Selected textile events – please note registration for one of them ends today.

Apologies for the short notice for some of these events. I’m heading off to Indonesia soon and rushing to complete everything before I leave!

The Fashion and Textiles Gallery at the ACM (Asian Civilisations Museum) in Singapore has now reopened. Textiles Masters to the World: The Global Desire for Indian Cloth features a display of stunning textiles and garments that were produced in India and traded to regions in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Japan from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century. Find out more about this exhibition here.

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The Textile Society (UK) is offering awards of up to £5,000 for a textile related project within the museum, archive and conservation sector.

“The Museum, Archive and Conservation Award is designed to support textile related projects within a museum, archive, or conservation studio for an exhibition, publication or conservation project that will help achieve greater awareness and access for the public.

The Textile Society invites applications from all museums, archives and conservation studios with accredited or provisionally accredited status.

Priority will be given to applications from small to medium sized institutions with an annual turnover of less than £750,000 per year.” Please note that the closing date for applications is 1 May 2023. More information of how to apply, and details of the projects undertaken by past winners can be found here.

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I haven’t come across the tradition of barkcloth in Uganda previously, so was interested to hear of this online talk hosted by WARP (Weave A Real Peace). It takes place online this Saturday 15 April at 1100 ET, which is 1600 BST.

“For more than 700 years, the legacy cloth, lubugo (barkcloth), made from the mutuba tree (ficus natalensis) has been used to clothe Ugandans, bury the dead and mark sacred ceremonies in Uganda. In 2005, it was designated as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO to be preserved and protected. Today, it is inspiring contemporary artists, designers, scientists, scholars and researchers locally, regionally, continentally and globally. It has an exciting future but faces several challenges, such as deforestation and the passing away of the elderly skilled masters without their children continuing the tradition. The Bukomansimbi Organic Tree Farmers Association (BOFTA) and a global group of collaborators are working together to strengthen Uganda’s barkcloth industry and preserve this tradition for future generations.” – WARP

Click here for more details and to register for this free talk.

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Another event taking place the same day, but this time in-person, is the latest programme from the TMA/SC (Textile Museum Associates of Southern California). Janet Seward will talk on the subject of Guatamala Dress: Diversity and Evolution, followed by a Show and Tell of textiles from her collection.

“Isolated villages in the rugged mountains of Guatemala have each developed their own wildly different, yet still traditional clothing. Woven on backstrap looms for over 2,500 years, the costume of each town continues to evolve, and at one time instantly signaled a person’s origin, and their economic and marital status. There are preferred colors in each village and sometimes a complete change of design between an everyday huipil (blouse) or a ceremonial one from the same place. The huipil, the most recognized piece outside of Guatemala, is a tribute to womankind’s capacity for innovation, her joy in individual creativity, her pride in her traditions and her display of admired skills as well as her wealth.”

This event begins at 1000 PT, but registration closes at 1700 PT TODAY, so don’t delay!

All images © Janet Seward

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Next Wednesday 19 April ORTS (Oriental Rug and Textile Society) will hold an in-person event in London. Dr Benjamin Hinson of the V&A will talk on Collecting Late Antique textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Greville Chester, Gayet, Thomas and friends.

“The Victoria and Albert Museum holds one of the world’s largest collections of Late Antique and early Islamic textiles from Egypt. Parts of the collection’s history, and the figures responsible for helping to form it, are well known – others much less so. This talk will outline some of the key individuals, but also several of the lesser-known, who donated or sold Egyptian textiles to the V&A in the 19th and 20th centuries.”

This talk is free for members, with a charge of £7 for non-members, and takes place at the University Women’s Club in Mayfair. Click here for more details.

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Sunday 23 April is the date for the annual Textile Society’s Antique and Vintage Textile Fair in Manchester – not to be missed!

“The Textile Society celebrates Manchester’s heritage as the powerhouse of British textile design and manufacture. The Manchester Antique & Vintage Textile Fair is the hub for all passionate collectors of textiles. It was the first antique fair to specialise entirely in historic textiles, and it has remained a key event in the textiles calendar since 1992. From world textiles to mid-century modern, from Art Deco to vintage fashion, the fair is an exciting and abundant source for objects and ideas, wall art or wearables, the beautiful or the kitsch.”

I’ve found some wonderful things there in the past and highly recommend it. Full details can be found here.

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Also taking place on Sunday 23 April is an online presentation hosted by the International Hajji Baba Society. The speaker is Austin Doyle and his subject is Shahsevan Pile Rugs and Bags.

“The Shahsevan are well recognized for the brilliant colors and fine weaving of their sumak production, but their pile weaving has been difficult to identify, much less to attribute to particular Shahsevan tribes. The Shahsevan originally had a nomadic life-style and it was surmised that they had little need or ability to weave heavier pile carpets. The pile weavings attributed to them were often small and crudely designed pieces.

The Shahsevan were not a monolithic tribal grouping and included members of Afshar and Turkicized Kurdish groups, both known to be prolific pile weavers. It also appears that some Shahsevan groups were only semi-nomadic through much of the 18th and early 19th century, and interacted closely with village groups in the Caucasus, Karadagh, and other parts of northwest Persia. Austin Doyle will review the structural characteristics, colors, and design features that may indicate Shahsevan production or influence, and will discuss pieces which might tentatively be assigned to particular areas or subgroups of the Shahsevan.”

This free online programme begins at 1300 ET, which is 1800 BST. More details and registration can be found here.

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Finally the next OATG event takes place on Thursday 27 April 2023. This will be an online presentation by independent scholar Thweep Rittinaphakorn, better known to his friends as Ake. His subject will be Frontiersmen of the Crossroad: The Fusion Style of Shan Chinese Dressing.

“Chinese Shan costumes, particularly those of females, are a crossbred fusion between the tradition of Tai apparel and Chinese style adornment and adaptation. The most outstanding items among the repertoire are the female festive skirts. They provide a stunning sight to those who have seen them. They have profuse, eclectic, and gaudy decoration, incorporating different material and embellishment techniques, unlike any other kind.

Relying on photographic evidence taken at the turn of the century, old books & early traveling memoirs, plus current dressing practice and physical material evidence drawn from private collections, this talk will first provide an initial backdrop of Chinese Shan culture, then dive deep to discuss their dressing style, accoutrements, plus embellishing technique and the materials used.”

Ake is an independent scholar whose work focuses mainly on textiles and arts history of mainland Southeast Asia. He curates The Siam Society’s textile collection and is a regular speaker to the Siam Society, Thai Textiles Society, and The Bangkok National Museum Volunteer group.

Examples of festive tube skirts used by Chinese Shan ladies from Dehong area, Yunnan with sumptuous decorations of silk satin panels, miniature applique trimming, and embroidery panels.

Please note that this programme begins at the earlier than usual time of 1630 BST, as our speaker is in a different time zone. Full details and registration for this event can be found here. It is of course free for OATG members, but there is a small charge for non-members.

Ake is also the author of Unseen Burma: Early Photography 1862-1962, published by River Books. This is a record of photographs from his amazing personal collection.

“When the British colonised Burma, they brought with them the latest technology in cameras and photographic reproduction, and since these were introduced to Burma as early as the middle of the 19th century, the country is richly catalogued and photographed. The new technology was first popularised by western practitioners (Germans, Italians, and, of course, the British) and upper-class patrons, but then spread to the mass market. “

It is already available in Thailand, and you can see some of the pages here. It will be available internationally in late May/early June.

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Pitt Rivers inspiration, Samoan barkcloth, sealskin, Indonesian ikat and more.

PLEASE NOTE If you subscribe to this blog via email you will be unable to see the videos unless you click on the blue title in the email, which will direct you to our blog site.

In my most recent blog I shared a lot of information about the textiles of peoples of the Amur area and fish skin clothing in particular. That prompted OATG member Pamela Cross to contact me about a work by leading art quiltmaker Pauline Burbidge.

It was inspired by a visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum, where she saw this Siberian seal skin pictogram.

Sealskin accession number 1966.19.1. © Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

It was collected in the 1860s or 1870s, probably by the captain of an Arctic whaler. It was made by a member of the Chukot/Chukchi culture, and has been described by some authors as a map, and by others as depicting the events of a specific year. Much more information about it can be found on the Pitt Rivers website.

Her second source of inspiration was a display of barkcloths from Samoa. The example below was collected there in 1874 by the Reverend Joseph King.

Barkcloth accession number 1891.61.24. © Pitt Rivers Museum

Pauline’s response to seeing these items was to produce a large quiltscape, incorporating some of these ideas and motifs. She has made a short video, detailing her creative process and I loved seeing the drawings she had made in her notebook, and how they eventually appeared in the finished piece.

Go to her website to see more of her work.

On Saturday 12 February Yorkshire auctioneers Tennant’s will hold a sale of Costume, Accessories and Textiles. While the majority of the lots are Victorian (including some super sewing accessories), there are also several from China, Japan and Eastern Europe. Click here for more details.

A selection of the lots for sale at the auction

A quick reminder that there are also two talks taking place on that day. The first is by Tom Hannaher on the Mola Art of the Kuna Indians, and the second is by Chris Martens on Distinguishing Uyghur Feltmaking.

Tamu Rambu Hamu Eti about to show us some of the textiles in her basket. © David Richardson

I have been travelling to Indonesia regularly for many years now, and one of my favourite destinations is the island of Sumba. We always enjoy going to Rindi, which has a great tradition of producing fine textiles and baskets.

A few years ago Threads of Life, a Bali-based organisation that works with weavers throughout the archipelago, produced a video there with Tamu Rambu Hamu Eti, documenting all of the different stages of the weaving and dyeing process. The video was in Sumbanese, however they have also produced this very useful and informative infographic in English, based on the information gained from the original video.

So much care and attention needs to go into each step, but the results are certainly worth it!

Tamu Rambu Hamu Eti showed us a selection of her textiles. They are all naturally dyed, and the one at the front is woven from handspun cotton. © David Richardson.

While on the subject of Indonesia I would also like to recommend this video, An Indian Loom in Indonesia, produced by OATG members Sandra Sardjono and Chris Buckley, in which they share some of the findings from their paper of the same name which appeared in Fiber, Loom and Technique.

“A loom in use in Balai Cacang village in the Minangkabau region of Sumatra has an unusual warp suspension system, in which the warp is attached to a cord and tensioned around a pole. We show that this system is similar to that used on traditional Indian pit looms, and that it probably crossed the Indian Ocean to Indonesia. Indian influence on Indonesian textile forms is well-documented, but this is the first identification of an Indian loom technology in Indonesia. It implies the presence of Indian craftspeople in Indonesia in the past.” – Fiber, Loom and Technique.

A pdf of the full article can be downloaded here.

Don’t forget to let me know if you hear of events, exhibitions, articles, or anything else you think I should include here!

Celebrating barkcloth

In October I blogged about a project looking at Pacific barkcloth. The project was entitled Situating Pacific Barkcloth in Time and Place. I highly recommend taking a look at their website as new material is constantly being added. It has some excellent videos showing how barkcloth is produced and decorated.

Kew EBC 42861. Samoan tiputa or poncho, hand-painted in the tradition of siapo mamanu cloths. (© Economic Botany Collection, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)

The result of this five year project is a new book on barkcloth.

“Barkcloth or tapa, a cloth made from the inner bark of trees, was widely used in place of woven cloth in the Pacific islands until the 19th century. A ubiquitous material, it was integral to the lives of islanders and used for clothing, furnishings and ritual artefacts. Material Approaches to Polynesian Barkcloth takes a new approach to the study of the history of this region through its barkcloth heritage, focusing on the plants themselves and surviving objects in historic collections. ” Publisher’s website.

The collections involved are from the Hunterian, University of Glasgow; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.

The book is divided into 3 parts:-

Part I: Tapa as Fabric: Bast and Colourants

Part II: Understanding Tapa in Time and Place

Part III: Tapa in Collections and the Community

This book is now available to access free online from Sidestone Press here, or you can buy the print version.

For those who would like to learn more about barkcloth (or simply admire photos of some fantastic examples) I suggest the National Museums Scotland website. They have a collection of over 140 barkcloths, some of which were collected by Captain James Cook.

One example from a slideshow which shows a selection of 110 samples that are part of a compilation bound in half-calf, the majority of these samples were cut from larger pieces of barkcloth that still remain in the Museum’s University Collection.

Textiles from Japan, Africa, the Pacific, Asia…….

PLEASE NOTE Subscribers who usually read this blog via their email may need to click on the blue title to access it through our WordPress site instead to enable them to watch the videos.

Tomorrow, 15 October 2020, the Japan House, London will host a panel discussion on the making of the film Ainu – Indigenous People of Japan by director Mizoguchi Naomi.

“Filmed in Biratori, Hokkaido, this documentary follows the everyday life of four elder members of the Ainu community, focussing on their experiences and efforts in the preservation of history and culture through Ainu language classes and participation in several daily activities.” – Japan Society website.

After the panel discussion, registered participants will be able to watch a full screening of the film via a video link. For more information and a link to how to book click here.

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In a previous blog (2 October) I mentioned another Japan Foundation event – an online talk entitled Kimono Crossing the Sea – Its Power to Inspire Imagination and Creativity on Friday 16 October at 1200 BST. 

OATG member Felicity Wood has kindly informed me of another kimono-related talk – The Unbounded Potential of Kimono, Kyoto to Catwalk – this time organised by the Embassy of Japan. This online talk takes place on Tuesday 20 October at 1300 BST.

Kimono, designed by Jotaro Saito for the Fog Empire Collection Show

“Against the backdrop of the ongoing exhibition at the V&A, Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, its curator and Keeper of Asian department, Anna Jackson, will be in conversation with Kimono designer Jotaro Saito, who will join from Japan. The two will talk about the exhibition, how they met, and about Jotaro’s convicition that the kimono is an everyday object of fashion that fits into modern life. In following the notion of a total look, in which the designer creates the garment, obi, and all the accessories, the session will explore what this philosophy means in practice for Jotaro Saito’s designs.”

Click here to register for this event.

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A new exhibition entitled Fibres Africaines opened at the Musée de la Toile de Jouy near Paris on 1 October, and this will run until 28 March 2021.

This exhibition will celebrate “the creativity and diversity of African textiles. While some fabrics are made with precious materials such as silk or glass pearls, others have the audacity to be real luxury pieces, yet designed from humble materials. Raffia fabrics, tree bark, cottons colored with natural dyes such as indigo can be regarded as real works of art for the virtuosity of their manufacturing techniques.” – museum website. 

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I found this blog by Sarah Foskett of the University of Glasgow Textile Conservation team really interesting. In it she gives some background to a five year project looking at Pacific barkcloth.

The Hunterian GLAHM E.537. A small section of the outer border of a late 19th century Fijian masi kesa fabric, stencilled in black, red and brown. (© The Hunterian, University of Glasgow)

Last month they held several online workshops and a website has now been launched. This is still being developed, with new information constantly being added.

There are also a series of videos showing some aspects of barkcloth production. The one above focusses on some of the dyes used.

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On Saturday 7 November the Textile Museum, Washington will host another Rug and Textile Appreciation Morning. The presenter will be Alberto Levi, and the subject is Italian Peasant Rugs. “In this illustrated lecture, independent researcher Alberto Boralevi will explore how textiles produced in the Italian folk tradition blend designs and techniques from the East and West……. The term “peasant rugs” generally refers to textiles produced by Italian folk tradition, primarily from the peninsula’s central-southern zones, as well as Sicily and Sardinia. The techniques and patterns of these Italian rural weavings share a striking affinity with the tribal weavings of Anatolia, Persia, and the Caucasus.” – Museum website.

For more information and to register please follow this link.

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On Wednesday 21 October and Thursday 22 October the Textile Museum will host a two-day roundtable to celebrate the creation of the new Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center.

Patchwork trade cloth robe (detail), Indonesia, 18th century. Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection T-2852. Bruce M. White Photography.

“Beginning with an introduction to Lloyd Cotsen’s collecting and an overview of the collection and study center, the roundtable will feature five one-hour panels highlighting textiles from five continents, including an Indian robe for Indonesia, a Kuba hat, and Captain Cook’s sample book of tapa cloth.” – museum website.

The subjects of the five panels are : Asia, Europe-Central Asia, Africa, Americas and Oceania. Our founder, Ruth Barnes, will look at a patchwork coat (pictured above), created from over 100 small pieces of Indian block-printed textiles. and intended for Indonesia.

In her presentation Hélène Dubied will look at a Central Asian silk weft-faced compound twill, which dates to the seventh to tenth century. This is part of the permanent exhibition of the Abegg Stiftung. The presenter will give details of how this delicate textile was conserved.

I have a particular fascination with Captain James Cook, so will be most interested in Adrienne Kaeppler’s talk on the Alexander Shaw Barkcloth Books. These books are made up of pieces of barkcloth from Cook’s actual voyages!

These are just a few of the highlights of this event – the pdf with the full programme can be accessed here. Please note registration is essential.

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I’ve mentioned the superb videos produced by the Tracing Patterns Foundation in previous blogs. Their latest release is called Kantha Reimagined: From Private to Public . This was co-produced with Kantha Productions LLC.

The presenter this time is Cathy Stevulak, who explains the importance of kantha as a women’s artform in Bengal. I was intrigued to learn of references in the 6th century BCE to kantha being worn by ascetics.

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Exhibition: Fiji – Art and Life in the Pacific

 

Exhibition dates: 15 October 2016 – 12 February 2017

Still open for another two weeks!

The largest and most comprehensive exhibition about Fiji ever assembled, it will take the visitor on a journey through the art and cultural history of Fiji since the late eighteenth century.

Over 270 works of art, including European paintings and historic photographs, are being loaned by exhibition partner the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge, and by the Fiji Museum, the British Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford and museums in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Exeter, London, Maidstone, as well as Dresden and Leipzig in Germany.

This exhibition results from a three-year Arts & Humanities Research Council-funded project which examined the extensive but little-known Fijian collections in the UK and overseas, and uncovered some significant treasures.

Paintings, drawings and photographs of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries provide a context for the artworks. These include exquisite watercolours by the intrepid Victorian travel writer and artist Constance Gordon Cumming, and by naval artist James Glen Wilson, who was in Fiji in the 1850s.

For more information, visit the website of the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich.

Exhibition: Layers of Influence – Unfolding Cloth across Cultures

Exhibition dates: 17 November 2016 – 9 April 2017

From birth to death, humans are wrapped in cloth worn for survival, but more importantly, wear clothing as an external expression of their spiritual belief system, social status and political identity. This stunning exhibition will explore clothing’s inherent evidence of human ingenuity, creativity and skill, drawing from the Vancouver Museum of Anthropology’s textile collection — the largest collection in western Canada — to display a global range of materials, production techniques and adornments across different cultures and time frames.

Curated by Dr Jennifer Kramer (Vancouver Museum of Anthropology Curator, Pacific Northwest), Layers of Influence will entrance visitors with large swaths of intricate textiles often worn to enhance the wearer’s prestige, power and spiritual connection, including Japanese kimonos, Indian saris, Indonesian sarongs, West African adinkra, adire and kente cloth, South Pacific barkcloth, Chinese Qing dynasty robes, Indigenous Northwest coast blankets, Maori feather cloaks and more.

A sumptuous feast for the eyes, the exhibition is an aesthetic and affective examination of humanity’s multifaceted and complex history with cloth and its ability to amplify the social, political and spiritual influence of the wearer as a functional expression of self-identity.

For more information, visit the website of the Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada.

Textile Tidbits: Mounting a Tahitian Mourner’s Costume

The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford recently shared a blog post all about the work involved in mounting an elaborate eighteenth-century Tahitian mourning costume, ready for display. This enormous many-layered outfit, made mostly of barkcloth, but with additional decoration made from feathers and shells, forms part of the museum’s new Cook Voyage display case.

Best of all, the blog includes a stop-motion video of the mounting process, so you can watch how the whole thing was put together. It makes fascinating viewing!

To read the full blog post, and to watch a video of this costume being assembled on the mount, visit the Pitt Rivers’ Museum’s Conserving ‘Curiosities’ blog.