The Bay Area forum for artists, Council aficionados & collectors of , rugs & , baskets, costume & wearable April 2008 Upcoming Programs and Announcements All programs are held in the Koret Auditorium at the in Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Volume XXIII, Number 2 Tea Drive, San Francisco. Admission to the programs is FREE to TAC members, $10 for non-members and $5 for FAMSF members and students with I.D. No additional Museum admission fee is necessary. You may enter the auditorium from the garage level or the main floor entrance between the main and side doors to the Museum.

Saturday, April 12, 2008, 10 a.m. In this lecture, Naeda Robinson will focus Macedonian Village Dress: on the declining use of village garments and Going, Going, Gone their associated traditions and the effects of these changes on the lives of women With Naeda Robinson in remote mountain villages around Bitola. This presentation is based on field research Her presentation will include slides of the undertaken by Naeda Robinson that began in impressive wedding ensembles and what 1991 when she traveled to the former remained of dowry items in villages in 1995 Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to and from the 2000-2006 Macedonian Dress train teachers of English under a U.S. Project as well as actual garments she Information Service program. For years, collected while doing her research. Please Naeda had heard rumors of the wonderful join us for what promises to be a lively and traditional dress of Macedonia with its rewarding look at Macedonian traditional exquisite weaving and . So . wherever her teacher training assignments Saturday, May 10, 2008, 10 a.m. took her she asked about narodni nosli, national dress. But her questions Crossing Stitches and about where she might find examples Crossing Borders: Iu Mien of Macedonian costumes were always Embroidery in a Global answered in vague terms. “Only people in Community the mountain villages still have them,” she With Sandra Cate was told. The Iu Mien (Yao), an ethnic group of Undeterred, Naeda developed an Southeast Asia, are renowned for their Macedonian woman Earthwatch project in 1995 that put her in intricate embroidery. In Laos and Thailand displays a kosula made as part of her dowry. contact with the Ethnographic Museum in Bitola, they use colorful and densely patterned an ancient city in the southwestern part of the embroidery to decorate clothing, especially country, which became the home base for women’s costumes. In this presentation, her subsequent research. The original project Dr. Sandra Cate will consider the ongoing was to document and catalog garments in the relevance of Iu Mien traditional clothing, Bitola Museum. As she uncovered more and which reflects the many changes these more information about the village people, people—in both California and Southeast their traditions, their garments, and the role of Asia—have encountered. As refugees and women, however, the project expanded. And Fine Arts migrants adjusting to new environments, as the project grew, the documentation also Museums of many of the women have put away the San Francisco became more comprehensive, finally resulting clothing that marked them as Mien. In Laos in a book, Macedonian Village Dress: Going, and Thailand they now wear the tube skirt, de Young Going, Gone (Skopje, Macedonia: Gutenberg or phaasiin, of the lowland ethnic groups. In

Legion Press, forthcoming). Programs continue on page 3, col. 1 of Honor 1 From the Chair

April 1, 2008

Spring greetings to you all! The cherry trees are heritage and supporting them accordingly. *A document fabric is blooming in Golden Gate Park as I write this; it’s Hopefully, more will follow. a true reproduction one of my favorite annual events. of a textile that has Certainly ancient cultures also inspire and been documented by a How did your love of start? Mine started inform current culture. I am a fan of “Project museum as originating early, as I suspect yours did. My grandmother, Runway” and I love that TV has become an at a particular date Lenore, was a fearless sewer, making herself ally in the renewed interest in , , (or date range). Often Chanel-style suits and jewelry to adorn them. and designing with fabric. The interior design the makers have the She once swathed her bedroom with ruffled business is also very active in this arena. original and the peach-colored moiré in every possible place Everywhere I look, I see the old and the original print screens fabric could be put. She traveled extensively and new mixing, and I love it. In my work, I sew in their archives and always brought back exotic wonders as gifts for both modern and antique fabrics. I see new they use these to the family: embroidered slippers from Turkey, fabrics using ancient designs from African and make the modern scarves from , and more. Mayan cultures set in modern architecture, “document” textile in with handmade light fixtures and often with I designed and made my own doll clothes by the same way it was antique textiles framed as the artwork they hand and on a toy chain- machine when made 100 or more are. Trevira and are very hot in I was in grammar school. I started sewing my years ago. Several the design business, and are being made own clothes on my first real sewing machine old companies—F. to mimic natural in all their variety but when I was in junior high. In high school, I Schumacher, Stroheim without the vulnerability to sun damage, which started painting plain fabric with Rit for my and Romann, is something very useful for upholstery and creations, and I wore fresh flowers as earrings. Brunschwig & Fils, sheer or outdoor curtains. I also get to work on When I was in college I did a lot of Macedonian Scalamandré to natural document fabrics*, items with 200 dancing, loving the music and especially loving name a few—have or more years of history. I have sewn fabrics the embroidery on the examples of traditional been manufacturing made with spun steel, fiber optics, metallic clothing we saw in books. I also traveled to fabrics for more than threads, and triple weaves with crazy fibers Guatemala and fell in love with the traditional 100 years and have from everywhere in the world. Modern fabric weaving and embroidery there. My love of textiles samples, formulas, companies are looking to textile museums was woven into my heart at an early age and has jaquard patterns, etc. to inspire new lines. Donghia, for example, always seemed to be part of me. for all the fabrics they a fabric company that makes textiles for made over the years. The lecture on Macedonian village dress, coming interiors, drew inspiration for a whole line from Someone wanting to up on April 12, is a special treat and, as you samplers in the Rhode Island School of Design produce an authentic can see from my early textile experiences, is a Museum of Art. subject especially dear to my heart. This lecture, period interior, say How did your love of textiles begin? Think as well as the ones on the embroidery of the lu for a movie or just about how to share and nurture that love in the Mien and the story of kimono, all feature beautiful because they like next generation. ancient . Many of the techniques were the era, could order developed for sacred and celebratory purposes, Cheers, document fabrics of course. Often in ancient, nonliterate societies accurate for the time. Laurel Sprigg they were a way to record social status, tribal TAC Chair history, and family lineage. It is our modern challenge to find ways for these ancient traditions to be incorporated in the global economy so that the few makers left can earn a living in a way that nurtures the meaning and cultural value of their textile work. Some governments are actually establishing these arts as part of their national

TAC Newsletter 2 Programs continued from page 1 considered haregi, or Sunday wear, for use only on special occasions. In her California they wear Western clothing. talk, Betsy Sterling Benjamin will look at Thus the centrality of embroidery as a not only the history but also the fashion marker of ethnicity and gender, that is, of kimono and the that produces as something that Iu Mien women do this . She will show images and wear, seems to have faded. Yet of some of the most beautiful kimono the global trade in such ; in existence, created as the highest infrequent but spectacular displays of artistic expression of the revered Ningen Iu Mien dress, such as at the King Pan’s Kokuho, or Living National Treasures. Birthday Festival in Oakland in the fall; the circulation of videos; and continuing conversations about their needlework among Mien women themselves, suggests its shifting, but still relevant, function in Mien culture. Following Mien women through local celebrations and a journey back to Laos, we will consider lu Mien woman embroidering in Ban Phon Khan, key changes in stitches and color palette Laos, 2006. and the shift from embroidering clothing left 30 years before. Dr. Cate’s research to decorating such objects as small interests generally focus on the material purses and aprons. We will also look and expressive culture of Southeast at how Mien embroidery exchanges Asia in such diverse manifestations negotiate relations between those living as Buddhist temple murals, festival in the United States and family members scrolls, the markets in silk and minority still in Southeast Asia, the status of Mien needlework, contemporary art, and in their nation of residence, and their traffic jams in Bangkok. Her publications place within an expanded universe of include Converging Interests: Travelers, Kimono by Kano Moriguchi, a Living National humans, spirits, and ancestors. A Mien Traders, and Tourists in Southeast Asia Treasure of Japan. woman from the Bay Area will be present and Making Merit, Making Art: A Thai Betsy Sterling Benjamin is an award- to demonstrate the intricate cross- Temple in Wimbledon, both of which winning international artist, researcher, stitched motifs and to answer questions she co-edited. and author who specializes in Japanese about Mien needlework and the clothing textiles. She lived in Kyoto, where she Saturday, June 28, 2008, 10 a.m. items on display. taught at Doshisha and Kyoto Sangyo Golden Waterfalls, Dr. Sandra Cate, a folklorist and Universities, for more than 18 years. anthropologist, teaches at San Jose Windblown Pines: The She is a rozome artist who participated State University. Currently she is also Story of Kimono in numerous solo and group exhibitions teaching the Denise Beirnes Endowed With Betsy Sterling Benjamin while in Japan. Betsy also wrote on Art History Course at Mills College textiles for the Mainichi Daily News and The history of the elegant Japanese on the art of Thailand. She has been other publications and was associated kosode, or kimono, begins with its studying Mien embroidery since the with the Tange Shin Kimono Company. humble origins as workers’ clothing late 1980s, including a project funded Her training, research, and love of and underwear for the Heian court of by the National Endowment for the resist-patterned cloth culminated in 1000 years ago. The development of Arts. This research resulted in Ann her writing The World of Rozome: Wax this unique Japanese costume, with Goldman’s Lao Mien Embroidery: Resist Textiles of Japan (1996, 2002), its special treatment of color, design, Migration and Change, for which Dr. the first book in English on the topic and symbol, echoes Japanese culture, Cate wrote the introduction. In January and an acknowledged classic on the history, and way of life. Kimono are of 2006, she traveled with five Iu Mien contemporary of wax resist. still produced in Japan, created using women throughout Laos and Thailand, Additionally, she was the coordinator a variety of weaving and resist- documenting their reunions with families continued on page 5 techniques. However, they are now 3 TAC BOARD Curator’s Column

Laurel Sprigg, Cloth of Chair The impulse to decorate the body with gold is Another method, not quite as old or pervasive Paul Ramsey as old as humankind’s first discovery of the soft, but developed at least 3,000 years ago, was shiny metal and invention of ways to shape it. Gold Vice-Chair to adhere thinly hammered gold to a fabric’s soon emerged as a preeminent symbol of wealth Robin Hampton and status, and the desire to swathe the body in surface, covering it entirely or in specific Treasurer the beautiful substance became irresistible. For pattern areas. Three small sixth-century millennia, ways were sought to transform gold into Marion Coleman cloth and clothing as an embodiment of wealth and Secretary personal, political, and priestly power. In this and Ruth Anderson the next issue of the newsletter, I will discuss some of the forms these efforts took, culminating in the Patricia Christensen development of “,” cloth woven with Mary Connors wefts of the precious metal. Hansine Goran When, where, and how the first true cloth of gold Serena Harrigan was made will never be known for certain. Both Ana Lisa Hedstrom written and archaeological records point to a long David Holloway evolution, beginning most likely somewhere in a Kathy Judkins zone comprising southeast , the eastern Darlene Jurow Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Intriguing Barbara Kelly Figure 1. Three pieces of Chinese patterned references to gold cloth and clothing appear in a Gerry Masteller overlaid with applied gold leaf, the piece at right cut in variety of ancient sources, among them the Old the shape of the “Wheel of the Law,” one of the Eight Bette McKenzie Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism. China, Song dynasty, Testament and early Greek and Roman texts. The Dee Myers Carbon-14 dated to the sixth century. Photograph accounts, however, are usually so vague that it is courtesy of Arthur Leeper. Cynthia Shaver impossible to discern whether they describe the Chinese textiles woven of silk in a structurally Advisory Board metal or merely a golden color. patterned gauze weave are among the earliest Sue Friedland The archaeological record is more concrete. extant examples (Figure 1). In their case, once Peggy Gordon Excavations of prehistoric sites show that the the adhesive was applied and the gold foil Karine Langan desire to dress the body in gold is not only burnished down, the pattern of the underlying Barbara Shapiro ancient, it is perhaps the first use to which gauze appeared in shallow relief on the gold Gretchen Turner the yellow metal was put. Astonishing finds in surface. The results, alas, were extremely Susan York Chalcolithic-era burial sites on the Black Sea fragile. Any movement of the fabric flexed it, coast of Bulgaria reveal that as early as the fifth eventually producing tiny cracks in the metal millennium B.C.E., artisans were hammering gold that led to peeling, chipping, and ultimately into thin sheets and cutting them into decorative powdering (Figure 2). That the three or symbolic shapes they then pierced and sewed have survived at all—and in such remarkably onto garments and burial shrouds for their good condition—suggests they were made for culture’s VIPs. These and other finds, such as a ritual or sacred use and left largely untouched full suit of gold armor from a fifth-century B.C.E. for 1500 years, secreted, perhaps, in a Scythian burial in Kazakhstan and head-to-toe Buddhist shrine. The art of applying gold foil ceremonial ensembles of layered gold made and leaf to textiles persists to the present. In for Andean rulers up to the time of the Spanish Japan, for example, it is still used in patterning Conquest, indicate just how widespread and the cloth used for a type of robe for the Noh persistent this impulse was. As dazzling as such theater. Both the cloth and the costumes made attire must have been, it was as impractical as from it are known as nuihaku. it was costly. Thin sheet gold is vulnerable to Efforts to incorporate gold in the actual creasing, breakage, and loss, and its high thermal structure of a fabric appear to have gotten conductivity, along with the cumulative weight of under way in the second millennium B.C.E. many ornaments, would have made these gold- and took a variety of forms. In an Early Bronze decked garments uncomfortable in the extreme.

TAC Newsletter 4 Programs continued from page 3 Welcome of the World Conference: Boston to our New 2005 and curator of the Rozome Masters Members of Japan exhibition that toured the United Through February 29, States in 2005 and 2006. Betsy now 2008 resides in New England and teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Lois Anderson Please join us for this illuminating look into Pamela Axelson the history and art of the Japanese kimono. Marie Cathey Banks

James Butler

Special Event Eve Conner Figure 2. Photomicrograph of one of the textiles in Figure Announcement 1 showing an areas where some of the gold foil has peeled Darcy Croshaw off, revealing the patterned silk gauze beneath (darker area), and the echo of the pattern in subtle relief on the gold SATURDAY, APRIL 5, surface. Photomicrograph courtesy of Arthur Leeper. Nancy Deane 12 – 5 p.m. Gena Galenski Age dwelling at Troy, for instance, quantities The Folk Art Gallery of San Rafael of tiny gold beads were found in the fill where Linda Gavette is hosting a trunk show of beautiful a warp-weighted had stood. Based on traditional and contemporary Rebecca Ghanadan evidence showing there had been a web on the bandhani resist-dyed silk textiles Clara Gresham loom when fire consumed the city, Elizabeth from ninth-generation dyers in Barber posits that the beads had been strung on Daniel Gundlach Gujurat, . The pieces include the fabric’s weft and had fallen to the floor around the large traditional wraps worn Trudi Hauptman the loom as the cloth burned. (Barber EJW. by local women as well as smaller Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth Wende Heath scarves and other items. in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Princeton, Elizabeth Hegyi NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991:171-172). Sharon Christovich of the Folk Art Ann Houston Barber cites additional textiles in which gold or Gallery has generously dedicated silver and fiber were combined. Unfortunately the a portion of the sales this day to Darlene Jurow the Textile Arts Council. Please join fabrics in question were destroyed before they Michael Katz could be analyzed. us in Marin to see these exquisite textiles. Teal Major In the next issue of the newsletter, the story of cloth of gold will be continued, with a focus on Folk Art Gallery, 1321 Fourth Jane Manfield examples from the Fine Arts Museums’ textile Street, San Rafael Terry McClain collection. 415 925-9096 Therese May www.thefolkartgallery.com Julia O’Daly

Roslyn Rhodes

Phyllis Ross

Laurel Shackelford

5 Special Program Hot House: Expanding the Field of Fiber at Cranbrook, 1970-2007 With Gerhardt Knodel

Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m. Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum Admission: General public $10, TAC and FAMSF members $5, students free

Cranbrook Academy of Art has been

a hothouse environment for graduate Liz Sargent, Striae, 2005 studies in the for more than 75 years. In particular, the program in fiber, under the successive leadership of Gerhardt Knodel and Jane Lackey, has contributed to a rethinking of the field, redefining and shifting it in new directions. In this exciting lecture Gerhardt Knodel will discuss the legacy he and Jane Lackey have built at Cranbrook, mentoring more than 275 graduates over the course of three decades, all of whom have contributed to the ever-expanding field of fiber. He will also share his own recent body of work.

This event is sponsored by Artwear in the Galleries and the Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Department of Textile Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Museum and TAC members receive museum members’ price of $5. Tickets are available at www.museumtix.com or at the museum admission desk. Preordered tickets will be available at will call a half hour before lecture.

Volunteer Opportunities — TAC Needs You NEXT NEWSLETTER The Textile Arts Council is looking for volunteers to help out with a variety of activities. DEADLINE Would you be willing to spend a couple of hours a month welcoming people to July 21, 2008 TAC events? The Programs Committee would like help in greeting and meeting people attending our monthly lectures at the Koret Auditorium of the de Young and at special The Textile events. How about helping with the newsletter mailing? The Communications Arts Council Committee would like help in sending out the tri-annual TAC newsletter. Are you a newsletter professional fund raiser? The Fund Raising committee could use your help. Or maybe welcomes you’d enjoy helping the textile department of the de Young? Volunteers will be announcements needed for a variety of exhibition-related activities throughout the year. and columns from If any of these opportunities interest you, please contact David Holloway, Volunteer our members about Coordinator, at [email protected] for more information about how you can help textiles and related promote the Textile Arts Council. events in the textile community.

Please send your copy to the TAC office at [email protected].

TAC Newsletter 6 GENERAL CALENDAR Until Apr. 20 Textiles of Bhutan, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Apr. 11 – Aug. 17 Woven Splendor from Timbuktu to Tibet: HI, www.honoluluacademy.org Exotic Rugs and Textiles from New York Collectors, New York Historical Society, New York City, Until Apr. 27 Loom and Lathe, a dual exhibition of the work of celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Hajji Baba Kay Sekimachi and her late husband, Bob Stocksdale, Club, www.nyhistory.org Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley, CA, www.berkeleyartcenter.org MAY

Until Apr. 27 The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Identity, May 2 – 4 The California Trail, CNCH 2008, Conference of Northern Globalization, Museum of Craft and Folk Art, California Handweavers, Sacramento, CA. Honoring San Francisco, www.mocfa.org the 160th anniversary of the discovery of gold with exhibitions, seminars, and classes. www.cnch.org Until Apr. 27 Intertwined: Contemporary Baskets from the Sara and David Lieberman Collection organized by the May 7 – Sept. 1 Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, the Costume Arizona State University Art Museum, Palo Alto Art Institute at The Metropolitan Museum, New York City, Center, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto, CA, 650 329-2366 www.metmuseum.org or www.cityofpaloalto.org/artcenter May 7 2008 Graduation Fashion Show, School of Fashion Until May 1 Latvian Roots: Baltic , online exhibition, Design, California College of the Arts, San Francisco. www.FiberScene.com For more information and to purchase tickets, call 415 703-9519 or send e-mail to [email protected] Until May 1 The Museum, Sunnyvale, CA, presents 19th and 20th c. wedding gowns and accessories. 408 May 13 – October 19 The Story of the Supremes from the Mary 730-4695 or www.thelacemuseum.org Wilson Collection, stage costumes, Victoria & Albert ONGOING Museum, London, UK, www.vam.ac.uk Until May 7 Exoticism, The Museum at FIT, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City, www.fitnyc.edu/museum May 15 – July 13 Fashion Conscious: An Exhibition of Sustainable Fashion, UC Davis , Davis, CA, Until June 8 Now!, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, www.designmuseum.ucdavis.edu www.pem.org Opening reception and symposium: Sunday, May 18, featuring speakers from Patagonia, Permacouture, the Until Aug. 30 Art & Artifice: 75 Years of Design at San Francisco Sustainable Project, and a roundtable discussion. Ballet, Museum of Performance & Design (formerly This event is free but space is limited and reservations San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum), are required: 530 752-6150 or [email protected] 401 Van Ness, Veterans Building, 4th floor, San Francisco, 415 255-4800 or www.mpdsf.org May 17 – Aug. 17 The Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury with Cool Remixed, a Until Sept. 7 For Tent and Trade: Masterpieces of Turkmen contemporary spin on the main exhibition. Oakland Weaving, Textile Gallery, de Young Museum, San Museum of California, Oakland, CA, www.museumca.org Francisco, CA, www.famsf.org May 31 Hot House: Expanding the Field of Fiber at Cranbrook, Until Sept. 18 The Touch: Accessories from the Bolivian 1970-2007, with Gerhardt Knodel, Koret Auditorium, Highlands and Blue. Both at the , de Young Museum. Purchase tickets at Washington, DC, www.textilemuseum.org www.museumtix.com.

APRIL June and beyond

Apr. 1 – June 8 At the San Jose Museum of & Textiles, July 26 – Sept. 27 Pride & Practicality: Japanese Immigrant Clothing in in conjunction with San Jose’s Zero 1 Festival: Hawaii, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, www.jcch.com Core Memory/Peripheral Vision – artists working in digital jacquard; Pixels and Pieces – one-patch quilts Aug. 5 – Nov. 23 Fashion v Sport, exploring the connections Advanced Geometry: Gloria Hansen – contemporary between these two fields, Victoria & Albert Museum, quilts; Awareables: Conscious Clothing – technology London, UK, www.vam.ac.uk meets fashion. 408 971-0323 or www.sjquiltmuseum.org Aug. 16 – Sept. 7 Santa Cruz Art League Presents: 4th Annual Fiber Apr.3 – June 15 The Whole Story: Wholecloth Quilts by Hand and Art Exhibit, Santa Cruz, CA, www.scal.org Machine, New England Museum, Lowell, MA, www.nequiltmuseum.org Sept. 24 – 27 Textile Society of America – 11th Biennial Symposium: Textiles as Cultural Expressions, Honolulu, HI Presentations, Apr. 4 Discarded to Divine: Recycled Couture. Preview the panel discussions, tours, and exhibitions. entries at the de Young Museum, 5:00 p.m. Auction www.textilesociety.org takes place Saturday, April 26, at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, and benefits the St. Vincent November 2008 7th Annual International Shibori Symposium, France: de Paul Society. 415 977-1270 or Provence; Lyon, Paris. Contact: [email protected] www.discardedtodivine.org Mark your calendar! Apr. 9 – May 7 The Fine Art of Weaving: 2008, Opening November 1 Yves Saint Laurent, Textile Gallery, de Young symposia, classes, exhibitions. Australia National Museum, San Francisco, CA. A retrospective exhibit University, Canberra, Australia. organized by The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Montreal Museum of Art in collaboration with the Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent, Paris.

7 Textile Arts Council Don’t miss these exciting TAC events!

Macedonian Village Dress: Going, Going, Gone With Naeda Robinson

Saturday, April 12, 2008, 10 a.m. Koret Auditorium de Young Museum

Crossing Stitches and Crossing Borders: Iu Mien Embroidery in a Global Community With Sandra Cate

Saturday, May 10, 2008, 10 a.m. Koret Auditorium de Young Museum

Golden Waterfalls, Windblown Pines: The Story of Kimono With Betsy Sterling Benjamin Fine Arts Museums of Saturday, June 28, 2008, 10 a.m. San Francisco Koret Auditorium de Young Museum de Young Legion of Honor

Textile Arts Council de Young Museum 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive Golden Gate Park San Francisco, CA 94118-4501 415-750-3627

Officers Chair Laurel Sprigg Treasurer Robin Hampton

Office Manager Trish Daly

Editor Lucy Smith

Visit our website:www.textileartscouncil.org April 2008