Art and Design Commons^™

Managing Mapula: Defining Markets For An Embroidery Project In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Brenda Schmahmann

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

My aim in this paper is to explore the kinds of strategies used to market a contemporary needlework project in South Africa – one entitled “Mapula” (which means “mother of rain”). Members of Mapula embroider cushion covers and, more occasionally, tablemats. But the art form that has been especially successful and provided members of the project with the widest scope for innovation is embroidered cloths – works that were first made in 1996.

The Formation of Mapula

While currently operating in a post-apartheid South Africa, Mapula was in fact formed in 1991, three years prior to the first democratic …

The Invention Of Machine Twist: The Nonotuck Silk Company, From Moths To Millions, Marjorie Senechal

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction.

Cocoons and raw silk; thrown silk and dyed silk; spun silk yarns and fabrics; plain woven silks; lutestrings, sarsenets, satins, serges, foulards, tissues for hat and millinery purposes; figured silk piece goods, woven or printed, upholstery silks; crapes, velvets, gauzes; cravats, handkerchiefs, hosiery, knit goods, laces, scarves, ties, veils, all descriptions of cut and made-up silks; ribbons, plan fancy, and velvet; bindings, braids, cords, galloons, ladies' dress trimmings, upholsters', tailors', military and miscellaneous; machines for the manufacture of silk goods: the American silk industry's proud display "had the post of honor at the east end of the Main …

Weaving Traditions Along The “Wool Road” In India, Suzette R. Copley Patterson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction

Although the “Silk Road” is by far the most famous network of trade routes connecting China, Central Asia, and India, there are other significant, ancient trade routes between these regions of which many may not be aware. One such trade route, known informally as the “wool road”, connected the plains of the Punjab in India to Tibet, Central Asia and China. This route, and several others, passed through the Kullu and Kinnaur regions of the northern Indian state known as Himachal Pradesh. The “wool road”, which was really merely a donkey trail, was the traditional main trade route in …

Hand Spinning And Cotton In The Aztec Empire, As Revealed By The Codex Mendoza, Susan M. Strawn

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

At a lecture titled “Growing Up Aztec,” art historian Jill Furst illustrated Aztec childhood with images from the Codex Mendoza, an extraordinary, post- Hispanic pictorial manuscript from central Mexico. The Mendoza specified the lessons, punishments, and even the number of tortillas appropriate for boys and girls during each year of childhood. Interestingly, the Codex Mendoza showed spinning as the only instruction given to Aztec girls between the ages of four and thirteen years. In 1992, the University of California Press published a full color facsimile of the Codex Mendoza with a translation into English and with extensive interpretation in …

The Klotz Throwing Company In Lonaconing: Opening Tut’S Tomb, Rebecca M. Trussell

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

“At last have made a wonderful discovery in valley, a magnificent tomb with seals intact”: Howard Carter described the opening of Tut’s tomb. Carter’s experience is so familiar to me, I need only to change a few words: “Darkness and blank space—but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly . . . strange machines, bobbins, and silk—everywhere the gloss of silk . . . Packed tightly were scores of objects, any one of which would have filled us with excitement.”

One hundred forty miles northwest of Washington, D.C., where Dans Mountain …

Preface, Marjorie Senechal, Pamela Parmal

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Silk Roads, Other Roads, the Eighth Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America, was held September 26-28, 2002 at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Anthropologists, archeologists, artists, art historians, conservators, curators, designers, historians, and other professionals contributed to the rich and varied program featuring silk and other textiles around the world and through time. Topics included archaeology along the silk road; textile artisans and sustainable development; textiles along the spice routes; acculturation; silk in medieval Europe; silk production in mainland Southeast Asia; the American silk industry and, more generally, its textile industry; Andean textiles; silk traditions in Japan; new …

“Dichotomies In Silk: Past And Future”, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The traditions of silk weaving and hand dyeing of silk cloth have been an integral part of the Japanese society and aesthetic, as exists in the Imperial Court of Japan. To this day, the Empress still cultivates the same strain of silkworm koishimaru, dating back to the Nara period (645-794).

Currently, only a fraction of the raw silk materials (reeled silk yarn and cocoons) used to produce Japanese silk textiles are actually produced by Japan. Competition from current foreign imports, textile manufacturers’ indifference to the quality of raw materials, and decreasing usage of kimonos challenge the viability of labor-intensive …

The Impact Of Silk On Ottonian And Salian Manuscripts, Stephen Wagner

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In keeping with the theme of the symposium’s title, “Silk Roads, Other Roads,” the medieval roads that this essay will travel converge in a number of ways. Most importantly, two distinctive art forms came together for a brief period in Germany during the tenth and eleventh centuries, the period of Ottonian and Salian rule. The two products, silk and illuminated manuscripts shared important qualities. Not only were they among the most luxurious objects of the middle ages, but they also assisted bishops and rulers advance their political programs. This phenomenon developed as a result of increased interaction with a major …

Silk Bedcoverings In The Early Chesapeake Region: Interpreting Documentary Evidence, Gloria Seaman Allen

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Eighteenth-century legal documents from the Chesapeake region occasionally refer to silk bed coverings—blankets, rugs, quilts, and counterpanes—yet very few of these bed coverings have survived in museum and private collections. It is important, therefore, to closely analyze documentary evidence, particularly probate inventories, for clues as to the appearance, construction, commonality, and possible origin of these objects that were used in Chesapeake homes and were readily identifiable by men charged with assigning values to the chattels of a decedent.

Probate inventories, taken shortly after death as part of the process of settling an estate, are rich and tantalizing documents that provide …

Re-Inventing Cultural Heritage: Palestinian Traditional Costume And Embroidery Since 1948, Jeni Allenby

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Prior to 1948, when the State of Israel was declared, Arab society in Palestine consisted of three main groups - the townspeople, a small percentage of nomadic or semi-nomadic bedouin tribes, and the villagers or "people of the land" who made up three quarters of the population. Over eight hundred villages were scattered from the coastal plains to the Jordan River. While costume in the urban regions historically reflected the current occupiers of the country (for example, Turkish styles during the Ottoman period, and European fashions under the British Mandate) Palestine's many villages were economically and socially independent, and difficulties …

Ribbons Around The Silk Road—Before Silk (Toward A Pre-History Of Band Weaving), E.J.W. Barber

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The salty sands of the Tarim Basin, along the route of the later "Silk Road", have produced masses of textiles, splendidly preserved with all their colors, from 2000 BC down to the recent past. In 1995 Irene Good and I had the privilege of being invited to study some of the earliest textiles from this region—those preceding the Chinese entry into the area about 110 BC. I was particularly struck by the prevalence of textile bands, the subject I now wish to explore.

The earliest textiles there come from around Loulan, the dry. salty, and desolate northeast corner of the …

Expressions In Silk: Embroidered Miniatures On Historic Textiles From The Armenian Apostolic Churches Of Istanbul, Marlene R. Breu, Ronald T. Marchese

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction

The assessment of Armenian embroidery offered by Kouymjian in his publication The Arts of Armenia is reflected in a collection of textile objects housed in the treasuries of the 33 Armenian Apostolic Churches and the Patriarchate (the official residence of the Patriarch) in Istanbul, Turkey. The textiles, many donated by devout members of the Church community, are still used in celebrations of the Divine Liturgy. The collections contain examples of the brilliant splendor associated with religious celebration, the depth of piety of the lay community, especially women, and a sense of attachment to the historical and cultural traditions of …

Hither Come The Merchants: Textile Trade At The 19th Century Courts Of Lan Na (North Thailand), Chiang Tung (Eastern Shan States), Lan Xang (Western Laos) And Sipsong Pan Na (Xinshuang Banna, South-West China)., Susan Conway

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

"Hither come the merchants' is the beginning of a quote from the 16^th century British explorer Ralph Fitch who listed goods from China traded in Chiang Mai, Lan Na. It is not clear whether he actually travelled to the ancient city, or collected his information from another source. It was not until the 19^th century that Europeans and Americans became familiar with the inland states of Southeast Asia. What they found was a unique culture that had developed from the 12th century. In the 1890s the inland states came under the control of Siam, China, Britain or France. …

Cover And Contents

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Textile Society of America 8th Biennial Symposium

September 26-28, 2002

Contents

Preface

Session 1. Archaeology and the Silk Road

Session 2. Textile Artisans, Global Markets, and Sustainable Development in Africa and Asia

Session 3. Silk, the Middle East and Africa

Session 4. Acculturation

Session 5. Silk in Medieval Europe

Session 6. Individual Papers

Session 7. Common Treads: Unwinding the History of Silk Production in Mainland Southeast Asia

Session 8. New Perspectives on the American Silk Industry: Silk Products and Silk Manufacture in America

Session 9. High Roads/Low Roads, North Roads/South Roads: Regional and Cultural'Personalities' in Ventral and Southern Andean Textiles, …

Textiles As Image, Virginia Davis

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

I am an artist who has a strong interest in color theory and theories of perception and I have the power to weave my own canvas. I want to emphasize the importance for me of the study of textile history, and the privilege of viewing museum collections. Although I began weaving with silk, now 1 literally weave painter's linen canvas similar to the sort that can be purchased from artists' materials suppliers. Formally, the work explores optical aspects of vision and nuances of value contrast. Ikat and weave structure give special effects. Ikat technique, dyeing and painting the yarn before …

Japanese Kosode Fragments Of The Edo Period (1615-1868): A Recent Acquisition By The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York, Joyce Denney

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, recently acquired a remarkable group of over thirty-five Japanese textiles, the majority of which are probably pieces from kosode robes of the Edo period (1615-1868). This paper will serve as a brief introduction to the collection, which will be on view next summer in the Museum's Japanese galleries.

This introduction to the recent acquisition consists of three parts. The first part discusses a few of the pieces from the recently acquired group that have companions in the Nomura collection of the National Museum of Japanese History (Kokuritsu Rekishi Minzoku Hakubutsukan) in Sakura, Chiba, …

A Study Of Fashionable Silk Veiling, Maline, And Tulle From 1904, Joanne Dolan

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

A group of silk net, veiling, tulle, and maline, all sheer draping fabrics produced in unique patterns and colors is the subject of this paper. They form part of a larger collection of materials in a variety of fabrications consisting of raffia, feathers, paper, horsehair, sequins, and chenille. The amassed group is contained in a sample book dated Printemps 1904, and suggests that it may have served as a millinery swatch service book. I intend to focus only on the silk draping materials and examine their fabrication, design, and use in millinery during the first decade of the twentieth …

Wesley Simpson: Designer, Stylist And Entrepreneur, Lynn Felsher

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Over 20 years ago, The Museum at FIT received an anonymous gift of approximately 165 small textile samples and 27 scarves from the company, Wesley Simpson Custom Fabrics, Inc. The textiles dating from the late 1930s through the 1940s were designed for moderately priced women's apparel. Printed on rayon crepe grounds, they were typical of the period, loose painterly florals, paisleys, conversationals, and small geometric, abstract and stripe patterns on light-colored grounds or discharge printed on dark grounds. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Brooklyn Museum of Art also have substantial holdings of Wesley Simpson Custom Fabrics, and an …

Contemporary Embroideries Of Rabar1s Of Kutch: Economic And Cultural Viability, Judy Frater

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Monghiben Rabari is attending an exhibition and sale in Mumbai. Her traditional embroidery has taken her from Vandh, her village of mud huts and camels on the seacoast of Kutch to India's most cosmopolitan urban metropolis. She is thrilled by the glittering bustle, and by the customers' enthusiastic response. She deals directly with them, as a professional artisan. And not only do the customers buy; one woman is so impressed that she wants to learn embroidery. She engages Monghi as a teacher during the afternoon lulls of the exhibition.

Surely, we have succeeded in the transition from tradition to profession. …

The Archaeology Of Early Silk, Irene Good

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Centuries before the initiation of formal silk trade with Han China ca. 200 BC, silk appeared as far west as the Baden-Wurtemberg region of Germany. The use of wild (Antheraea sp.) silks has also been documented for western Asia and the Mediterranean region since early medieval times, but the extent and antiquity of this fiber technology is presently unclear. The domesticated silkworm Bombyx mori is derived from a species native to northern India, Assam and Bengal, known as Bombyx mandarina Moore. It was in China that this moth was domesticated, and the process of de-gumming developed at some point during …

The Hand Of The Maker: The Importance Of Understanding Textiles From The "Inside Out", Beverly Gordon

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This is a position paper of sorts, arguing that the experience of making a textile is an important component of understanding it, and we should be encouraging textile researchers to include hands-on experiments as part of their investigation. Some TSA members will take this idea for granted because they have first-hand experience with textile making, and may find it overly obvious. The point is hardly new, and archeologist Elizabeth Barber made a strong case for the value of textile "reconstruction" in her 1994 book, Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years. Nevertheless, this is not a universally shared assumption, and …

Competing Images: Silk And Rayon In Popular U.S. Publications Of The Nineteen Thirties, Jocelyn Gottschalk

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In 1934, Mr. Paolino Gerli, President of the newly formed International Silk Guild, concluded his address at the Twenty-third Annual Convention of the National Retail Dry Goods Association as follows: "A new deal, a new era. . . Out of a glamorous past, not a Cinderella with a time limit beauty is beckoning to you, but a beautiful Princess, awakened by Prince Charming into a new consciousness of its eternal right to be the Queen of Fabrics." These lofty words, delivered before an audience of American manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers, were a call to arms for the beleaguered American silk …

Siguas 1: A Newly Identified Early Horizon Culture, Department Of Arequipa, Peru, Joerg Haeberli

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

My interest in the valleys of Arequipa began in 1994. A curious set of textiles labeled Nasca was attributed to the "Sihuas" Valley, Nazca region, Peru, south coast." The iconography of these textiles was not Nasca but belonged to unidentified traditions. They most likely came from the Sihuas Valley in the department of Arequipa. In 1997 and 2000 I went to Arequipa to establish if their provenance indeed was the Sihuas Valley and other valleys in the department of Arequipa. This was confirmed in the field for the valleys of Sihuas and Vitor at four heavily looted cemeteries. In addition, …

Irish Viking Age Silks And Their Place In Hiberno-Norse Society, Elizabeth Wincott Heckett

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The context: From the beginning of the ninth century AD people from Scandinavia, many from present-day Norway began to settle in Ireland. They founded the modern Irish cities and towns of Dublin, Waterford, Cork. Limerick and Wexford and developed lively and successful trading settlements that flourished until the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169 AD. We know from the literature that the Irish prized and used silk cloth at that time but at present excavations have not disclosed any remains of silk in what can be identified as specifically vernacular contexts. The situation is different for the Viking Age settlements. In …

Appropriated Threads: The Unpicking And Reweaving Imported Textiles, Jessica Hemmings

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Silk Route has become synonymous with the movement of knowledge that accompanies the trade of objects. Many of the textiles discussed here were not traded along the Silk Route, but all are representative of the associations that are made with this artery of cultural exchange. The examples cited arrive from a range of cultures and geographies: Indonesia and Nigeria, the Southwest United States and New Zealand. From these vastly different regions, using a variety of materials, weavers painstakingly unpicked yams from woven fabrics for use in other weavings.

The term 'raveled yam' refers to threads that have been unpicked …

The Associated American Artists: Textile Art For The Masses, Karen Herbaugh

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The American Textile History Museum acquired its first Associated American Artists fabric in 1996. From a curatorial viewpoint the fabric was intriguing because although it's rare that useful information is printed in the selvage, this fabric was labeled "A SIGNATURE FABRIC "GAY FACADE" © CREATED BY JOHN HULL OF ASSOCIATED AMERICAN ARTISTS." As the Museum expanded its collection of AAA fabrics it was discovered that most of these fabrics also have the date printed on them. The selvage inscriptions and the nature of the designs and fabric names prompted further exploration of the organization.

Organizational History

In 1934 the Associated …

Clothing Styles From A Provincial Inca Outpost, Grace Katterman

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

My recent study of Inca Period clothing has involved textile collections from three south coastal areas of Peru (Figure 1): Pachacamac, a large Inca center and temple complex just south of Lima (Uhle 1903/1991: Ch XXI: 89-96); Rodadero, a storage facility overlooking the Inca center of Tambo Viejo in the Acari Valley (Katterman and Riddell (1992:141-167); and Burial House #2, the western hillside cemetery affiliated with the Inca outpost of Quebrada de La Vaca in the Chala Drainage (Katterman 2003b). From the burial house (Figure 6), Dorothy Menzel and Francis Riddell collected and documented 120 burials plus an additional 140 …

Traces Of War: The Revival Of Silk Weaving In Cambodia, Morimoto Kikuo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This report is the outcome of the research commissioned by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In this research, I visited more than 36 villages in 8 provinces between January and March 1995. Because of the civil war disturbance beginning in 1970, few information relevant to textiles remained in Cambodia. Even maps, which are indispensable for a field survey, were not available at first. My research, therefore, began with asking shopkeepers at the markets in Phnom Penh, "Where did this fabric comes from?" Then, I arrived at remote villages, where I heard weaving activities still continues. When I …

Creative Methods Of Reproduction: Two Japanese Weaving Innovations Developed In Imitation Of Complex Foreign Textiles, Keiko Kobayashi

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

When a certain effect in textiles can be achieved on two different weaving apparatuses, it is common practice to assume the simpler method to be the more primitive and thus antecedent to the more advanced technique. This paper will discuss two unique Japanese weaving methods that testify to the fact that simple techniques do not always predate their more sophisticated counterparts. In these examples, the simpler weaving methods were actually created in imitation of preexisting textiles from other regions that had been woven on more complex looms. The first of these examples is the Japanese method for voided velvet; the …

Jeweled Islamic Textiles - Imperial Symbols, Louise W. Mackie

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Soon after Islam was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the early 7th century, his followers began spreading the faith. Within one century, Islam had been carried across North Africa to Spain and across the Middle East to Central Asia. Great centers of civilization developed in the political capitals, such as Damascus, Baghdad and Cairo, and later in Istanbul and Isfahan, accompanied by elaborate court ceremonies to promulgate their wealth and power. Imperial ceremonials were equivalent to theatrical settings, usually based on strict hierarchies and rigid protocol, in which luxurious textiles were vital symbols.

Four overt textile symbols …