Chilean Arpilleras: Writing A Visual Culture,
2018
University of Dayton
Chilean Arpilleras: Writing A Visual Culture, R. Darden Bradshaw
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
This paper highlights a recent inquiry into the contemporary visual culture of the Chilean arpillera from a cross-global perspective. This art form derived from political, social, and economic conditions of the times yet contemporary manifestations do not address these origins. Arpilleras, historically created in the home and sewn by hand, are constructions in which bits of discarded cloth and burlap were used to compose pictorial narratives. The art form arose in Chile during a period of intense political oppression. This manifestation of women’s fiber art has and continues to serve as both seditious and reconstructive forms of visual culture. While …
The Embroidery Artisans Of The Kashmir Valley: Cultural Imports And Exports From Historical And Contemporary Perspectives.,
2018
www.deborahemmettprintdesigns.com
The Embroidery Artisans Of The Kashmir Valley: Cultural Imports And Exports From Historical And Contemporary Perspectives., Deborah Emmett
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
On a visit to the Kashmir Valley in northern India during the winter months I was given a pheran to wear. This long woolen garment is the customary apparel worn by Kashmiri men and women in cold weather. While the men’s are plain, the women’s pherans are embroidered on the front and sleeves. The skills of those Kashmiri artisans who hand embroider clothing such as the pherans, shawls, and other textiles including rugs, curtains, and cushions are well recognized in India and beyond. Considering the Kashmir Valley’s geographic position surrounded by the Himalayan Mountains, I presumed that their embroidery crafts …
Fish In The Desert – North Africa’S Textile Tradition Between Indigenous Identity And Exogenous Shifts In Meaning,
2018
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Fish In The Desert – North Africa’S Textile Tradition Between Indigenous Identity And Exogenous Shifts In Meaning, Silvia Dolz
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
Among the oldest handcraft products of North Africa are woven, knotted, and embroidered textiles (flat woven fabrics, knotted carpets, clothing) primarily made of wool and hair from sheep, goats, or camels. Those products have great importance, beyond their practical purpose, as a communicative and artistic medium. Changes and re-evaluations of the textile from a utilitarian object with potent pre-Islamic and Islamic symbolism towards a modern abstract art object reveal centuries of cultural transfer between the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe on the one hand, and between North and West Africa on the other. At the same time, this has …
Co-Creating Craft; Australian Designers Meet Artisans In India,
2018
Swinburne University of Technology
Co-Creating Craft; Australian Designers Meet Artisans In India, Katherine Bissett-Johnson, David Moorhead
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
There is no word for design in India, creativity and making are intertwined. Craft and culture are inseparable, yet craft practice has become both a cultural and increasingly financial activity. The income from crafts in India is estimated to be only second to agriculture, yet many artisans still live in poverty. Precedents for designers working with artisans in India to develop products for both local and global markets have proven successful. Different types of co-creation (sometimes called co-design) activities have been documented between both local designers and local artisans, and, between foreign designers and local artisans. Although the outcomes of …
The Tent-Dweller: Visual Markers Of Migration In Art,
2018
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
The Tent-Dweller: Visual Markers Of Migration In Art, Sara Clugage
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
The current migrant crisis has brought new complexity to an object that enables transition: the tent. Tents are structures most often meant to be temporary-they both practically enable journeys and visually signify the temporary. A language of migration, territory, and dislocation is mapped onto canvas, ropes, and poles. Migration depends on concepts of land rights, movement, and the finite duration of a journey. As Deleuze and Guattari set for in “A Thousand Plateaus,” migrants move from one place to another but are defined as belonging to those spaces. Nomads, on the one hand, do not have land distributed to them-they …
Balancing Local Tradition And Global Influences: Design And Business Education For Traditional Artisans In Kachchh, India,
2018
Nottingham Trent University
Balancing Local Tradition And Global Influences: Design And Business Education For Traditional Artisans In Kachchh, India, Ruth Clifford
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
In the craft-rich region of Kutch, western India, and the historical sari weaving town of Maheshwar, central India, two institutes are providing design and business education to traditional artisans. These are Somaiya Kala Vidya (SKV) and The Handloom School (THS); they form case studies for my PhD research. SKV encourages students to focus on their traditional designs believing them to be their unique selling point, but to innovate upon these traditions making them relevant to contemporary markets. Graduates face challenges of balancing the maintenance of the traditional aspects of their craft, their identity and integrity, with urban and global market …
Reawakening Chahta Nan Tvnna (Choctaw Textiles),
2018
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Reawakening Chahta Nan Tvnna (Choctaw Textiles), Jennifer Byram
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
Choctaw people have crafted textiles from the land for thousands of years. Native to Mississippi and Alabama, U.S.A., the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma resides today in the Southeastern part of the state and numbers over 200,000 citizens. This paper comes out of the tribe’s Historic Preservation department’s work in conjunction with community efforts to reawaken Chahta nan tvnna, Choctaw textiles. By piecing together disparate parts of the Choctaw textile narrative, the Choctaw community is creating new textile work that recalls the ancestors and brings the identity of Chahta nan tvnna to new generations of Choctaw artisans.
A Local Motif; Use Of Kōwhaiwhai Patterns In Printed Textiles,
2018
Auckland War Memorial Museum
A Local Motif; Use Of Kōwhaiwhai Patterns In Printed Textiles, Jane Groufsky
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
This paper considers the role of patterns derived from kowhaiwhai in printed textiles, and how these have been used to project a national identity. Kowhaiwhai refers to the design traditionally used my Maori (the Indigenous people of New Zealand) on parts of meetings houses, canoe paddles, and other painted objects. Although kowhaiwhai art has developed to include figural representation, it is the curvilinear decoration based on the natural forms of koru (fern shoots), kape (crescent), and rauru (spiral) which has become a distinctly recognizable “New Zealand” pattern. Situated in the meeting house, kowhaiwhai designs have a style and meaning which …
A Virgin Martyr In Indigenous Garb? A Curious Case Of Andean Ancestry And Memorial Rites Recalled On A Christian Body,
2018
University of California, Santa Cruz
A Virgin Martyr In Indigenous Garb? A Curious Case Of Andean Ancestry And Memorial Rites Recalled On A Christian Body, Gaby Greenlee
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
The notion of “social fabric” has deep resonance in the Andes, where woven textiles have long been entwined with gestures of political alliance, marriage, or rituals marking key transitions in the life cycle. Within the life cycle pre-Conquest, what is more, textiles were heavily implicated in that most poignant of transitions-from life to death. Yet in the Andes, death did not remove one from the life cycle. The deceased remained present and active participants in communal life, seen as potent advocates for the next generation, consulted as oracles, and regularly re-dressed in traditional woven textiles. After the Spanish-Catholic conquest, however, …
Batik Of Java: Global Inspiration,
2018
The Cairns Institute, James Cook University
Batik Of Java: Global Inspiration, Maria Wronska-Friend
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
Batik, the technique of patterning cloth through the application of wax, reached the highest level of complexity on the island of Java. While deeply embedded in local traditions and associated with the social order of Java, outside Indonesia batik became a powerful cultural intermediary connecting countries as diverse as Netherlands, Japan, Ghana, India, and Australia. In the early stages, this process was an outcome of the Dutch colonial agency. In the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch East India Company sold Indian textiles destined for Indonesian markets as well as small quantities of Javanese batiks to the Japanese. …
Closing The Power Gap Through Internet Technology: The Artisan View,
2018
Somaiya Kala Vidya
Closing The Power Gap Through Internet Technology: The Artisan View, Judy Frater
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
In India today, artisans are considered skilled workers who can realize the concepts of designers. But traditionally, craft was designed, produced, and marketed by artisans. As traditional artisans aimed for new markets, designers took on the role of “interventionists” to bridge the gap in familiarity with new consumers and bring craft into contemporary markets. While this works, unfortunately demoting artisans to worker status results in minimum value for their work, little to no opportunity for creativity or recognition, and waning interest in traditions. Co-design has potential to restructure the relationship between urban designer and artisan. However, often what is called …
Shipibo-Conibo Textiles 2010-2018: Artists Of The Amazon Culturally Engaged,
2018
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Shipibo-Conibo Textiles 2010-2018: Artists Of The Amazon Culturally Engaged, Nancy Gardner Feldman
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
This paper considers the intersection of processes of making and cultural memory as contemporary Shipibo artists design, produce, and exchange of their contemporary textiles and art. One sees a continuation of traditional collaborative social networks both in Peru’s deep Amazon region and in new Shipibo communities of Pucallpa and Lima. In cities, they create new artistic networks and expressions of art in ceremony. In these artworks, one sees how Shipibo relationship to the natural world, the forest, plants, animals, and waters reflects deep spiritual beliefs, wisdom, and community knowledge. Shipibo communities in 2017 face ever-expanding challenges from intrusions into their …
Dresden Embroidery In Early Kentucky Counterpanes,
2018
Kalmia Research
Dresden Embroidery In Early Kentucky Counterpanes, Laurel Horton
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
This paper examines four white embroidered bedcovers which include elements done in Dresden work, a distinctive technique combining pulled-thread embroidery with surface stitchery. The distinctive lace-like stitches of Dresden embroidery typically appear in delicate, small-scale applications, such as cuffs, collars, and handkerchiefs. These four counterpanes, made in Kentucky in the early nineteenth century, are among a small number of embroidered white bedcovers that include Dresden embroidery. In contrast with the ancient roots of other stitchery styles, Dresden embroidery emerged in Europe in the 1720s as an inexpensive alternative to delicate Flemish bobbin laces. The technique spread among cottage needleworkers in …
Weaving Authenticity: Artesanías Or The Art Of The Textile In Chiapas Mexico,
2018
Natik.org
Weaving Authenticity: Artesanías Or The Art Of The Textile In Chiapas Mexico, Addison Nace
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
During my six months in Chiapas, I worked for the weaving cooperative Mujeres Sembrando la Vida (MSV), a partner organization to Natik. Natik works with grassroots organizations in Mexico and Guatemala with a focus on economic development and education. MSV is a cooperative of sixty women weaving from the municipality of Zinacantán1 founded by Doña Magdalena and currently run by her two daughters Yoli and Xunka. Zinacantán is a Tzotzil Mayan village in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Chiapas has the highest population of indigenous people and is also the poorest state in Mexico with a poverty rate of 75.7 …
Refashioning Newport: Reuse Of Textiles During The Gilded Age,
2018
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Refashioning Newport: Reuse Of Textiles During The Gilded Age, Anna Rose Keefe
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
During the late-nineteenth century, descriptions of the fashions worn by the summer residents of Newport, RI appeared in magazines and newspapers all around the world. Though contemporary interpretation romanticizes the idea that Newport’s style leaders wore their ensembles once before discarding them, letters and diaries from the Newport Historical Society and the Preservation Society of Newport County detail how clothing was reused and remade across all levels of society during the American Gilded Age. While Newport’s belles sold and traded gowns with friends, remodeled afternoon ensembles into evening gowns, and re-cut and re-dyed their clothing to fit the latest styles, …
Sprang Bonnets From Late Antique Egypt: Producer Knowledge And Exchange Through Experimental Reconstruction,
2018
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Sprang Bonnets From Late Antique Egypt: Producer Knowledge And Exchange Through Experimental Reconstruction, Carol James
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
Head coverings are a global phenomenon, worn by people everywhere with various roles and meanings within their respective societies. The sprang technique has been part of the hat-making tradition in various times and places, from Bronze Age bonnets in Scandinavia to hair nets found in modern Eastern Europe. Arid conditions in the Nile Valley communities of Egypt preserved hundreds of sprang bonnets dating to the Late Antique period (c. 3rd to 7th centuries) which are now held in many European and North American museums. Among these, the Deutsches Textilmuseum in Krefeld, Germany holds one of the largest collections …
Containing Tradition, Embracing Change: Weaving Together Plant Materials In Northern Latin America,
2018
www.kathrynrousso.com
Containing Tradition, Embracing Change: Weaving Together Plant Materials In Northern Latin America, Kathryn Rousso
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
From southern Mexico to northern Colombia, palm fronds, wild pineapple fibers, agave fibers, wild bamboo and cane have been woven into bags, baskets, mats, hats, and brooms for as long as anyone can remember. These items carry great historical and cultural value to many Indigenous people including the Otomi (Mexico), Maya (Mexico and Guatemala), Lenca (Honduras), Ngobe-Bugle (Panama), Embera (Panama and Columbia), plus the Guane and Zunu (Columbia) providing a “sense of place” for those who harvest, prepare, weave, and use or sell plant material woven items in each of their unique environments. Spanish colonization, civil wars, modern politics, tourism, …
Place-Based Textiles In Post Wwii Poland,
2018
University of South Carolina
Place-Based Textiles In Post Wwii Poland, Jane Przybysz
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
When WWII broke out, textile art faculty Stefan and Helena Galkowski left the Arts Academy in Crakow, Poland to take refuge in the countryside. There, they continued their artistic practice, utilizing materials close at hand - undyed sheep’s wool – to make work they regarded as carrying on a distinctly Polish and politically-charged weaving tradition. After the War, even sheep’s wool was scarce. Polish textile artists like Magdelena Abakanowicz seized upon a plentiful local material – sisal – to improvise new textile art-making methods and forms. In the wake of WWII, the nascent Polish communist government saw in pre-WWII artisan …
Rahul Jain’S Reimagined Velvet Drawloom,
2018
University of Oregon
Rahul Jain’S Reimagined Velvet Drawloom, Barbara Setsu Pickett
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
Indian textile traditions are exemplars of Deep Local, firmly rooted in geography and culture. Even family names denote specific occupations; Ansari are weavers; Chippa, block-print dyers; Khatri, bandhani dyers. In the 1980s, two exhibitions introduced me to Indian textiles. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s show, “India Festival of Science included artisans demonstrating their specialties. Ansar Ahmed Ansari, a Varanasi silk brocade weaver, wove sari fabric on a Jacquard loom. After shadowing him for several days, he offered his business card and invited me to visit. In New York at the Met, the India Art and Culture exhibition had …
The Modern Development Of Kyoto Textiles For The Kimono,
2018
Hosei University
The Modern Development Of Kyoto Textiles For The Kimono, Keiko Okamoto
Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings
Hand painted yūzen dyeing and other types of yūzen dyeing are considered the main dyeing methods among Kyoto textiles. They were developed between the mid-17th century and early 20th century and are still used for the kimono. The kimono and its textiles were spotlighted in Western countries when Japan opened the country to the West in the late 19th century and had been popular into the early 20th century. Westerns collected them, wore them, or used them as motifs of their art works. Japanese also took Western motifs in the kimono textile designs, which in turn …
