, symbolizing public acknowledgment of his power; in funerary traditions a piece of felt was used …

Contemporary Interpretation Of An Unusual Navajo Weaving Technique, Connie Lippert

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

I am not Navajo and, therefore, I do not practice Navajo weaving. I do use the wedge weave technique that was practiced by the Navajo for a period in the late 1800s. A Navajo wedge weave is easily recognizable because of the colors used and the shapes consistent with other Navajo weaving. Although I use the same technique, my use of color and shape transforms wedge weave into a contemporary weave.

Wedge weave is an unusual form of tapestry. Pictorial imagery is not its goal. Instead, the weft is woven in such a way that the actual horizontal-vertical structure of …

Low Tech Transmission: European Tapestry To High Tech America, Christine Laffer

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

European tapestry techniques reached the U.S. in several waves of cultural transmission, starting in the late 1800s when the first tapestry studios were established on the east coast. The differences between the two continents and their focus on different types of technical knowledge appeared almost instantly. In Europe, institutions guarded the logic and purity of their techniques through systems ranging from educational programs to state-run tapestry studios over several hundred years. In the U.S., tapestry existed primarily as a commercial enterprise serving a small sector of the population over a few decades. Further, the lack of an educational component prevented …

Colcha Embroidery As Cartography: Mapping Landscapes Of Memory And Passage, Suzanne P. Macaulay

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Stitching is one of the oldest forms or technologies of textile craft – if we regard technology in its elemental sense as artistry, process, invention or method. This presentation explores the notion of embroidered maps as creations of a cartographic visionary imagination. In terms of the Symposium’s theme promoting new links between traditional textile-based concepts and contemporary digital processes, these cartographic embroideries are viewed as compositions of space-time in which landscapes are rendered as illusions of three dimensions (space) with an implied fourth dimension (time). In these pictorial embroideries, time melds with memory in order to transcend the physical division …

Synthetic Fibers, Showy Cars And Sportshirts: Liberating The Fashion Spirit Of “The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit”, Diane Maglio

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

We want to sing the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the earth, along the circle of its orbit. F. T. Marinetti Futurists of 1911 celebrated technology, the beauty of speed and racing cars with “great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath.” They integrated their philosophy with a Manifesto of Men’s Clothing extolling comfort, joyful practicality and illumination –light even in the rain. In the 1950s, American men followed the path of the Futurists driving dream cars with spectacular tail fins and fashionable synthetic jacquard upholstery while dressing in sport shirts of expressive fibers …

Velvetweaving Today: A Worldwide Overview, Barbara Setsu Pickett

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Velvet is a luxury cloth. Fashioned into garments, it dresses the elite. In interiors, it covers walls and upholsters furniture. Its sumptuous display denotes status, power, privilege and wealth. For the past twenty-eight years, my research and art has focused on learning its traditions and handweaving practice.

Besides studying textile archives, I have more importantly visited the few remaining ateliers and have interviewed the artisans to learned about their training, methods and activities.

How do they control the tension of the pile warp?
How do they prevent crushing the woven velvet while it is on the loom?
How do they …

Metalling With Fibers: A Design Series Exploring The Reuse Of Metal Findings Through The Use Of Technology, Eulanda A. Sanders

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

When analyzing “socially responsible” along the supply-chain of apparel production, there has not been an emphasis on the purchase of findings used in production of clothing and how surplus items are used or discarded. Hawley (2006) describes the mechanical sorting of findings to assist in the post-consumer recycling of apparel to aid in reclaiming fiber from products. Her research raised the following questions: 1) What happens to these findings after they are removed from the garment? 2) Is it possible to use these items in wearable or fiber art projects? 3) Where are additional sources for obtaining or reclaiming surplus …

Hooked: Between Personal And Public Space, Patricia Tinajero

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

This paper explores the proliferation of sculptural forms made exclusively by crocheting. Crochet is explored as a tool and medium that create sculptural forms and installations of grand scale.

My presentation compares and contrasts the connections between personal and private space as they are presented in the artwork of Andrea Zittle “Uniform Project” with the public and collective artwork of artist, Jennifer Marsh, and her “International Fabric Collective” project. The scope and scale in which these artists work present two different methodologies for developing large-scale projects that are based on the use of crochet techniques.

Anna Von Mertens: Azmt & Aura, Concurrent Exhibitions, The Project Room

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Project Room & Dushan Creative
www.projectroom.us www.dushancreative.com
(402) 617-8365 (402) 420-0941

Anna Von Mertens: AZMT & Aura
Oct. 1st, First Friday: 7 to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 2nd: noon to 4:00
Special open hours: Friday and Saturday, Oct. 8th and 9th: noon to 4

Anna Von Mertens pays tribute to a pioneer quilter, Anna Zerissa Morse Thurston, who traveled from Maine to California in the 1880s, almost certainly going through Nebraska on the Oregon Trail. Using computer technology to chart the star pattern at dawn on the day the woman was born in Maine and at dusk the day she …

New Material World: Rethreading Technology, Concurrent Exhibitions, The Sheldon Museum Of Art

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Sheldon Museum of Art
www.sheldonartgallery.org
12th & R St.
(402) 472-2461

New Material World: Rethreading Technology
October 8, 2010 - January 2, 2011

From manipulating old techniques in new ways to coupling new tools and digital
processes with traditional methods, this work explores what it means to be an
artist integrating such approaches in the 21st century.

Participating artists: Lyn Carter, Kyoung Ae Cho (1997 Lillian Elliott Awardee),
Sonya Clark (2000 LEA), Ishida Tomoko Hashimoto (1998 LEA), Kyoko Kumai,
Cat Mazza, Janice Lessman-Moss, Geraldine Ondrizek, Jessica Smith, and
Grethe Sørensen.

12th Biennial Symposium Program, Part 2: Concurrent Local Exhibitions At Participating Museums And Galleries

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

• Cooper Gallery at Morrill Hall -- A Turning Point: Navajo Weaving in the Late Twentieth Century http://www-museum.unl.edu
• Eisentrager-Howard Gallery -- Binary Fiction: Digital Weaving 2010 http://www.unl.edu/art/facilities_eisentrager-howard.shtml
• Lentz Center for Asian Culture -- Color and Pattern: Tribal and Contemporary Ikats of India and Laos http://www.unl.edu/lentz
• Nebraska History Museum -- Willa Cather: A Matter of Appearances http://www.nebraskahistory.org
• Rotunda Gallery -- Fiber, Textiles, and Clothing: UNL Graduate Students in Textiles, Clothing, and Design http://union.unl.edu/city/rotunda_gallery.php
• Sheldon Museum of Art -- New Material World: Rethreading Technology http://www.sheldonartgallery.org
• International Quilt Study Center & Museum http://www.quiltstudy.org -- South Asian Seams: Quilts from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
• International …

Beni Itajime: Carved Board Clamp Resist Dyeing In Red, Masanao Arai, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Throughout Japanese textile history, Kyokechi or itajime shibori has been known as a resist dyeing process wherein a piece of folded cloth is sandwiched between wooden boards clamped tightly to protect selective areas of fabric from dye. This paper introduces a lesser known group of itajime textiles called beni ita, beni itajime, Kyo beni -- fine, lightweight silks patterned by clamp resist using boards carved with pictorial designs of flowers, birds, etc. These silks were used exclusively for under layers -- shitagi, an underkimono worn by women in the latter Edo Period (1603-1867) through the Meiji Period (1868-1912) and into …

Promoting The Tactile In A Virtual World: An Overview Of Fiberscene.Com, Susan Taber Avila, Myra Block Kaiser

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

After ten years of public service, FiberScene.com, will go offline in Spring 2011. This website, co-founded by Susan Taber Avila and Myra Block Kaiser, played a significant role in promoting fine art with a textile sensibility. Prior to creating this site, there was nothing in cyberspace devoted to Fiber Art.

FiberScene’s initial goal was to enhance visibility for fiber artists, especially those who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, once a Mecca for fiber art. The website contained individual pages of local artists, a resource page, an event calendar, and a virtual gallery. The gallery provided a comprehensive overview …

Textiles Of Qaraqalpaqstan And Their Relationship To Central Asian Traditions And The Legacy Of Igor Savitsky, Marinika Babanazarova

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

The Karakalpak people are a semi-nomadic, Turkic-speaking tribe situated near the southern end of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan, whose textile folk art forms a distinct thread in the larger fabric of the Central Asian textile tradition. The I.V. Savitsky State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan in the northwest of Uzbekistan near the southern end of the Aral Sea houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of Karakalpak textile art. Passionately collected by Igor Savitsky despite Soviet prohibitions, he singlehandedly preserved records of a dying culture. This presentation will focus on aspects of the collection as it relates to …

Oriental Carpets, Spatial Dimension, And The Development Of Linear Perspective: From Grid To Projective Grid, Carol Bier

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Studies of the origins of linear perspective in European painting tend to focus on developments in treatment of the spatial dimension, with attention especially devoted to mathematical principles that underlie the representation of three-dimensional space. The theoretical understanding of this is first articulated in Alberti’s treatise De pictura (1435). Given that carpets are relatively flat objects, and that their patterning, no matter how complex, was intended to be viewed as two-dimensional, the linking of carpets to the representation of three-dimensional space would seem to be paradoxical. But the relationship may actually find a basis in historical reality.

Carpets produced in …

Progressional Journeys: Compelling New Directions For Three “New Basketry” Artists, J. Penny Burton

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

The “New Basketry” movement of the late 1960s and the early 1970s was essentially spearheaded by Ed Rossbach. Many leading fiber artists and educators have been touched by this lasting legacy in some manner, whether from their own experiences as students of Rossbach’s, or merely from studying the fine technical and innovative basketry works that emerged during this period. Personal interviews with three dynamic women, who were active early on in this movement—Dorothy Gill Barnes, Patricia Hickman, and Kay Sekimachi—have revealed that an enduring engagement with materials remains central to their ongoing artistic practices. This has resulted in their exploration …

Conversation With Nature, Kyoung Ae Cho

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

I am engaged in a conversation with nature. Each work produced is the result of an intimate dialogue between artist and materials. The conversation may begin as I gather recycled organic matter and collect man-made objects of little value, or it may commence with a sudden discovery: of the beauty in a corn leaf, for example. Leaves and flowers that have fallen to earth are dried, ironed, flattened and stitched: processes that I view as ceremonial transitions from one stage of being to another. Through preparing the materials, I am attentive to the ways they reveal, through shape, pattern, color, …

Fueled By Silk: Victorian Crazy Quilt Mania, Patricia Cox Crews

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Crazy quilts captured the imagination of American women who made thousands of them between 1880 and 1900. But, what sparked this craze at this particular period in time? Most scholars agree that several factors sparked the national rage for Crazy quilts in the late 19th century, the most important factor being the Japanese and British decorative arts displays at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. The other factor mentioned is the availability of affordable silk fabrics.

Specifically, scholars note how fascinated Americans became with the exotic goods displayed at the popular Japanese pavilion at the Centennial Exhibition. Scholars agree …

The Fiber Of Our Lives: A Conceptual Framework For Looking At Textiles’ Meanings, Beverly Gordon

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Based on the model explicated in my forthcoming (Thames & Hudson, Fall 2010) book, The Fiber of Our Lives: Why Textiles Matter, I will present a holistic framework that can be used to articulate and compare the meanings of textiles of any given culture or historic period. The framework considers the range of human activities and concerns, including meeting practical survival needs and securing physical, psychological and psychic protection; social interactions; the propensity to seek and wield power; the communication of ideas and aesthetic expression; and activities geared to transcending the limits of human experience—i.e., the spiritual realm. This approach …

The Landscape Tapestries Of Louise Nevelson, 1972-1997, Ann Hedlund

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

This presentation examines the varied negotiations involved in creating a series of modern tapestries designed by American sculptor/collagist Louise Nevelson, woven at Dovecot Studios of Edinburgh Tapestry Company in Scotland, and orchestrated by Gloria Ross, a New York tapestry éditeur (in a role paralleling that of film producer). Information comes from unpublished letters, sketches, photographs, and other materials in the Archives of American Art. Voices include those of artist, weavers, producer, galleries, museums, critics, and collectors. In keeping with conference themes, this paper explores old techniques and materials used in innovative ways, in the service of both technology and nature. …

Future Reliquaries, Barbara Heller

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

As a tapestry weaver, spinner, and dyer, I cherish the handmade. But, as a full-fledged member of the electronic age, I realize that the haptic has had a hard time maintaining its status. My Future Reliquary Series is an attempt to reconcile three apparently separate but, in my mind, connected histories: weaving, computing, and religion.

Weaving is a binary system of up/down, just as computing is a binary system of on/off. The first computer was a jacquard loom, complete with punch cards. The process of mechanization removed the human hand from weaving. In an analogous manner, today’s computers have introduced …

Spin Artists, And How The Internet Fuels The Art Yarn Movement, Tracy P. Hudson

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

This presentation examines the surprisingly intimate relationship between handspinning and the Internet, focusing on several individual art yarn spinners. These spinners produce unconventional yarns by experimenting with various techniques, and approach spinning itself as a form of creative expression. In every case, the Internet has been integral to the spinners’ technical and artistic development, career, or expression. A community has formed in which these spinners encourage and challenge each other, pushing the art form ever forward. The spinners interviewed initiate swaps, thematic challenges, technical experiments, and sometimes entire websites online, in order to stimulate the exchange of ideas and images. …

Geometric Abstraction In Pre-Columbian Tapestry And Its Enduring Influence, Susan Iverson

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Making art requires looking back and looking forward while maintaining a strong presence in the current cultural world. As a tapestry weaver, when I look back, I look at pre-Columbian weaving for inspiration. It is looking at the art and architecture of these ancient cultures that has allowed me to appreciate weaving as the basis for geometric pattern and abstraction. With an understanding that they developed their images for completely different reasons than those of the contemporary artist, I respond to their respect for the woven grid and their apparent desire to work with this structure instead of against it. …

Digital Costume Display, Katia Johansen

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

Costume is popular in museum exhibitions, but it requires a lot of preparation, careful handling, well-appointed space and special conditions. And it can’t even tolerate the light for very long – all good reasons to supplement traditional display with digital presentations. At the Royal Danish Collections, however, we have gone further, creating encounters unheard of in conventional exhibitions: turning the costume to see every detail and zooming in close enough to count threads and stitches.

Kongedragter.dk (Royal costume) is an interactive presentation of 16 garments worn by the 16 Danish monarchs from King Frederik II (died 1588) to the reigning …

Walnut Dye For Wool And Silk And Development Of A Color Palette For A Product Line, Anjali Karolia

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

The use of natural dyes has attracted increasing worldwide attention as the carcinogenicity and environmental pollution problem of synthetic pigments are becoming a great concern. In this paper, leaf, bark, and fruit covering of the walnut tree were used to extract dye for obtaining a color palette on natural protein fibers. Wool and silk fabrics were pre-mordanted by four metallic mordants i.e. alum, tannic acid, copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate and three natural mordants i.e. tea, coffee and pomegranate, at three different pH
conditions (self, acidic and alkaline) for development of a color palette. Dyed samples were tested for color yield …

Handwork As A Conceptual Strategy, Jane Kidd

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

This paper will discuss my commitment to the material identity of woven tapestry as an artistic practice and my interest in the handmade as a conceptual strategy and counterpoint to the immediacy and temporal nature of contemporary culture.

Much of the work in the milieu of contemporary fibre is moving away from the handmade object to embrace installation, intervention, digital technology and hybrid approaches to material and process. The discreet material identity of traditional textile processes like woven tapestry seem out of step, bringing into question the value of skill, disciplinarity and the handmade object.

Throughout my practice, skill and …

The Way Of Sami Duodji: From Nomadic Necessity To Trademarked Lifestyle, Desiree Koslin

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

The Sami people of Northwestern Eurasia in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia share historical vicissitudes brought upon them with most other First Peoples. Their languages were suppressed, their religion and culture obliterated, and their way of life ultimately condemned to marginality. In a painful process that was first given wider attention in texts of the seventeenth century, the Sami were given few options for survival but to acquiesce and adapt to the dictates issued, largely losing their cultural identity in the process.

Today, thanks to extensive advocacy of Sami activists starting in the 1960s, a reawakened Sami identity is fostered …

Order And Complexity In My Woven Work, Janice Lessman-Moss

Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings

My art practice revolves around an interest in abstract systems and digital design in combination with the mechanical, mathematical, and material aspects of weaving. The process of weaving conjures images of the sequential mapping of linear time along the length of the warp, while designing on the computer implies speed and layering as in circular time. These two concepts are integrated in the construction and visual interpretation of my woven work. Using the generative capabilities of the computer, sharply defined and regular patterns of shapes are integrated with more organic and seemingly random systems. Their interplay seeks a balance that …