Art and Design Commons^™

Acknowledgements, Carol Bier

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Nataley Nagy and Frances Dorsey deserve our very special thanks for the organization of such a splendid symposium, which indeed exceeded our expectations and goals. Thanks are also due to the dedicated staff of the Textile Museum of Canada, of which Nataley is Director, and to the staff at Harbourfront Centre, and its Director, Melanie Egan. We also thank Debbie Adams of Adams + Associates Design Consultants, Inc., who served as artistic director for the Symposium; her designs, logo and artwork, have served us as well for the Proceedings.

Ann Svenson Perlman stepped in to take on the role of …

Introduction, Frances Dorsey, Nataley Nagy

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Textile Society of America's 10th Biennial Symposium took place in Toronto, October 11- 14, 2006. The Textile Museum of Canada and Harbourfront Centre co-sponsored the event. A springboard for discussions across disciplines, the symposium offered in-depth explorations of specific topics related to textiles. The Program, which serves as the Table of Contents, includes presentations about textiles and trade, education, ritual practices, cultural transitions, cultural and gender issues, and contemporary art practices, offering an enticing and savoury array of narratives and conversations about textiles. The organized sessions, panels, and plenary programs are designed to raise questions that encourage our talking …

Notes On Editing, Carol Bier, Ann Svenson Perlman

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Sixty-six papers and more than ninety bios and abstracts are included in this publication of the Proceedings of TSA's 10th Biennial Symposium in Toronto. The Proceedings reflect in text and image the substance and the intellectual vibrancy that characterized the Textile Society of America's 10th Biennial Symposium in Toronto. The contents are published substantively as submitted. Our editorial efforts comprised formatting of more than 500 images and preparing each paper to a standard visual style of presentation.

We have endeavored to bring all papers into a consistent visual format, suitable for either screenviewing or hard-copy print-out. Since the symposium was …

About The Authors

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

About the Authors

A-Z

Nettie Adams

Monisha Ahmed

...

Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada

Stephen Wagner

Here… Is The Place Where You Are, Leah Decter

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In this paper I will be discussing my use of material and process as conceptual elements for exploration in my practice, and the ways that narrative intersects with my work. I will be focusing on the first four works in ‘here’, my ongoing body of sculpture, installation and video works. These works examine human relationships with place through a lens of the contemporary and historical.

I am not exclusively a textile artist although I have used textiles periodically throughout my practice and extensively in the last several years. In my practice I draw on the social, personal and formal connotations …

Historical Memory And Empathy In Studio Art Classroom, Karen Hampton

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

During the fall of 2002, I was a guest instructor at California College of Art and Craft in Oakland, California, and was asked to create a course inspired by my artwork and research. The course I created was titled, “Slavery, Internment and Transcendence,” subtitled "Artists of Color Who Use Historical Memory." The course involved the study of contemporary artists, their artwork and the historical context in which the artwork was inspired and fashioned

Students were taken inside the artist's world, learning to analyze artwork from the perspective of historical memory. By using "sense of place" curriculum, which included an understanding …

La Mode À L’Écossaise: Textile Of Diplomacy, Seta K. Wehbé

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The fashion style called La Mode à l’Écossaise flourished during the early years of the French Second Empire (1852-1870). There is no equivalent English term for it except maybe “tartanmania.” In the early 1850s Queen Victoria’s fondness for wool tartans had already popularized this textile as clothing for women and children in England. Tartans came to France as a full-fledged fashion style after Empress Eugénie wore a tartan gown for the trip to England. The six-day State Visit of the French Imperial couple started on April 16th, 1855, a very foggy Sunday, when Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie set sail …

Swept Under The Carpet: Subtle Tales From The Back Room, Michele Hardy

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

According to Ruth Phillips, we are poised to enter the second museum age. For many years now museums has been the object of serious criticism. First Nations have critiqued museums’ authority to represent and possess culturally significant objects. There has also been a shift away from object-based research—undermining the very foundation of museums. They have been forced to re-evaluate who they are, whom they are for, and what to do with all that stuff in the storerooms. Since the mid-1980’s there has been growing responsiveness to indigenous peoples concerns, efforts to share authority, and a re-envisioning of museums as places …

Weaving Social Change: Berea College Fireside Industries And Reform In Appalachia, Sarah Stopenhagen Broomfield

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Appalachian subculture of America is well known for its tradition of handcrafts, and Berea College, Berea, Kentucky, played a seminal role in promoting that tradition throughout its 150-year history. This study looks at the first five decades of Berea College’s renowned handweaving program, the beginning of what is known today as the Student Crafts program. It explores the connection between Berea alumnae and the settlement school movement that promoted social change in the Appalachian region, specifically the contribution of Berea College’s Appalachian Crafts Revival to reform in Appalachia.

The historical record is full of references to Berea College students …

The History And The Present Of A Traditional Textile Of Okinawa, Japan A Narrative Of The People In Miyako Island And Miyako-Jofu Textile, Yuka Matsumoto

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Preface

Miyako Island, located in the Sakishima Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, is known for the production of the Miyako-jofu textile. Miyako-jofu is a hand-woven ikat textile, which is dyed with indigo and woven with dye-resistant yarns of hand-spun ramie. (fig.1) “Jofu” means a ramie textile. In this paper, the dye-resistant process in which designs are reserved in warp or weft yarns by tying off small bundles is called “ikat.”

This study examines what the meaning and the role Miyako-jofu have for the people in Miyako Island and examines the relations between the people and the textile. …

Sashiko Workshop: Experiential Geometry, Lucy Arai

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The objective for this workshop is to experientially understand the connection between textile and math by drafting and stitching simple underlying grids from which all sashiko patterns are derived. This demonstrates the intrinsic connection between textiles and math.

This hands-on presentation taught the essentials of sashiko pattern drafting and stitching to facilitate an experiential understanding of geometry and subdivision of the stitched plane. Each participant received a threaded needle and a fabric square prepared with a grid, the underlying structure for all traditional sashiko patterns. I guided the participants through the process of sewing and drawing stitches through the grid …

The Question Of Symmetry In Andean Textiles, Mary Frame

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Considering the various mathematical ideas we’ve been exploring briefly, how might these differ in textiles from ancient Peru?

In the ancient textiles that I study, Andean people seem to have made conscious use of the math embedded in textile processes for generating several kinds of graphic codes. You may have heard about a device called the khipu: it is a bunch of colored and knotted cords that looks like a string mop, but it is really an ancient record-keeping device. The knots stand for numbers in the base 10 system. Long knots were used for numbers from 2 to …

Confessions Of A Red Thread Bandit Queen: Ten Years Of Fieldwork With Narrative Embroidery, Skye Morrison

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

I confess to living a life full of unexpected experiences trying to remove the bark from the tree of commercialism and finding the ever-fruitful world of contemporary textiles made by traditional artisans. This presentation is a series of confessions brought to light through fieldwork, teaching and working in India and Canada / there and here / two worlds made into one. We begin with the six images connected to confessions or thoughts to live by:

Always dream that something is possible. I confess that I can be very stubborn when it comes to realizing these dreams. When I first …

Mathematical Approaches In Quilt Design, Gerda De Vries

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Mathematics often is thought of as the study of numbers and geometry. But mathematics is so much more. It also includes the study of patterns, enumeration, classification, problem solving, and logical reasoning. More loosely, mathematics is not just a collection of facts, but also an action: a way of doing, or a systematic way of thinking.

In this paper, quilt making will be discussed in the context of the latter view of mathematics. In particular, three quilts made with a structured approach to design will be discussed: Bubb’Illusion II, Wild Flowers, and Cyclic Permutations. Bubb’Illusion II represents early work of …

Nationalism: Pubic Voices, Private Lives, Jerry Bleem

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

For millennia fabric banners have served as indicators of political affiliation and national allegiance. Flags are steeped in the foundational mythology of a country, region, or group. Flags sum up moments of glory (while ignoring ignominious history). Flags foster a pride in identity that can unite people. Flags are the stuff of swelled chests and Independence Day parades.

But countries are composed of individuals who have private histories, relationships, hopes and dreams. Some people (or their ancestors) know firsthand their country’s failure to offer equality and justice to all its citizens. Most people use this national symbol to shade patriotism …

Text & Textiles: New Writings From Spam Tales, Janis Jefferies

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Collaborations

In many essays and texts on the subject of art and science, the questions of collaboration and the points of discontinuity in disciplinary practice habitually surface. For example, C.P. Snow’s commentary on the ‘two cultures’ (as popularized in the Rede lectures in Cambridge in 1959) is frequently cited as a challenge to establishing a meeting place for artists and scientists where stereotypical expectations might be broken down. More weight, however, can be credited to Einstein’s acts of expansive thought, and the potential of what is yet to may come into existence through the open-ended processes of investigation, experimentation, and …

Nature Fancywork: Nineteenth Century Women Tell Stories About The Natural World, Andrea Kolasinski Marcinkus

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Idealized nature entered the homes of middle and upper class Americans in the mid nineteenth century in opposition to the harsh realities of growing industrialization, and as a celebration of humanity’s control over nature as both a recreation and commodity. This “man made nature” is evident in other ways during the same period: domestic architecture, with its bay windows extending into a cultured garden and yard; the growing popularity of pet keeping; and the science-mania that caused men and women alike to crowd into theaters to hear natural scientists espouse theories of glaciation or coral reef growth. This large-scale cultural …

Peacocks In The Sands Of Palm Beach: The Vogue Of Men’S Beach Robes, Diane Maglio

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Personally, if two years ago anyone had told me that regular two-fisted he-men would loll around on the beach in one of those “Charvet” linen robes with big wall-paper like figures two feet in diameter adorning them I would have said, ‘Crazy.’ But they are doing it [in Palm Beach]”

By 1920, the east coast of Florida was becoming an American Riviera. Journalists followed the habits and styles of socialites, celebrities, and millionaires in this “jewel of all resorts.” Palm Beach in winter was not only ideal for luxury pastimes of international society but equally important, an opportunity for men …

Weaving Generations Together: Evolving Creativity In The Maya Of Chiapas - Some Next Steps, Patricia Marks Greenfield

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Weaving Generations Together: Evolving Creativity in the Maya of Chiapas (2004) examines the impact of the economic transition from subsistence and agriculture to money and commerce on the transmission of weaving know-how, textile design, pattern representation, and the creative process of Zinacantec Maya weavers, following a large group of families in Chiapas, Mexico over a period of two decades. With the development of commerce, a relaxation of traditional "textile rules" and increasing innovation took place. Part of this process involved a shift in the definition of creativity from a community concept - in which the goal of clothing design was …

An Ethnographic Interpretation Of The Smoke Rising And Smoke Descending Ceremonial Attire Of The Sa'dan Malimbong Toraja, Maria Christou

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The modern Toraja ceremonial attire worn for the smoke rising and the smoke descending rituals are woven in the Sa'dan Malimbong villages on back strap looms with a continuous warp using both continuous and discontinuous two-faced supplementary weft decorative elements (Christou, 1997; 2005). The smoke rising, or Rambu-Tuka', and smoke descending, or Rambu- Solo', ceremonies are a body of rituals associated with the traditional Toraja religion, or Aluk Todolo; therefore, they form the belief structure of pre-Islamic and Christian Tana Toraja (Mattulada, 1978, p. 135). The style and design elements associated with the traditional religion persist despite changes in materials …

Sustainability Of Handwoven Carpets In Turkey: Problems And Solution Proposals In Relation To Standards And Market Issues, Zeynep Erdoğan, Özlen Özgen

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to analyse sustainability of hand-woven carpets in Turkey connection with problems and solution proposals in relation to standards and market issues.

The interaction between changing social conditions and technological improvements, due to the arrival of the industrial revolution in Turkey, has influenced the production of hand-woven carpets. The option of purchasing machine-woven carpets in the domestic market has recently increased makedly. These carpets have various colours and designs, and they are cheap. Still, the interest of consumers in hand-woven carpets does continue to some extent. Collectors and investors also have a sustained interest …

Wandering Minstrels – The Tale Of The Phad, Vandana Bhandari

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Decorative cloth has been used in India to portray folk epics as a means of entertainment and as a substitute for theater and other types of performing arts. I quote “The transmission media of the folk epics are large paintings, instrumental music, dances, songs, riddles, jokes, costumes and other equipments.”

“The tradition of narrating legends with the visual aid of painted panels is found in early literature - in Bhagavatisutra (third century), Visakhadatta’s Mudraraksasa (fourth century), Bana’s Harshcharitra (seventh century), and Vaddaradhane (10th century). Narrators in the Indian States of Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra use painted paper scrolls and those …

Weaving Messages Today: Three Decades Of Belts In Taquile Island, Peru (1976-2006), Elayne Zorn

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In studying the past, archaeologists examine change and continuity over time, but physical processes that affect the preservation of material remains make fine sequencing, at the level of decades, difficult or impossible. Cultural anthropologists and others who study present-day material culture frequently conduct short-term fieldwork, which makes it difficult or impossible to reliably study transformations over time. One solution to this problem is long-term ethnographic fieldwork, combining synchronic and diachronic data collection, to study processes of change and continuity in the production of individual weavers and extended families over generations, in communities and regions.

This paper is a preliminary analysis …

Table Of Contents

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

TEXTILE NARRATIVES + CONVERSATIONS

Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario, October 11-14, 2006

Wade Davis, Keynote Address (bio only)

Mapping New Territories: Memory, Materiality and Process

Textile/Trade

Museums and Language

Culture and Context: Innovations in Education

Women and Cloth

Objects of Memory

Artistic Production

Cultural Transitions

Textile Narratives in Book Form

...

Cultural Evolutions in Central America

Symbolic Embellishment Of Ritual Textiles Used In Native American Burial Mounds, Harriet J. Taylor, Stephen A. Taylor

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Honouring the dead is a universal principle that has been evidenced since the dawn of time. Although burial of the dead has not been experienced universally, ritual burial practices have been widespread throughout millennia and it is through examination of burial sites that insight is gained into the manner in which tribute was paid to the dead. When humans became self-aware, understanding that there was a transition between life and the known world, to death and the unknown, those cultures that practiced burial rituals ensured that the dead were well equipped for what may lay ahead.

This paper discusses textile …

Textiles From The Canadian Front, J. Penney Burton

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The craft of storytelling has all but disappeared from the Western cultural context, and there remain few peoples for whom oral traditions are still a prominent part of their everyday lives. Fiber artists and their work are frequently discussed by craft historians, critics, curators and connoisseurs, but aside from infrequent interviews in monographs and craft journals, their own voices are rarely heard. This is being somewhat addressed with the practice of conducting oral history interviews with leaders in the craft and textile field in the US, through the Smithsonian Institute, with the Nanette L. Laitman Project for Craft and the …

Tracing The Temporary Thread: Decorative And Functional Devoré Textiles Of The Early Twentieth Century, Andie Robertson

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The temporary or supplementary thread has been employed as a supportive structure in the manufacture of utilitarian and decorative woven textiles for over a hundred years. First developed by wool cleaners and finishers during the mid 19th century, the technique has been repeatedly employed to aid innovative yarn and fabric development by some of the textile industry’s leading engineers. The devoré technique, also known as burn out, developed from this temporary thread process during the late 1880s. The popularity of devoré with textiles engineers reached its peak in the 1920s when a period of high decoration coincided with innovation in …

Copyright And Disclaimer

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Copyright and Disclaimer

Proceedings of the 10th Biennial Symposium of the Textile Society of America, Inc.

© 2007, Textile Society of America, Inc.

ISBN 0-9645106-6-9

Copyright of individual papers remains with each author.

All rights reserved. Published 2007. Printed in the United States of America.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, except brief excerpts for the purpose

of review, without written permission from the Textile Society of America. Students and

researchers wishing to cite the work of specific authors are encouraged to communicate directly

with those individuals as many of these papers represent work in …

When This You See Remember Me: Sampler Making As A Material Practice Of Identity And Selfhood, Mary Lou Trinkwon

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

I would like to acknowledge the extensive research done by Textile historians, curators and collectors. I owe a huge debt to their research and all the documentation that is available. It is my hope that I can build on this strong body of knowledge and offer some new thoughts to this historic, vibrant and diverse practice.

I want to share with you a short survey of the terrain I have been cultivating on the topic of needlework and sampler making. I want to talk about how I use samplers as a pedagogical tool and as an assigned project in my …

Colorful Messages: The Revival Of Natural Dyes In Traditional Cuzco Textiles, Andrea M. Heckman

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Many weavers living near Cuzco, Peru are reviving the use of natural dyes in their traditional textiles. Since the introduction of chemical dyes in the late 19th century, the knowledge and practice of natural dyeing has declined dramatically for numerous reasons, including convenience, color preference, and environmental problems that have reduced the availability of natural dyestuffs. However, in the long heritage of Andean textiles, this epoch of chemical dyes is relatively short.

I began studying Andean textiles in the Cuzco region over twenty-five years ago. In 1979, I was a weaver/fiber artist when I visited Peru for the first time. …