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The Bay Area Forum for artists, Council aficionados & collectors of , rugs & , baskets, costume & wearable September 2007 Upcoming Programs and Announcements All programs are held in the Koret Auditorium at the in Golden Gate Park, Volume XXII Number 3 50 Hagiwara 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 from the lower garage level or from the main floor near the entrance.

PROGRAMS textile design to the decriminalization of Saturday, September 22, 2007, 10:00 a.m. decoration, DOWNLOADING THE TEXTILE and are at the FUTURE center of some of the most exciting art and With Victor De La Rosa design work being Burn the floor . Smash the produced today. wheel. Technology is the De La Rosa will new ! It is time to free textiles Learning to knit include examples of –Victor De La Rosa from the constraints of the industrial his own work utilizing revolution and embrace the vast computer-interfaced weaving and printing possibilities of the technological technology on jacquard power and revolution. digital fabric printers. He will also discuss his New technologies are providing research into the design and development of the ability to redefine, repurpose, virtual . and recontextualize textile arts and Victor De La Rosa is an Assistant Professor Virtual Wallpaper design. Notably, this freedom has of Textiles/New Practices at San Francisco Project Application included a renewed interest in tradition as well. State University. Rendering The future of textile innovation and creativity is promising. The visual language of textiles now Saturday, October 20, 2007, 10:00 a.m. reaches across many disciplines in fine arts and design. And the traditions of textile design ONE NEEDLE, ONE THREAD: and technique embrace technology to redefine MIAO (HMONG) what a textile is and can be. This lecture will AND FABRIC PIECEWORK FROM investigate the current state and the future of GUIZHOU, CHINA textiles in the arts in terms of both conceptual With Tomoko Torimaru and material developments. In this presentation, Tomoko Torimaru, noted Drawing on his research for textiles education scholar and author of numerous books on the and into electronic and future textiles, Victor Miao, will lead us on a cultural exploration De La Rosa will discuss the ubiquity of textile of the remarkable diversity of costume and Fine Arts techniques and language in contemporary fine adornment within the Miao community living Museums of arts. He will outline and dissect the cultural in southwest China. “If you meet 100 Miao, San Francisco and generational shifts that have led to the you will see 100 costumes” is a comment current fiber and textile in the arts. de Young frequently used to describe the Miao. From the use of repeat pattern conventions in Legion Programs continue on page 3, col. 1 of Honor 1 Chair’s Column Greetings beloved threadheads, with many other Chinese artifacts from that TAC BOARD I hope you have had a great summer filled with time, that you can still see today. China made Laurel Sprigg, creativity and wondrous . such things for export then, and even changed Chair the flowers they embroidered from peonies and Kathy Judkins, Since Cheryl Samuel’s moving lecture in June, chrysanthemums to roses in order to appeal to Vice-Chair Revival of the Ravenstail, I have been thinking the European market. 17th century marketing. about the importance of textiles in our lives. Who knew? And we are all familiar with the Michelle Cheryl demonstrated how the preservation of impact of globalization on the native peoples of Nassopoulos, a dying cultural legacy has led to the active the Americas at that time. Vice-Chair resurgence of not only ancient weaving techniques, but also the deeper connections My point is that a global economy is nothing Paul Ramsey, among the community embracing that legacy. new, and will probably always be with us. We Secretary do all influence one another. The real fear is It seems to me that this is the reason we do Patricia Christensen that we might lose the old when we embrace what we do. It is not just about saving beautiful Marion Coleman the new, but that does not have to happen. As things, it is about preserving and valuing our Mary Connors with the Ravenstail weaving, we must preserve collective human history and incorporating Sue Friedland the ancient techniques and their meanings so deeper meaning back into all our lives. Linda Gass that they continue to be part of the lively and Hansine Goran I have been reading and thinking a lot about current human culture. We must also encourage Serena Harrigan cloth and culture. An article in the San Francisco artists and innovators to use new technologies Ana Lisa Hedstrom Chronicle this summer reported that Bolivia springing from the foundation of the past. We David Holloway has banned the sale of used clothes from other are all connected in this of human Darlene Jurow countries because it hurts the local economy. experience. Bans are nothing new, and have been tried Barbara Kelly in other times in other places, such as the The lectures coming up this fall are very relevant: Gerry Masteller French ban on cotton prints in the Victor De La Rosa will present “Downloading Cynthia Shaver the Textile Future,” Tomoko Torimaru will speak 18th century, and the Turkish ban on the “new” Advisory Board: about Chinese Miao embroidery, and Connie synthetic at the beginning of the 19th Peggy Gordon Strayer will discuss costumes for the stage. century. But the questions raised are good Karine Langan Food for thought and feasts for the eyes, my ones. These things are responses to economic Barbara Shapiro favorite combination. and political changes, of course, and textiles Gretchen Turner are often at the center of those changes. For See you there, Susan York more on this topic, I recommend you read The Laurel Sprigg Travels of a T- in the Global Economy: An TAC Chair Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade, by Pietra Rivoli, for a fascinating view of current economic upheaval in today’s world.

You might well ask, what does my , , , research, etc. have to do with the global economy? Quite a lot, in fact. For Announcement example, in the 16th and 17th centuries, great TAC member Dolores Presley, TAC board member Marion quantities of Chinese , (along with porcelain Coleman, and Julia Vitero, in collaboration with Bay Area Black and spices) were purchased by the Portuguese United Fund, have been awarded a Creative Work Fund grant and then sold to Spanish traders who used (www.creativeworkfund.org) to produce works addressing African silver mined from Mexico to pay for the precious American health disparities. Our congratulations to the awardees. cargo. There is an embroidered silk shawl from China in the small museum in Acapulco, along

TAC Newsletter 2 Programs continued from page 1 TAC Workshop NEXT NEWSLETTER DEADLINE Costumes are seen as an expression of “Embroidery Stitches and village identity and a way to proudly display Frog Closures of the Miao” November 12, 2007 each village’s special skills. With no written With Tomoko Torimaru The Textile Arts Council script, the Miao have long used textiles Location: de Young Museum newsletter welcomes and textile techniques as an instrument Date: Sunday, October 21, 2007, announcements and 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. of vocabulary and a way to express their columns from our members Class Fee: $40 history. Textile making is an integral part of Materials Fee: $10 about textiles and related everyday life and the Miao have developed a Limit: 13 participants events in the textile number of techniques to create their unique community. garments. Even the choice of materials, Please send your copy from thread to fabric to needle, is precise, to the TAC office at tac@ purposeful, and insightful. Textiles are the famsf.org. way in which Miao communicate not only their history but how they interact with their world on a daily basis.

This is a rare opportunity to get an in-depth look at Miao embroidery from one of the foremost researchers of Miao textiles. In the first half of the workshop, Ms. Torimaru will present a PowerPoint lecture on a variety of Miao embroidery stitches. Students are Tomoko Torimaru has spent several free to bring materials to follow along and years living and conducting costume practice these techniques in class. During research among the Miao. She is the the second half of the workshop, Ms. author of “Spiritual Fabric: 20 Years of Torimaru will demonstrate making Miao- Field Research among the Miao People style frog closures, a process that involves in Guizhou, China” and co-author, along cutting cloth into long , folding with her mother and research colleague, and stitching the tape into a cord, and Sadae Torimaru, of “Imprints on Cloth: 18 then knotting the cord into a pair of frog Years of Field Research among the Miao closures. Materials for the frog closures are People in Guizhou, China.” She is also the included in the materials fee. A supply list of author of the soon-to-be-released “One additional materials to bring will be sent to Needle, With One Thread: Miao (Hmong) participants. Embroidery and Fabric Piecework; Field Research among the Miao People in Class is limited to 13 participants. To sign Guizhou, China.” She recently earned up, please email [email protected] or call 415 her PhD in Asian traditional textiles, from 750-3627. TAC members have priority Donghua University in Shanghai, China. enrollment until Sept. 30. Non-member Please join us for this presentation, in which enrollment begins Oct. 1. Tomoko will talk about the wide variety of materials the Miao use for their embroidery and fabric piecework. She will also explain the meaning of some of the symbols used in Miao fabric patterns. Programs continue on page 4, col. 1

3 Programs continued from page 3

Saturday, November 17, 2007, 10:00 a.m. The leader of this exciting exploration is Connie FROM CONCEPT TO CURTAIN: Strayer, who has been designing costumes CREATING COSTUMES FOR for more than 30 years educationally and professionally. Her design experience runs from THE STAGE individual performance art pieces to large-scale With Connie Strayer operas and she has held almost all positions in Join us for a behind-the-scenes costume theatrical costuming from run crew to designer. journey as we venture into the challenges and She is currently a senior lecturer in the drama rewards of designing a period play for the stage. department at Stanford University, where she Our tour begins with the very first director teaches design and costume-related courses. and designer meetings, and ends on opening Connie has been immersed in surface design night as the curtain rises. We’ll touch on many for many years and utilizes her skills as a aspects involved with costume design, including painter/dyer for theatre and dance, working with research, fabric choices, design renderings, companies such as the San Francisco Ballet, patterning, actor fittings, quick changes, and San Jose Ballet, Smuin Ballet, and Lines Ballet, more! Discover how designers find those all in San Francisco, as well as the San Diego perfect 18th century silk prints, handsome Opera and the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. square-toed cavalier boots, comfortable She also designs and prints yardage for the corsetry, and period-appropriate underwear. fashion arena. This will offer wonderful insight Come along on this adventure that includes a into how, through color and design, the costume multitude of challenges as we encounter yards designer enhances the visual experience of of fabric, boxes of , piles of , and theatrical performance. even a bit of leather.

In Memorium: Peter Lyman

Peter Lyman, a former member of the determine whether there was a future as well as on the editorial boards of TAC board and a donor to the textile in developing the personal computer. numerous journals on behavioral collection, passed away Monday, He concluded that there was. From science, education, and information July 2, 2007, following a long and that point, he became increasingly technology. Even with all of this, he valiant battle with cancer. Peter was involved in information technology, still found time to pursue an interest an extraordinary man, multitalented particularly the interrelationship of in textiles, donating several objects and multidimensional. A brilliant computers, education, and society. In from his collection to the Fine Arts scholar, teacher, and innovator, recent years, he served as university Museums. he was awarded a major grant by librarian at UC Berkeley, and as a He also became a grandfather to twins the MacArthur Foundation to fund professor in the School of Information born in Rome about six weeks before his a study of the ways children learn Management and Systems, of which passing and, to his joy, was able to meet using digital media. His illness was he became associate dean. his new grandchildren in the last week of diagnosed shortly after the award. In addition to publishing copiously his life. Peter received degrees in philosophy in several disciplines, he served on Above all, Peter was a wonderful and political science from the the board of directors of Educom human being, unfailingly generous, University of California, Berkeley (the Interuniversity Communications gracious, and kind. I privileged to and Stanford and went on to teach Council), the Research Libraries know him. His death is a loss to the Bay these subjects, as well as sociology, Group (RLG), The Babbage Institute, Area and textile community, at several universities. Picking up the Art History Information Project and he will be missed. ethnography somewhere along at the Getty Trust, the Council on the way, he was hired by IBM to Library and Information Resources Diane Mott study computer usage in order to (CLIR), and the Internet Archive, Curator of Textiles

TAC Newsletter 4 The de Young Welcomes Welcome to Our New Members New Guinea Artist Cathy Kata Through July 18, 2007

Cathy Kata, a bilum (string bag) maker from Papua Ellen Abels Karen Hampton Ashley Parham New Guinea, has been awarded a Jolika Fellowship at Matilda Alperton Sandra Harner Star Pierce the de Young in November to study works in the Jolika Naomi Arnst Valerie Harris Madeleine Pope Collection of New Guinea art and share her work with the Krista Bachmeier Claudia Hess Claire Pratt FAM community. Patricia Belardi Lenore Hofmann Dolores Presley Bilums are one of the most Mary Ellen Bennett Michelle Holstein Sylvie Privat universally worn and commonly Abra Berman Amy O’Shea Hunt Christina Quiroz used objects in New Guinea. They Sheryl Birkner Laurence Jacquet Jane Radcliffe are made from a two-ply twine in a Alisha Blake Megan Jones-Smith Erin Reichert single-element looping technique. Cheryl Bowlan Phyllis Karsten Anne Rock They can be used to carry small Kelly Bradshaw Joan Kung-Levy Keris Salmon items or expand to carry heavy Stephen Brown Sharon Leach Anne Scott loads. Different types of bilums Linda Bryant Richard Levine Nalanin Shenasa have distinct uses as sacred containers or everyday bags. Linda Calvo Karen Liu Tedi Siminowsky Traditional bark fiber as well as cotton, polyester, and & William Garnsey Chere Mah Jody Stegman twine in commercially dyed colors are used to create Judith Casteel Albert Mazzie Patricia Stewart contemporary bilums. Katie Darakjian Evelin Mitchell Sande Stuart Cathy Kata completed her first bilum in first grade under Maisie Dea Pat Monaco Susan Swan the guidance of her mother, who was a skilled bilum Keverne DeSantis Christine Morioka Rosario Tacchetti maker. After years as a professional bilum maker and Judith Dides Ellen Moyer Masako Takahashi , Kata began designing “bilum wear” fashions— & Glenn Burch Mona Muniz William Taylor dresses, skirts, and vests—in 2003. Beginning with that Gail Farrell Andrea Navratil Ernestine Trujillo work, she has adapted a traditional technique to new Audrey Ferber Jayne Ogrodnik Julie Tsuchiya art forms. Margaret Gerwe Sheila O’Neill Barbara Von Gehr Lori Goldman Diana Orhun Anita Wu “All forms of art and craft require imagination, creativity, Lee Guichan Brenda Osborne Florette Yen and innovation. Bilum-making is no exception. Women were imaginative and creative in the kind of pattern or patterns that appear in a finished product, a bilum. As Volunteer Opportunities — TAC Needs You society and cultures change, people’s desires and needs change, and so the women as artists or craftpersons have The Textile Arts Council is looking for volunteers to help out with also to become more innovative in making bilums.” a variety of activities. Would you be willing to spend a couple —Cathy Kata, 2007 of hours a month welcoming people to TAC events? The Programs Committee would like help in greeting and meeting Workshop people attending our monthly lectures at the Koret Auditorium of the de Young and at special events. How about helping Cathy Kata will demonstrate and teach the process of with the newsletter mailing? The Communications Committee bilum-making in a workshop on Saturday, November 3, would like help in sending out the tri-annual TAC newsletter. Are 2007, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Classroom. you a professional fund raiser? The Fund Raising committee The cost is $50 per person, including supplies. could use your help. Or maybe you’d enjoy helping the textile Kata will present a lecture and demonstration on Saturday, department of the de Young? Volunteers will be needed for a November 10, 2007, at 2 p.m. in the Koret auditorium at variety of exhibition-related activities throughout the year. the de Young. If any of these opportunities interest you, please contact David For more information, please contact Christina Hellmich, Holloway, Volunteer Coordinator, at [email protected] for curator of the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art and more information about how you can help promote the Textile curator of Oceanic Art, at [email protected], Arts Council. 415 750-2621.

5 The Diane and CURATOR’S COLUMN surrounding Turkmen contribute to the mystery and the fascination they hold. Sandy Besser For Tent and Trade: Masterpieces Collection of Turkmen Weaving In 1991, the demise of the Soviet Union and de Young October 27, 2007 – the formation of independent states from Textile Galleries its former Central Asian republics made the January 13, 2008 Opening December 15, 2007 Turkmen and their culture more accessible to Opening this October in The importance the outside world. Meanwhile, the opening the Herbst Exhibition Hall of the Fine of Russian collections, libraries, and archives is an exhibit dedicated Arts Museums’ has brought to light fresh information and the collections of collection of new approaches that are challenging many Santa Fe, New Mexico, Turkmen carpets long-cherished assumptions about this residents and nationally from Central Asia weaving tradition. The Bay Area is fortunate recognized art collectors is well known to count among its many textile experts and Diane and Sandy to Textile Arts enthusiasts scholars, collectors, and dealers Besser. This exhibition Council members. whose years studying Turkmen carpets is will showcase Sandy The substantial helping redefine the carpets’ history. Two of Besser’s generous gift of bequest of H. them, collector Peter Poullada (pointing in three major collections, McCoy Jones to the museums in 1988; picture at left), who has spent much of his contemporary teapots, the donation of two key collections, those life in Central Asia and the Turkic world and contemporary drawings, of Wolfgang and Gisela Wiedersperg and speaks many of its languages and dialects, and African , to George and Marie Hecksher, as well as and San Francisco textile gallery owner the Fine Arts Museums substantial gifts by Caroline McCoy-Jones; Jim Blackmon (wearing cap, left), worked of San Francisco. More and other gifts and purchases have made with me in examining the objects for the than 50 African beadwork FAM renowned for the richness of its exhibition and analyzing their structural and objects will be on view. holdings. For the first time, highlights of material traits. It was wonderful to have their Examples from the these combined collections, representing special expertise and insights brought to late 19th to the 20th the pinnacle of Turkmen pile weaving, will bear on the collection. centuries will chronicle be shown together, in For Tent and Trade: the evolution of this Masterpieces of Turkmen Weaving, to open traditional craft, both as a in mid-December at the de Young. cultural artifact and as an art form. Carpets and other pile textiles woven by the nomadic and seminomadic Turkmen tribes are some of the most widely admired and passionately collected of all oriental rugs. They are also among the most challenging Camel trapping for a bridal procession (kejebelik) Central Asia, Turkmen people, Salor tribe, 1800 to study and understand. The long political or earlier isolation of Central Asia, the geographic Wool or goat hair; knotted pile (asymmetrical knot, open to the left) and linguistic remoteness of its people, Gift of George and Marie Hecksher the sheer number of Turkmen tribes and 2001.143.7 subtribes, and the complexity of their With approximately 40 premier works as movements and interactions over time have the focus, including the Saryk ensi TAC been major impediments to understanding donated in 1996 to honor Cathryn Cootner, the history of the Turkmen carpet. For Tent and Trade will discuss questions Cameroon, Grasslands people, still surrounding Turkmen carpets along with Kuosi society Compounding the picture, differences Elephant mask, 20th century in palette, design, character, and some of the new findings that are changing Diane and Sandy Besser our understanding of this complex weaving Collection, Santa Fe, New weave structure—tools for determining Mexico when, where, and by what group a rug was tradition. L07.29.4.6 made—are often confoundingly subtle in Diane Mott Turkmen examples. The many questions still Curator of Textiles

TAC Newsletter 6 GENERAL CALENDAR ONGOING Until Sept. 15 MFA Graduate Show, Online gallery show at Sept. 28 – Feb. 17, 2008 Private Pleasures: Collecting Contemporary www.FiberScene.com Textile Art, Textile Museum, Washington, DC, www. textilemuseum.org Until Sept. 23 of War: Fabrics of Memory, textiles from different cultures, San Jose Museum of & OCTOBER Textiles, 408 971-0323, www.sjquiltmuseum.org Oct. 12 – Jan. 6, 2008 Stylized : Contemporary Japanese Fashion From the Kyoto Costume Institute, Asian Art Until Oct. 1 accepted for consideration. 11th Biennial Museum, San Francisco, 415 581-3500, www.asianart. Symposium, Textile Society of America, Textiles as org Cultural Expressions, Sept. 24-27, 2008, Honolulu HI, www.textilesociety.org Oct. 16 – Jan. 6, 2008 Saturn Returns: Back to the Future of , San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, Until Oct. 18 Art for the Body, Art for the Walls, exhibition by 18 408 971-0323 www.sjquiltmuseum.org artists, sponsored by Marin Arts Council; curated by Oct. 17 – Jan. 6, 2008 Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of

ONGOING Jan Langdon Hamilton Field, Hangar 5, Novato, CA. For information and directions, call 415 464-2500 Splendor, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, www.metmuseum.org Until Nov. 10 Luxury, The Museum at FIT, New York City, www.fitnyc.edu/museum Oct. 27 – Jan. 13, 2008 The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, de Young Museum, San Francisco. An exhibition drawn Until Nov. 11 Nan Kempner: American Chic, de Young Museum, from three areas of this collection: contemporary San Francisco, www.thinker.org teapots, 20th C. African beadwork, and contemporary drawings. www.thinker.org Until Jan. 6, 2008 Textiles of Klimt’s Vienna, Textile Museum, Washington, DC, www.textilemuseum.org NOVEMBER Nov. 17 – Feb. 17, 2008 Marie-Antoinette and the Petit Trianon, SEPTEMBER Legion of Honor, San Francisco, www.thinker.org Sept. 22 – Jan. 6, 2008 The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London, 1947 – 1957, Victoria & Albert Museum, DECEMBER London, UK, www.vam.ac.uk Dec. 15 – TBA For Tent and Trade: Masterpieces of Turkmen Weaving, de Young Museum, San Francisco, www. Sept. 23 Can Art Build Peace? What About Textiles? Panel thinker.org discussion, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, 408 971-0323, www. JANUARY 2008 sjquiltmuseum.org Jan. 16 – March 23 Marian Clayden Retrospective, an homage to this important local fiber artist. San Jose Museum of Sept. 27 – Mar. 23, 2008 Walk This Way, an innovative Quilts & Textiles, 408 971-0323, www.sjquiltmuseum.org exhibition of shoes placed throughout the Fine Arts Museum of Boston in juxtaposition to other similarly dated works of art. www.mfa.org

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

Downloading The Textile Future With Victor De La Rosa

Saturday, September 22, 2007, 10:00 a.m. Koret Auditorium de Young Museum

One Needle, One Thread: Miao (Hmong) Embroidery And Fabric Piecework From Guizhou, China With Tomoko Torimaru

Saturday, October 20, 2007, 10:00 a.m. Koret Auditorium de Young Museum

From Concept To Curtain: Creating Costumes For The Stage With Connie Strayer Fine Arts Museums of Saturday, November 17, 2007, 10:00 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 Patricia Borg

Office Manager Trish Daly

Editor Lucy Smith

Visit our website:www.textileartscouncil.org September 2007