Art and Design Commons^™

Chitenje: The Production And Use Of Printed Cotton Cloth In Malawi, Sarah Worden

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

A number of recent exhibitions and publications have discussed the pan-African production and use of factory print cotton cloth, for example, ‘Social Fabric. African Textiles Today’ at the British Museum (14 February -21 April 2013). However, there has been no substantive published research on the subject of the production and use of this cloth in Malawi. Historically cotton has been an important crop in Malawi, whilst imported cotton cloth a hugely significant trade commodity. The paper will contextualise the current trend in factory made cloth (chitenje pl. zitenje) within the longer run history of cotton in the country and will …

Virtually Crafting Communities: An Exploration Of Fiber And Textile Crafting Online Communities, Theresa M. Winge, Marybeth C. Stalp

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Ravelry.com was founded in 2007 and as of March 2013 it had more than three million members for its social networking website. The Ravelry.com motto is: Ravelry is “a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and pattern information, and communicate with others for ideas and inspiration” (Forbes, Ravelry.com/about, Aug 22, 2013). Members share images of their handcrafts and discuss their recent projects. The site serves as more than a social media platform for handcrafters; however, it also provides members with a means of commerce, such as selling yarns and patterns. This …

Changes In The Way Of Traditional Cloth Makings And The Weavers’ Contribution In The Ryukyu Islands, Toshiyuki Sano, Yuka Matsumoto

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Japan’s western-most prefecture, Okinawa-ken can be called a textile lover’s “paradise” because twelve of fourteen government-designated traditional crafts are in the area of cloth and textiles. However, as needs of Kimono have continuously declined, as spinners are decreasing their numbers due to aging, associations of traditional cloth weavers in the Ryukyus have been facing difficulties to sustain their activities. This time the difficulties are more multifaceted than the ones when the fine cloth they made was used as tax in kind. We want to understand current status of individual and groups’ activities of making traditional cloth by visiting communities of …

Beyond Wool: New York’S Diverse Fibershed For Textiles And Clothing, Helen Trejo, Tasha Lewis, Michael Thonney

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Sustainable fashion expert Rebecca Burgess introduced the notion “fibershed” in 2011 as an allusion to “watershed,” which refers to bodies of water that pass through several geographic regions. “Fibershed” includes not only fibers like wool, but also mills and fiber studios within a particular region. Little is known about the diversity of fiber resources available in New York’s rural communities. Assessing New York’s fibershed can be beneficial to textile/ apparel production within the state. Resources within the fibershed can support economic growth in New York’s rural regions through both agro-tourism and linkages with New York City’s fashion industry. To assess …

Bringing Fiber To Art And Art To Fiber, Jo Stealey

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Contemporary basketry has evolved over the last 60 years to be integrated into the art world at large. The panel will address what is new and innovative in this movement, and ask how is the work of this generation influenced by the previous generation of basketmakers? This panelists will illustrate how the movement continues to be redefined due to the influences of Joanne Segal Brandford and Lillian Elliott by looking at innovative artists who have contributed fresh patterns, channels and momentum to this innovative medium. Furthermore, the panel will examine how this confluence influences current emerging artists.

Areas of discussion …

Embroidery As Inscription In The Life Of A Calabrian Immigrant Woman, Joan L. Saverino

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper explores the intersection of needlework, personal narrative, gender and artistic creativity in one immigrant woman’s extraordinary life in two out of the way places (Calabria and Appalachia) over the course of nearly a century. Anna Guarascio Peluso excelled in embroidered whitewear, the mark of a cultured woman in nineteenth century Calabria. As an immigrant to West Virginia, the art in its traditional form was incompatible with the new culture and life Anna entered. At the end of Anna’s life, narrative and needlework merged to produce one last project. A revival of the embroidery served as a vehicle for …

George Washington Carver: Textile Artist, Eulanda A. Sanders, Chanmi Hwang

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Born a slave, George Washington Carver (1864-1943) is one of the most historically prominent African American scientists. Carver was a pioneer as an agriculturalist and botanist by introducing methods of soil conservation for farmers, inventing hundreds of by-products from peanuts, pecans, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, and practicing “zero waste” sustainability. Scholars have recognized Carver’s talent as a painter and his ability to develop paints and dyes from various natural sources; however, there is very little scholarship documenting his work as a textile artist. Holdings at the G.W. Carver National Monument and Tuskegee Institute National Historic indicate that Carver was proficient …

Deliberate Entanglements: The Impact Of A Visionary Exhibition, Emily Zaiden

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The medium and metaphors of fiber have a history imbued with gender-based associations, predominantly tied to femininity. Although men have historically participated in the creation of textiles throughout the course of time, the role of women often overshadows them in proliferation and ubiquity of activity. In the 1960s, fiber as an expressive material became intertwined with and politicized by the feminist movement and fiber was frequently employed by artists to address socio-cultural hierarchies. The Men’s Movement also emerged in that era, having its own potential impact on the field of fiber. The layers of historic and cultural hegemony that have …

Rethinking Material Culture: Ugandan Bark Cloth, Lesli Robertson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

A textile is more than its physical nature; it has the ability to embody history, culture, and through its use, meaning. One of the most unique examples of this comes from the bark of the mutuba tree from western Uganda. This bark cloth originated centuries ago through the process of stripping an inner layer of bark from the tree and pounding it by hand into a supple cloth, tripling its size and developing a signature rust color. The tree is able to re-grow its bark for another harvest in one year, yielding 30-40 cloths during its lifespan. The making of …

New Textiles In A New World: 18th Century Textile Samples From The Viceregal Americas., Elena Phipps

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The age of global exchange began in the 16th century with the sea trade established by the Spanish and Portuguese as they navigated east and west. The Americas, with their wealth of natural resources that included silver, textile dyes and fibers, were both a supplier as well as a recipient of the goods carried along the trade routes. Archival records, ship manifests and other documents, as well as paintings from the period record the vital role that trade textiles played in this exchange, but few actual extant fabrics have been preserved.

Some 34 sets of textile samples sent with official …

Changing Of Kudzu Textiles In The Japanese Culture, Tatsuhiko Murai, Ryoko Murai

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Kudzu is one of archaic textiles in human experiences. In Japan, kudzu has been used not only daily products and clothing, but also court costume, samurai costume, wall paper, crafts and kimonos. A local community in Shizuoka has dealt with kudzu for a long time ago and I am one of them who succeeded to produce kudzu products. In this presentation, I will explain how the local community has preserved tradition and techniques of producing kudzu products. In addition, I will present how my family business of producing kudzu products has played a role in the local community in the …

Navajo (Diné) Weavers And Globalization: Critiquing The Silences, Kathy A. M'Closkey

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Native Americans, along with the scenery, are primary attractions in New Mexico and Arizona, and tourism brings billions into the region annually. Since the Indian arts and crafts ‘boom’ in the 1970s, unemployment has increased dramatically on reservations where artisanal production provides essential income. Isleta carver Andy Abeita acknowledges that the world renowned recognition of southwest arts and crafts does not reflect what goes on within impoverished makers’ homes. Currently 80% of the 1.5 billion dollar sales annually of “Indian” products is fabricated and imported into the US. ‘Knock-offs’ flood the shelves of hundreds of retailers, ‘trading posts,’ casino gift …

Chronology, Mythology, Invention: John Bevan Ford’S Maori Cloak Images, Suzanne P. Macaulay

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Symposium’s theme linking past actions to future creations implies a linear and sequential correspondence between them - one precedes the other yet offers possibilities to be realized at some future point in time. A different model for time sequencing where past, present and future are conceptually more integrated is the New Zealand Maori view of ancestral presence manifest in the past, but also present in the future. To paraphrase a Maori proverb, “the ancestors stand behind a person, but also stand ahead.” Thus, within this non-European concept of time, the ancestors are simultaneously regarded as both progenitors and future …

Painted Clouds: Uzbek Ikats As A Case Study For Ethnic Textiles Surviving And Thriving Culturally And Economically In The 21st Century, Shannon Ludington

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

We are in a place of flux in the textile world, finding our way between shifting philosophies and new technologies. Uzbek warp ikats, or Abr is a traditional textile succeeding in its own culture and becoming a viable cultural import. Abr has a complex and ancient history, and it is important that we learn from it, for the wisdom it can give us in our own textile traditions and for its own beauty. This paper will discuss the changing cultural purpose, production methods and appearance of Uzbek ikats over time, as well as using historic models to question our modern, …

A New Unit For Study And Research The Textile Museum And The George Washington University In Washington, D.C, Sumru Belger Krody

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

France, so renowned for its fashion, has only recently begun to consider it as a subject of theoretical study; and French historiographical projects, when they dealt with fashion, were primarily concerned with the history of dress and the work of the designers, but hardly took the textile fabrics into account. The stuff of which fashion is made, its particular materiality, its history and its impact on the history of dress and fashion were too often overlooked.

In 2012, the President of the University Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) decided to start a program for the study of dress, textiles and fashion at …

More Than A Footnote Or Bibliographic Entry: Mary Lois Kissell As An Innovator Of Textile Study, Ira Jacknis, Erin L. Hasinoff

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Mary Lois Kissell was a pioneer in the comparative cultural study of textiles and basketry, an art educator, a museum anthropologist, and an intrepid fieldworker. When she died in 1944, no obituary was written about her, and no single study has focused on her contributions to textile scholarship. We have not come to know her through a single collection of personal papers; for as far as we can tell, nothing of the kind was ever deposited in a repository. The scattered correspondence that we have amassed by and about Kissell comes from various museum, library, historic society, and university archives …

Who Were Joanne Segal Brandford And Lillian Elliott? The Brandford/Elliott Award, Catherine K. Hunter

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Joanne Segal Brandford and Lillian Elliott were key innovators in fiber art and basketry for 30 years. They were colleagues along with Ed Rossbach in the Design Department of the University of California, Berkeley, in the late ‘60s, when the contemporary basket movement began. Brandford’s foundation was in textile history and Elliott had a broad background in art. Drawing on different backgrounds and philosophies, they represented and encouraged creativity and experimentation in fiber art. Subsequently, Brandford and Elliott influenced several generations of students, curators, collectors and artists. Following their deaths in 1994, the Brandford/ Elliott Award for Excellence in Fiber …

Traditions, Tourists, Trends, Tracy P. Hudson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In many areas of the world, traditional textile cultures are being ‘kept alive’ or revived through the marketing of products for export and tourism. In some cases, marketability seems to be synonymous with the idea of a living textile tradition, as if a tradition cannot survive without participating in the global marketplace. This raises the question of whether marketing innovative, modern designs based on traditional skills is actually preserving traditional heritage. This question will be examined from a variety of angles in this presentation. Transformation and adaptability are certainly signs of being alive, but what of the original contexts and …

Flax Fibre: Innovation And Change In The Early Neolithic; A Technological And Material Perspective, Susanna Harris

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Flax (Linum sp.) was one of the first domestic plants in Neolithic Europe, providing a potential cultivable source of fibres for the first farmers. As the plant provides both oil and fibre, it is a matter of enquiry as to whether the plant was first domesticated for its seeds or stem. Through examining new data collected by the EUROEVOL Project, UCL it is possible to chart the earliest archaeobotanical evidence for flax species in Europe. This provides the basis on which to consider the origin of fibres from the flax plant (linen) as a basis for change and innovation …

Redefining Borders And Identity: Ethnic Dress Of The Lolo/Yi Across The Vietnam-China Border, Serena Lee

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This innovative work explores several intriguing topics new to the field of textiles. Based on multiple field studies conducted from 1999-2013 in the northern Vietnam provinces of Cao Bang and Ha Giang and the southwestern China provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan, this paper is unprecedented in its approach as a comparative study of ethnic dress among kinship groups living along both sides of the Vietnam-China borderline. It is also unique in its focus on the Flowery Lolo, Black Lolo, Red Lolo and White Lolo, small subgroups of ethnic minorities who remain unknown to outsiders. The identities and histories of these …

Pulling Strings: Textiles, Community And Diy In Post-Industrial Hamilton, Jen Anisef, Thea Haines, Tara Bursey

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In the city formerly known as Canada’s Steeltown, the economic recession of the 1990s, suburban sprawl, and the collapse of Hamilton’s steel industry had a devastating impact on the city’s vitality. An exodus of commercial retail and corporate tenancy from the core of the city left many buildings vacant. In the last decade, Hamilton’s creative community has emerged as a major force in downtown renewal, neighbourhood building, and civic engagement and pride. How do histories of manufacturing and processes of deindustrialization permeate local maker culture? How does a city’s history of industrial production intertwine with contemporary local craft and textile-based …

Before There Was Pinterest: Textile Study Rooms In North American “Art” Museums, Sarah Fee

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper examines the roots and future of textile museum collections, display and curation in North America. The first half looks back, to the origins of dedicated textile galleries, museums, museum departments, and curators, and examines why this one medium was systematically singled out for special attention in early museums, who the early audiences were, and the methods for communicating textile collections. The history of textile curation and display at the Royal Ontario Museum, of Toronto, Canada, founded in 1914 as an encyclopedic museum, is examined as a fascinating and classic case study in point. The second part of the …

Traditional Innovation In Oaxacan Indigenous Costumes, Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Many different indigenous communities from Oaxaca have been exposed to trade routes that have been active even before the first Europeans came to the continent. Such exposure has led to a “global market” that has influenced the way in which these communities behave. Textiles (from fibres and dyes to yarns and finished cloths) have been a part of this very active exchange. What could be considered “traditional” now, was in fact very avant-garde at the beginning.

Silk is one of the products that has transformed the appearance of Oaxacan textiles: it is soft, it is easy to dye, it offers …

Innovation And Preservation Of Manichaean Textiles In Southern Costal China In The 17th – 20th Centuries, Gloria Granz Gonick

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

For over five hundred years a group of wool tapestries created in China have been stored in Japan. The tapestries are woven of soft wool, their surfaces hand painted with unusual motifs on backgrounds dyed the soft orange-red hue produced by the safflower plant. Their motifs are identified with the ancient Manichaean religion, considered extinct since the seventeenth century. The motifs and the layout of the tapestries’ design suggests that they functioned as mantles used by religious leaders. The Chinese government outlawed the Manichaean religion and prohibited its trappings, the laws strictly enforced as the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) became firmly …

Challenging Tradition In Religious Textiles: The Mata Ni Pachedi Of India, Donald Clay Johnson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

A community of block printers and dyers in the Indian state of Gujarat has concentrated upon producing religious textiles for nomadic groups. These unique textiles, known as Mata Ni Pachedi, fulfill the need for a religious representation/environment for groups who have no permanent settlement and thus need to construct temporary shrines for their religious ceremonies. The brilliant red, white, and black cloths portray events from the Mother Goddess tradition. Her depiction as the central and by far the largest representation, as well as the Hindu God Ganesh, distinctively identifies these religious cloths. Since the cloths need to be dried in …

Reflecting On Collecting: My Romance With African Textiles, Joanne B. Eicher, Diana Eicher

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

As an academic arriving in Nigeria on a three-year university leave, I became fascinated by a wide variety of handcrafted textiles and began collecting them for personal use. I saw them everywhere as I traveled and found that little documentation seemed available By the end of my stay, the collection had burgeoned. My paper provides an account of the intertwining of collecting and my academic curiosity,resulting in an introductory volume followed by unexpected depth of fieldwork related to a specific and unusual specimen that also led to a bigger project.

Natural Dyes And Aesthetic Search, María Dávila, Eduardo Portillo

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

We´re interested in presenting and transmitting our personal experiences through processes and materials which carry the imprint of peoples and places, which show us the relations between humankind and its environment. Color guides us, the route to follow is discovered through color.

Understanding the geographical and cultural context where the natural dyes come from is our guide and inspiration to interpret the geographical and cultural environment in which the textile work is done.

A vision to enhance a better understanding and appreciation of natural dyes as an element in textiles, its importance as a means to preserve and disseminate cultural …

The Obiko Archive, Jean Cacicedo, Ana Lisa Hedstrom

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This presentation will discuss the origin and development of a digital archive documenting the Art Wear movement in the Bay Area during the 80s and 90s. The co-producers, Jean Cacicedo and Ana Lisa Hedstrom, members of the Board of Directors of The Textile Art Council of the De Young Museum Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco will share visuals from the archive and address the issues in constructing this project.

It was decided that parameters were necessary, and the archive focuses on the designers for OBIKO, a boutique/ gallery founded in the 70’s by Sandra Sakata.

She was a creative …

Interwoven Connections: Examining The History Of Scottish Carpet Design To Inform Future Learning, Teaching And Research, Helena Britt

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

As with much of the textile industry in the United Kingdom, carpet manufacturing in the West of Scotland was once thriving. Powder was ground, paint mixed, design papers painted, yarn dyed, spools set and carpets woven. The history of the carpet manufacturing innovators, Stoddard Templeton, dates back to 1845 when James Templeton, a Scot and then Alfred Francis Stoddard, an American, began to produce carpets from disused Paisley shawl mills. The story is one of growth, expansion, worldwide prominence and unfortunately eventual decline. Stoddard Templeton produced carpets for a highly prestigious array of events and interiors including royal coronations and …

Textiles And Museum Displays: Visible And Invisible Dimensions, Ruth Barnes

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The paper discusses changing attitudes towards textiles and their displays in museum collections. As a curator of textiles who has worked in two major university museums, at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Yale University Art Gallery, over a stretch of more than twenty years, I document a change in attitude to textile history and collections. Much of it is positive, as textiles have moved from a Cinderella role into a position where they are taken seriously both in art and social history.

The two museums mentioned above were recently the subjects of dramatic building projects, and I was …