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Mamluk Rugs From Egypt: Jewels Of The Textile Museum's Collection (Exhibition), Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Mamluk rugs are considered by many to be among the most beautiful of any rugs ever created. The brilliant reds, greens, and blues (figs. 1 and 2) are reminiscent of rubies, emeralds and sapphires; whether this was an intentional evocation is not known. But The Textile Museum's holdings of Mamluk rugs, unparalleled in the world, are truly the "jewels" of the collection. Simply by virtue of the fact that they date from the late 15th century, Mamluk rugs comprise one of the most significant groups of classical carpets. Their lustrous wool and wondrous color, as well as their geometric designs …

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 15:1 — Winter 2003, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Lillian Elliott Award Winners -- Sonoran You (2002), Frances Dorsey (1995), Marcie Miller Gross (1996), Kyoung Ae Cho (1997), Tomoko Ishida (1998), Sonya Clark (2000)
President's Letter -- Mary M. Dusenbury
Past Presidents Meeting
Member News: Susan Brandeis, Sonya Clark, Virginia Davis, Patricia Ewer, Elisha P. Renne, Mary A. Littrell, Marsha A. Dickson, Cynthia Schira,
Textile Archeology in Chia
Silk Road Tour
Yangtze Delta
In Memoriam: Cora Ginsburg, Charles Edmund Rossbach
Nominations R. L. Shep Award for Books published in 2002
IQSC Visiting Faculty Fellowships
Conference reviews: Southeast Asian Textiles (Linda McIntosh); Natural Dye Workshop with Ji-Hee Kim (Gwendolyn Hustvedt) …

Carpets Of Andalusia (Exhibition), Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

The fall of Granada in 1492 reestablished Christian dominion in Spain after centuries of Islamic rule. The rapid expansion of Islam from Arabia in the 7th century encompassed the rich cultural legacy of the Late Antique world, forging a unified empire throughout the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean lands and across North Africa to Spain within a short span of several decades. Arab and Berber armies had crossed into Spain in 711, generating at once an effort that lasted for many generations to restore Christian rule. In Islamic times, the Iberian peninsula was called al-Andalus, or Andalusia. Although we have …

Blanket Statements, Issue 75, Winter 2004

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 75, Winter 2004

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 14:3 – Fall 2002, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

TSA Study Tours
TSA Board, TSA News
TSA Member News, Directory Supplement
Textile Programs at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
Collections, Publications News
Conference Reviews
Exhibit Reviews
Calendar – Conferences, Symposia
Calendar - Exhibitions
Calendar – Lectures, Workshops, Tours, Opportunities
Calls for Papers, Fellowships

Blanket Statements, Issue 70, Fall 2002

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 70, Fall 2002

Blanket Statements, Issue 69, Summer 2002

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 69, Summer 2002

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 14:2 – Spring 2002, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

TSA Symposium
Letter from the President
TSA News, From the Listserve
TSA Member News
Collections News
TSA News, Book Reviews
Exhibit Reviews
European Textile Network
Conferences & Symposia
Exhibitions Calendar
Lectures/Workshops
Tours/Courses
Calls for Papers

Blanket Statements, Issue 68, Spring 2002

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 68, Spring 2002

Geometric Patterns And The Interpretation Of Meaning: Two Monuments In Iran, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

The Alhambra has often served in the West as the paradigm for understanding geometric pattern in Islamic art. Constructed in Spain in the 13th century as a highly defended palace, it is a relatively late manifestation of an Islamic fascination with geometric pattern. Numerous earlier Islamic buildings, from Spain to India, exhibit extensive geometric patterning, which substantiate a mathematical interest in the spatial dimension and its manifold potential for meaning. This paper examines two monuments on the Iranian plateau, dating from the 11 th century of our era, in which more than one hundred exterior surface areas have received patterns …

Introduction To Doris Duke's Shangri La By Sharon Littlefield, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

SHANGRI LA, the most intimate of Doris Duke's residences, is the one that today offers the best view into the private domain of a public celebrity. What it reveals about Doris Duke presents a strong contrast to her well-publicized persona as a tobacco heiress, born to wealth, who liked to frolic. Observe the house, spilling down terraces of Ka'alawai toward the sea; contemplate its well-considered vistas and its polished black lava, white marble, and coral limestone surfaces. Admire the architectural features shipped from abroad and installed on site; experience the gardens with their towering trees, sparkling water chutes, and placid …

Blanket Statements, Issue 71, Winter 2003

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 71, Winter 2003

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 14:1 – Winter 2002, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

TSA Symposium
Collections News
From the Listserve
Letter from the President
Textile Art and Design at Southern Illinois University
New Education Programs
Member News, Letter from the President
TSA News: Shep Award Winner
Calls for Papers, Conferences & Symposia
Conference Reviews, Exhibit Reviews
Exhibitions Calendar
Lectures/Workshops
Tours/Courses, Publications
Shep Award Call for Nominations

Review Of Stillman, Arab Dress: A Short History, From The Dawn Of Islam To Modem Times., Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Arab Dress: A Short History, From the Dawn of Islam to Modem Times. By YADIDA KALFON STILLMAN. Edited by NORMAN A. STILLMAN. Themes in Islamic Studies, vol. 2. Leiden: BRILL, 2000. Pp. xxxii + 240, plates, figs.

Billowing folds, exquisite pleats, tightly wound turbans, flowing burqas, short square kerchiefs-the dramatic drapery of Islamic fashion fills the quiet spaces of our daily news coverage; yet the garments illustrated and their significance often pass without verbal notice. Little would Yedida Stillman ever have anticipated the widespread presence of the Islamic vestimentary system in Western media a short three years after her death …

Blanket Statements, Issue 66, Fall 2001

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 66, Fall 2001

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 13:3 – Fall 2001, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Northampton, MA
Member News
University of Minnesota Programs in Apparel
Member News, Letter from the President
TSA News, Info Exchange
Textile Network: Textile Center of Minnesota
Calls for Papers, Grants & Fellowships, Conferences & Symposia
Conference Reviews
Exhibit Reviews, Exhibitions Calendar
Lectures/ Workshops, Tours/Courses, Publication News
Call for Nominations

Blanket Statements, Issue 65, Summer 2001

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 65, Summer 2001

Blanket Statements, Issue 64, Spring 2001

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 64, Spring 2001

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 13:2 – Spring 2001, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Northampton Silk Project
Collections News
Textile Study at University of California – Davis
Letter from the President
TSA News
Shep Award Nominees
Member News
Info Exchange
Textile Network: Friends of Fiber Art
Conference Reviews
Calls for Papers
Conferences & Symposia
Exhibitions Calendar
From the Editor
TSA Symposium 2002
Lectures/Workshops
Tours/Courses
TSA Calendar

Blanket Statements, Issue 67, Winter 2002

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 67, Winter 2002

Symmetry-Breaking In Oriental Carpets: The Case For Beauty, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

emerges from truth. Symmetry-breaking requires an expectation of symmetry. Often, symmetry-breaking is confused with asymmetry. But, rather, asymmetry is simply the absence of symmetry. For symmetry-breaking to exist, a pattern must first be stablished. Symmetry then is expected, but somehow that expectation is not met. There are many ways to effect symmetry-breaking in Oriental carpets. The study of Oriental carpets may lead one to suppose that in art, as in nature, it is in the approximation of symmetry, rather than in its precision, that beauty is to be found and appreciated. What is an Oriental Carpet? No one ever set …

A Calligrapher's Art: Inscribed Cotton Ikat From Yemen, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Yemen at the advent of Islam and in the ensuing centuries is a little known entity in our contemporary world. A thousand years ago when Baghdad was capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasid caliphs, Yemen was a flourishing center of agriculture and trade. By camel caravan north to central Islamic lands and in maritime trade with India to the east and Africa across the straits, Yemen's ports of call along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were emporia for textiles, dyestuffs, and incense.

While today Yemen predominantly imports textiles from abroad, in the early centuries after the …

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 13:1 – Winter 2001, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

American Tapestry Alliance
Collections News
Textile Study at University of Hawaii
Letter from the President
TSA News
Lillian Elliott Award
TSA Symposium Evaluation
TSA Symposium Site Seminars
Conference Reviews
Exhibit Reviews
New Members
TSA Listserve
Calls for Papers
Conferences
Exhibitions Calendar
Publications
Virtual Textiles
Tours/Courses
Lectures/Workshops
Membership Application
TSA Calendar

Blanket Statements, Issue 62, Fall 2000

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 62, Fall 2000

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 12:3 – Fall 2000, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

Learning to Weave in Ghana by Emilia Karr
TSA Symposium 2000 Activities
Textile Study at UMass
Members Honored
Letter from the President
TSA News
Conference Reviews
Exhibition Reviews
New Members
Fellowships
Calls for Papers
Conferences
Exhibitions Calendar
Tours/Courses
Lectures/Workshops
Publications
Virtual Textiles
Membership Application
TSA Calendar

Blanket Statements, Issue 61, Summer 2000

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 61, Summer 2000

Blanket Statements, Issue 60, Spring 2000

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 60, Spring 2000

Textile Society Of America Newsletter 12:1 – Spring 2000, Textile Society Of America

Textile Society of America: Newsletters

TSA Symposium 2000 Activities
Textile Study at Iowa State University
Collections News
Letter from the President
Calls for Papers
Exhibition Reviews
Conferences
Exhibitions
Lectures/Workshops
Tours/Courses; Publications
Membership Application
TSA Calendar

Review Of Islamische Textilkunst Des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Problemne, Edited By Karel Otavsky., Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

Islamische Textilkunst des Mittelalters: Aktuelle Problemne. Edited by KAREL OTAVSKY. Riggisberger Berichte 5. Riggisberg, Switzerland: Abegg-Stiftung, 1997. Pp. 219 + 214 figs.

Focusing on textiles of Egypt and North Africa in the Fatimid period (A.D. 909-1171), this volume presents the edited proceedings of a scholarly conference on medieval Islamic textiles held at the Abegg-Stiftung in Riggisberg, Switzerland, 10-11 November 1995. Eighteen papers (published in English, French, or German) by fourteen authors are organized in three sections that deal with the functions, inscriptions, and weaving techniques, followed by a bibliography of references cited, a list of illustrations, and the authors' …

"Gabba" In Encyclopædia Iranica, Jean-Pierre Digard, Carol Bier

Textile Research Works

GABBA (gava in Kurdish and Lori, Īzadpanāh, s.v.; ḵersak in Baḵtīārī, Digard, pp. 128-31), a hand-woven pile rug of coarse quality and medium size (90 x 150 cm or larger) characterized by an abstract design that relies upon open fields of color and a playfulness with geometry. This kind of rug is common among the tribes of the Zagros (Kurdish, Lori-speaking ethnic groups, Qašqāʾīs). The first known reference to gabba is found in a farmān by Shah Ṭahmāsp (r. 930-84/1524-76) dating to the middle of the 16th century (Opie, 1992, p. 124). Gabbas were said to have originated in …