Arts and Humanities Commons^™

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 Information comes from unpublished letters, sketches, photographs, and other materials in the Archives of American Art.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. …

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. …

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 …

Morphological Differences Between Ramie And Hemp: How These Characteristics Developed Different Procedures In Bast Fiber Producing Industry, Min Sun Hwang

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Ramie and hemp fiber are two major fibers among the four traditional fibers (cotton, wool, hemp, and ramie) of Korea. They have a very long history going back to as early as the first century AD Ramie fabric, as summer clothing, was enjoyed by upper class/royal families and scholars. On the other hand, hemp fabric was worn by the lower class, such as people who worked in labor intensive fields. Hemp fabrics were also used for funerary costumes and shrouds; this tradition continues to the present time.

After four years of on-site research, I presented two papers on two distinct …

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 …

Sustaining The Magnificent Craft Of Songket Weaving In Malaysia, June Ngo Siok Kheng

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Mass-production of songket utilising jacquard looms can swiftly diminish the songket weaving cottage industry. Investing in a jacquard or dobby loom can be expensive and thus may not be affordable for practical use in the cottage songket industry as traditional weavers tend to operate on a small scale basis in villages. This paper highlights the production of contemporary Malaysian handwoven songket which is currently being funded by Yayasan Tuanku Nur Zahirah (YTNZ). The YTNZ is a foundation founded under the royal patronage of her Majesty Tuanku Nur Zahirah, the reigning Queen of Malaysia. YTNZ aims to help under-privileged communities in …

Woven Blooms Of Nationalism: Russian Handwoven Tapestry-Technique Shawls 1825-1855, Tanya Wetenhall

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Russian handwoven, tapestry-technique shawls of the nineteenth century form an understudied group of textile art, especially when compared to Russia’s widely-known printed shawl industry. Often considered by Western textile and fashion historians to be a parallel industry to the production of woven shawls of the Kashmir style in France and Britain, further investigation suggests the contrary. The manufacture of Russian tapestry-technique shawls developed as a distinctly separate industry, addressing nineteenth-century Russia’s established shawl trade and shifting geopolitics. The Russians continued the production of these extravagant shawls long after the Kashmir shawl’s fall from fashion grace in the West due to …

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 …

Binary Fiction: Digital Weaving 2010, Concurrent Exhibitions, Eisentrager-Howard Gallery

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Eisentrager-Howard Gallery
www.unl.edu/art/facilities_eisentrager-howard.shtml
Richards Hall, 1st floor
Stadium Dr. & T St.
(402) 472-5025

Binary Fiction: Digital Weaving 2010
October 4 - 29, 2010

The artists in this exhibition, Laurie Addis, Catharine Ellis, Gail Kenning, Chia-Hui Lu, Christy Matson, Vita Plume, Michael Radyk, Ismini Samanidou, Ruth Scheuing, Pauline Verbeek-Cowart and Bhakti Ziek, use weaving combined with the generative capabilities of the computer to create planar
objects imbued with beauty and meaning. Drawing on various sources of inspiration mediated by digital technology, they transform virtual designs into material form using the matrix of threads on the loom. The binary language of …

Woven Color In China/ The Five Colors In Chinese Culture And Polychrome Woven Textiles, Zhao Feng

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

There existed the yin-yang theory and the five color system, including red, blue, yellow, black and white, in ancient Chinese culture. Each color refers to one of the five directions, east, west, north, south and middle, also one of the five planets, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, as well as one of the five materials, metal, wood, water, fire and earth. This idea was also widely used in the Chinese polychrome woven textiles from the Han dynasty (2c. BC-2c. AD), to the Ming dynasty (14-17c). Based on the analysis of all available samples of polychrome woven silks with cloud …

Needlepoint By Stephen Beal, Concurrent Exhibitions, Gallery 9

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

A small exhibition held in conjuntion with the Textile Society of Americas 12th Biennial Symposium, From Plains Space to Cyberspace, displaying needlepoint work of the late Stephen Beal, the 2008 Lillian Elliott Awardee.

Night At The Museum, Kelly Hammond

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

When I was approached to help National Geographic with their ongoing exhibit of the Terra Cotta Warriors at their museum in Washington, D.C., I thought to myself: “Really? Me? But I work on Islam in late imperial China! I’m one of those scholars who mistakenly types Qing anytime I write about the Qin simply out of finger muscle memory! What could I possibly know about China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang?”

China Books To Check Out

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

If your New Year’s resolution is to read more, or if cold winter weather has chased you inside, pour yourself a hot drink, settle into a comfortable chair, and enjoy one (or more) of these books:

The Dalai Lama’S Visit To D.C.: A Short Interview With A. Tom Grunfeld, Jeffrey Wasserstrom

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The lead-up to the Dalia Lama’s meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House last week received a great deal of attention from the press, and there was also a considerable amount of after the fact assessment of the event. In order to place what happened into a broad historical perspective, I put a few questions to A. Tom Grunfeld, who is a past contributor to “China Beat” and the author ofThe Making of Modern Tibet. Here are the results of our interview via e-mail, and if you live in New York and want to hear him talk about …

Critical Masses, Commerce, And Shifting State-Society Relations In China, Ying Zhu

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This essay is based on the script of a talk Ying Zhu gave at Google’s New York offices on February 12, 2010. Sections in bold were not part of the original talk, but have been added by the authors to tease out some of the issues that were left without further elaboration due to time constraints.

Wang Hui, Plagiarism, And The Great Bourgeois Academic Cultural Revolution, Susan D. Blum

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Another revolution is afoot in China, and it might even be considered cultural. But this one is about academic culture, as China’s slow-moving iceberg floats up against the glacial mass of “international” (read: Western) principles. The fallout is fascinating for observers, though in some cases tragic for the participants.

World Cup, World Expo, And “Third World” Links

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

This is shaping up to be a big year for cities of the Global South (or what in the past was more often called the “Third World”) to serve as first-time hosts for mega-events, whether of the top-tier variety (defined here as those, like the Olympics, that involve or at least could involve more than a hundred countries) or of the second-tier type (those like, say, the Pan-American Games, that draw in nations belonging to just one region or having something else specific in common). Starting with a pair of second-tier but still major sporting events, October will find New …

Where To Begin: New Perspectives On Chinese Labor, Mark W. Frazier

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Studies of labor in China have taken an exciting turn in recent years with the publication of numerous rich and revealing portraits of workers, their jobs, and their place in Chinese politics and in the global economy. As thousands of migrant workers employed in auto parts suppliers for Toyota and Honda went on strike in May and June of 2010, some headlines heralded a political coming of age for China’s migrant workers. While it’s too early to assess the impact of these strikes, it is clear that migrant workers have gained a level of organizational sophistication and political awareness to …

One Day, Two Birthdays

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Most of the people in Philadelphia this holiday weekend have come for the Fourth of July festivities, such as readings of the Declaration of Independence and tours of Independence Hall. This year, however, a special event was part of the city’s eleven-day “Welcome America!” celebration: on Saturday, July 3, a street fair in Philadelphia’s Chinatown marked not only the 234th birthday of the United States, but also the 140th birthday of the Chinatown neighborhood itself (the district’s founding is dated to the establishment of a laundry at 9th and Race Streets in 1870). The afternoon was filled with musical performances, …

A Transcendent Moment In The Land Of Haibao

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I’m finally in Shanghai, where the Gumby-like Haibao is amazingly even more omnipresent than the last time I was through (and then he seemed to be everywhere). I’ve come to check out the Expo, see some new sites, catch up with some old friends, do a bit of traveling, and, as I noted in an earlier post, take part in a dialog on World’s Fairs past and present with Nick Land (that took place a few days ago) and host a weekly series of “Cosmopolitan Conversations” with assorted writers at the Glamour Bar at M on the Bund (those are …

Over Exposure, Lisa Movius, Shakhar Rahav

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“The Expo story that couldn’t be printed.” That’s what editors at Shanghai’s City Weekend magazine found they had on their hands several weeks ago, when Chinese censors deemed the story below “too negative” to run. A revised version was subsequently submitted, approved by the censors, and printed in the January 20, 2010 issue. City Weekend decided not to post the original story on its website as planned, as they were told it was inadvisable due to an official caution against publishing media reports critical of the Expo. Here, we are pleased to share with China Beat readers the full, uncensored …

China Learns From The Soviet Union: An Interview With Thomas P. Bernstein

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Thomas Bernstein, professor emeritus of Government at Columbia University, has recently edited a new book with Hua-yu Li, China Learns from the Soviet Union, 1949-present (Lexington Books, 2010). Below, an interview we conducted with Professor Bernstein via e-mail, exploring the volume’s scope and how it came into being.

Yo! Aas Is Coming To The City Of Brotherly Love, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I’d very much like to be in China this month, as several cities are hosting big literary events that feature many authors I’ve followed for the past several years, and whose names are probably familiar to regular China Beat readers. In Beijing, the Bookworm International Literary Festival is welcoming Graham Earnshaw (The Great Walk of China, March 6), Jonathan Tel (The Beijing of Possibilities, March 8; two excerpts are here and here), and Jeremy Goldkorn (Danwei, March 18). The Shanghai International Literary Festival is also boasting a program chock-full of talks I’d love to hear, such as Hyejin Kim on …

An Interview With Richard Mcgregor, Author Of The Party, Maura Elizabeth Cunningham

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Richard McGregor is the former Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times and author of the newly released The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers. I recently conducted the interview below with McGregor via e-mail; you can read excerpts from the book here and here and also find a “Why I Write” profile of McGregor at the Urbanatomy site.

Special Report: Thirty Years Of The One-Child Policy

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Scott Tong of Marketplace is concluding his three years as the program’s Shanghai bureau chief by taking an in-depth look at the One-Child Policy as it approaches its 30-year anniversary.

Confessions Of A Lifelong China Watcher, Angilee Shah

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Looking back on China’s dramatic recent history, from the devastation of the Great Leap Forward to today’s exuberant “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” is a fascinating exercise. China Watcher offers the rare opportunity to learn this history as author Richard Baum did — from the front row.

Notes On A Conversation: Ian Johnson And Angilee Shah, Miri Kim

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Earlier this week, we held the final event of this year’s “China Lecture Series” at UC Irvine, featuring a dialogue between Ian Johnson and Angilee Shah. Johnson, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, is author of Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China and A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West. Shah is a freelance writer and blogger; her work has appeared at the Far Eastern Economic Review, Global Voices Online, Zócalo Public Square, and The China Beat. Below, a summary of the conversation between Johnson and Shah.

Looking At China From Across The Pacific And Across The Himalayas, Jeffrey Wasserstrom

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on Japan?”