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TSA Newsletter
Fall 2007
Textile Conservation at
the Bardo National Museum
in Algiers
By Julia Brennan
In the summer of 2007 I was invited to teach
textile conservation at the Bardo National Museum in Algiers for
six weeks.
I really
have been to the Casbah!! Like many Americans, I knew so little
about Algeria. My only sense of the country was informed by Delacroix’s
romantic paintings of 19th-century Casbah women, and college courses
that touched on the long, bloody Algerian War for Independence.
I didn’t know that Albert Camus and Yves St. Laurent were
both Algerian; that St. Augustine was born in 354 AD in Hippo (now
Annaba); that the famed Barbarossa pirates ruled the Mediterranean
from the Bay of Algiers; or that Tlemcen was the silk ribbon-making
capitol of the Ottoman empire. I didn’t know I would stay
in the same elegant neo-Moorish hotel as General Eisenhower did
in 1942. I certainly didn’t know that my workplace would
be a stunningly beautiful 17th-century Moorish villa–an intellectual
oasis in the heart of busy Algiers. I couldn’t have imagined
that I would fall in love with my colleagues: their wit, nationalism
and warm hospitality. I could never have imagined this setting
and the world of Ottoman-style textiles I was to become immersed
in.
The project was co-funded by the Algerian Ministry
of Culture and the US State
Department’s Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation. It was
the first textile conservation workshop ever held in Algeria. The Bardo Museum
was founded in 1930 and is one of the oldest museums in the country, and a veritable
repository of prehistoric and ethnographic collections from Algeria and Africa.
My trainees were 10 curators and technicians, many of whom have worked at the
museum for over 20 years. Most were trained anthropologists and archaeologists,
with a high level of formal education. They knew their collections intimately,
and have researched, published and done their best to preserve them.
The Bardo
is an exquisite example of an Ottoman regency country-style villa. The main
building was constructed in the mid-1600s by a rich Tunisian prince.
It is characterized by multiple courtyards, walled gardens, antechambers for
entertaining, winding staircases and intimate nooks. Surfaces are adorned with
magnificent ceramic tiles–a historic patchwork from Turkey, Morocco,
Spain, Algeria and Holland. Some date from the 15th century. The ethnographic
exhibitions
now occupy most of the original private domestic spaces in period rooms that
romantically reconstruct life in the Ottoman period. Our workshop was held
in a quaint room, with views overlooking the Pavillion of the Favorite and
an enclosed
garden.....a world created to conceal women in their daily lives. In Ottoman
architecture the home is a feminine space, and textiles are the feminine expressions
therein. Embroidery was done everyday in private quarters, behind silk and
linen embroidered curtains. All forms of intimate and domestic textiles were
embellished.
Hand embroidery continues today in a limited way. Modern urban life has given
way to machine stitching and store-bought goods. In this intimate space, we
began our workshop, much of it stitching, recreating an atmosphere of a bygone
time.
The textile collections comprise 18th-20th-century
Ottoman “urban”-style
costumes, embroideries and other household textiles. Most are Algerian, but
there is a large collection of Tunisian textiles, plus some rural ethnographic
collections–primarily
Touareg and Kabylie (Berber). Our work commenced with the most important
and fragile pieces. We were able to do 12 treatments in all–a significant
achievement, considering that some treatments took over 60 hours.
Our first
efforts focused on a collection of corsets or frimla, tiny brassiere-like
vests made of silver and gold brocades and silk plaids, with decorative
conical buttons down the front, floral-printed cotton linings,
and gold soutache
braid along the edges. They are exquisite little accessories to be worn
over full-sleeved
silk brocade or tulle blouses–very much a part of mid-19th-century
stylish clothing, and similar to Turkish vests of this period. Our stabilization
treatments
utilized overlays of fine netting or silk crepeline, stitched over the
backs, front plackets and sometimes the lining.
We worked on several 19th-century
velvet robes (caftans), vests (jabadouli
and ghelila) and tailored jackets (karakou), which are clearly derived
from Ottoman-period
(Turkish) costumes. Two distinct characteristics which link these costumes
to their Ottoman precedents are the deep colors of the velvets and the
gold embroidered
decoration. Like Ottoman costumes, the stylistically formal and symmetrical
embroidery covers large sections of the garments, giving them a sumptuousness
and rigidity.
The embroidery is executed in gold and silver metallic threads, couched
down, twisted in coils, and embellished with metallic sequins. The technique
is
actually one of wrapping thin gold or silver metal wire around yellow
threads. The two
techniques are locally referred to as el medjboud and el fetla. Much
of the velvet was dry-rotted, and unable to support the heavy embroidery.
Our stabilization
ric patches between the velvet and the cotton inner lining, and stitching
the damaged areas to these supports.
While many costumes were reminiscent
of earlier Ottoman styles, here, too, local elements have been
blended to create uniquely Algerian costumes.
Several of the
museum’s 19th-century robes and jackets were probably wedding costumes,
and the same styles can be seen today. In all the bridal boutiques, the
similarities between the 18th-20th-century historic costumes and contemporary
models were
noteworthy. The velvet colors are still the traditional ones: blue-black,
blood maroon, wheat gold, deep forest green. The fabrics are now rayon
and cotton velvet,
and much of the gold embroidery is machine-done, but the basic styles
and ornately embellished surfaces are the same. They are produced locally,
and many are made
by commission only. Nowadays costumes are a highlight of every wedding.
The celebration is a continuous runway show, as the bride successively
(exhaustingly) changes
her outfits, displaying beauty, wealth and regional heritage.
The workshop
brought together a very engaged group of museum professionals in a
highly productive environment. In daily forums we discussed condition,
possible
treatments and storage solutions, and reviewed preventative conservation
theory and practices. One of the most important breakthroughs in working
with collections
in poor condition was the understanding by the participants of the
distinction
between conservation and restoration. The participants learned the
fundamentals of conservation, and to accept age and imperfections
as part of the history
of the artifact.
The Bardo Museum took the opportunity to use
the workshop to launch a new conservation directive for the museum.
The work
continues today
on
the
textile collections.
Since the completion of the workshop, staff has continued the treatment
and mount-making projects that were initiated. Long-range plans for
reorganizing storage are underway.
This is a strong testament to the sustainability of this project. Hopefully,
funds for ongoing training can be raised to maintain this important
cultural heritage and continue to build a solid base of conservation-trained
professionals.
It was a great privilege for me to work at the
Bardo Museum and be immersed in the rich artistic history of Algeria.
My
special thanks go to: Director Mme. Azzoug, who welcomed me with
abundant hospitality, and has the vision to steer the Bardo
Museum
into the future;
Mrs. Sibyl Erdman, whose cultural passions nurtured this grant, and
inspired me, as
well as many Algerian friends in the arts; Sara, my daughter, assistant,
French and Arabic translator, and the real “ambassador.”
Julia M. Brennan,
Textile Conservator
http://www.caringfortextiles.com
TSA Newsletter
Spring 2007
Miao Children's Dress
By Rachel Suntop
Some of the world’s most colorful and elaborate
costumes, clothing and adornment are used by the Miao people of
Southeast
Asia and southern China. This is particularly true of children's
dress, whose dynamic styles are a unique combination of the traditional
and the new. There is great diversity in Miao children’s
clothing and adornment for babies, teenagers, and young adults.
During my internship at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, I
studied items in its collection as the basis for my research.
Baby Cap, Thailand with elephant's foor motif and large paj , or
tassel. Collection of The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. 1998.8.2.
Gift of the Anne Tennyson Collection.
Child's Hat, Thailand with corn and fish
scale motifs, and adorned with tassels, or paj. Collection of The
Textile Museum, Washington, DC 1998.8.3. Gift of the Anne Tennyson
Collection.
Miao
History and Origins
The Miao (also spelled Meo) are also known
as the Hmong tribe. The Miao are split into several sub-categories,
such as the Blue
Meo, the White Meo, and the Green Meo. For clarity and consistency,
I will use the term Miao.
The origin of the Miao is unclear. It
is believed that they may have originally come from Arctic regions
(particularly Siberia),
but there is no solid proof for this. It is known, however, that
they had migrated to China and have lived there for a long time.
As a minority tribe of China they were mistreated and suppressed
by the Han majority. As a result, many Miao migrated further south
into Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, beginning in the late 19th century.
The total Miao population today is around 9 million. The majority
still live in the Southern Guizhou province of China. The smaller
Miao populations in Southeast Asia have successfully maintained
and preserved the culture and traditional dress they brought from
mainland China.
Historically, the Miao did not have a written
language. Fabric patterns served as a primary communication tool
in their
culture,
and the textile patterns that are passed through generations reflect
the culture’s history.
Children’s Clothing
Generally Miao children’s
dress is similar in style to adult clothing, often mimicking it.
However, there are notable differences,
particularly in the headwear and jewelry. There are also clothing
articles unique to children, such as baby carriers and sashes.
Children’s
clothing tends to be quite elaborately decorated. Many of the motifs
and symbols utilized on the clothing are protective
in nature, since the fragile lives of young children are believed
to be vulnerable to evil spirits. Infant mortality is astonishingly
high in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia (in some areas
as high as 50% of live births), and medical information has been
scarce.
Certain colors tend to appear more frequently
in the children's clothing, particularly red and pink (especially
in the pompoms
on the hats). There are also distinct color combinations for the
outfits of girls and young women in the Guizhou province. Red is
the dominant color. Blue, green, orange, yellow and white are used
in smaller amounts.
One of the best opportunities for children to
show off their colorful costumes is during festivals, especially
the New Year, when clothing
and headgear are particularly ornate. It is especially important
for young girls to wear full traditional dress during these occasions,
and they are expected to wear a new costume at each festival.
Techniques
The Miao are noted for their numerous
textile techniques. Mothers spend a great deal of time making elaborately-embroidered
clothing
for their children. Girls are taught embroidery techniques from
a young age and are also expected to create costumes.
The embroidery
styles used for clothing reflect various influences. Han Chinese
techniques include the knot, satin and Pekinese stitches.
The widespread techniques of cross stitch and appliqué are
also used. Styles unique to the Miao include pleated braid embroidery,
silk felt appliqué, reverse appliqué and tuck-and-fold
appliqué. Some Miao groups also practice batik, particularly
with indigo dye.
Motifs
The motifs used in Miao clothing serve
both as a tool for communication and to drive away evil spirits
and bad luck from children. The
predominant motifs are stylized versions of native plants and animals,
each of which has a different protective function.
One frequently-occurring
motif in children’s clothing is the butterfly.
It brings good luck and health to children and is considered to be the creator
of all living things. Another common motif is the water buffalo. This is a symbol
of virility and often shows up on young women’s pleated skirts, particularly
in Laos. The motif consists of an abstract symbol of four buffalo heads joined
together by the horns.
Two other popular motifs are the snail/pumpkin
seed pattern and the fish hook.
The snail/pumpkin seed pattern used on children’s hats, aids in bonding
children’s souls to their heads. The fish hook is worn by young girls
and represents the hope of finding a lover.
Two motifs that appear in The Textile
Museum’s collection of hats are the
zigzag and the snail. The zigzag represents mountains or tiger teeth. These
are used to repel bad spirits from the wearer. The snail motif, or je, symbolizes
growth of the extended family, evolving from a single point of origin. Je
are always found in pairs and are often found on New Year garments worn by
young
women to attract suitors. Both motifs appear frequently in children’s
clothing.
Border motifs on clothing form distinct decorations
and also play an important protective role. Triangles are a common
border motif.
Hats and Headwear
Hats are some of the most striking
Miao accessories. Although children’s
hats tend to differ based on gender and age, there are some consistent
characteristics. Yarn tassels or pompoms, called paj (flowers),
are ubiquitous on children’s
headwear. These are placed on the top of the hats to disguise the children
as flowers, thus enticing good spirits. Because they are so noticeable,
the paj
also help parents keep track of wandering youngsters. Images of Buddhist
and Taoist gods carved from silver on the front of the hat, and
embroidered tiger
motifs meant to ward away evil, are common on hats for both genders.
The
Miao believe that boys are more vulnerable than girls to evil spirits.
Little boys’ hats are topped with large bright red, pink, or magenta
pompoms to divert the spirits’ attention and protect boys from illness,
injury, death and other misfortunes.
Girls also wear distinctive headdress,
but less is known about these. Their hats tend to be in the shape of
a cockscomb, as roosters are reputed to
fight off
evil spirits. Rainbow-colored piping is attached to the edges, intended
to frighten away snakes and dragons.
Older boys wear a simplified headdress:
black skull caps with a hard interlining and a single large pink pompom
on top. Young Miao men throughout Laos wear
hats with a tis vos, or anchor-shaped design.
Jewelry
The Miao have a passion for silver jewelry,
and children are adorned with great amounts of it, especially on
holidays such as the New Year.
Silver
is a sign
of status, so children wear as much silver as their families can afford.
Common adornments include bells and tassels.
The jewelry also serves a
protective function. The Miao believe that the child’s
soul is weakly joined to the body and can easily escape, particularly
from the joints. Therefore, more jewelry is placed around the neck,
wrists and ankles
to secure the child’s soul.
Baby Carriers
Baby carriers or carrying cloths
are distinctive and beautiful Miao textiles. They come in many
styles and serve both practical
and spiritual purposes.
They are also a signifier of a young girl’s worth.
The Miao are
very active people, and the baby carrier serves to attach the child
to the mother while she works. Because of the belief in their
vulnerability
to
attacks from behind by spirits, the richly-decorated carriers distract
evil spirits as they protect the fragile burden on the mother’s
back. Baby carriers also allude to a more primal significance. According
to research
by Cecilia Chen,
the baby carrier is a symbolic extension of the umbilical cord. Hence,
it is an intimate object conveying the special relationship between
mother and child.
Girls are taught from a young age to make baby
carriers. Not only is
it important that they make them, but that they use exquisite craftsmanship
and extremely
elaborate designs. In some sub-groups, young girls wear empty carriers
before they marry.
Styles and techniques used for baby carriers
vary, depending on the sub-group. Carrier size and sash type also
varies.
One consistent
aspect is the
basic construction. Two differently-sized rectangular pieces of fabric
are joined,
the smaller one
at the top. The cloths can be padded or layered. Often the carrier
is decorated with embroidery, wax resist, decorative weave patterns,
and/or
appliqué.
In some cases, such as with the Green Miao, paj are attached to attract
good spirits. There are often distinct border patterns on three or
four sides of the
carrier.
One common motif utilized on Laotian baby carriers
is the “pig
pen.” Pigs
are valuable livestock and are protected in pens, just as young
children are enclosed in baby carriers. The baby’s soul is “locked,” so
it can’t wander and become a victim of misfortune.
Sashes
The baby carrier is attached to the mother
by a sash that wraps across her back. The sashes are another visual
display of the mother’s dedication to the
child and are often elaborately decorated with batik, appliqué and
embroidery. The sashes are covered with symbols of good fortune:
dragons, butterflies, Oriental
sweet gum trees, hawks, tigers, wild flowers and water creatures.
Young
girls also wear sling sashes. They are considered an important
symbol of luck and fertility, and are often constructed from woven
twill. Sometimes
the
fabric is treated with a substance that imparts a rich, glossy
surface. Sashes can be equated to a form of binding. Handling or
loosening
a young girl’s
sash is considered to be an intimate act. Because of the sash’s
connotations, it is a common gift from their fiancés.
Changes
in Modern-day Clothing
From the beginning of the 20th century, tremendous
changes have taken place in Miao dress, especially children’s
dress. The younger generations of Miao women spend much less time
making clothing than
their mothers and
grandmothers
did. They often prefer to dress in more modern styles, and are
influenced by Western culture and television. In addition to desiring
less-traditional
clothing,
they often prefer synthetic textiles and brighter fabrics from
China, made available through local markets.
Some traditional sewing
techniques are disappearing as well. Older appliqué techniques
(such as the double-fold technique) are becoming obsolete. Embroidery
is more common, as it is easier and less time-consuming. Young
girls are using
larger
stitches and are making larger motifs.
In Northern Vietnam in particular,
young girls are utilizing synthetic shiny velvets imported from
China. They prefer jackets made from
flowered velvet
adorned with strings of plastic beads, also from China. Some of
their jackets are sewn
entirely by machine.
Although it is inevitable that Miao clothing
will undergo further metamorphosis, the Miao still cling more strongly
to the traditional
techniques than
many other cultures. Currently there is a resurgence of traditional
embroidery and appliqué techniques
in the small Miao communities scattered throughout the US.
Note: This
article was adapted from a research paper written during the author’s
2005 internship at The Textile Museum, Washington, DC.
Bibliography
Adams, Monni. “Dress and Design
in Highland Southeast Asia: the Hmong (Miao) and the Yao.” Textile
Museum Journal vol. 4, no. 1, Dec. 1974.
Corrigan, Gina. Miao Textiles
from China. The University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2001.
Courtenay,
Philip. Migrants from the Mountains: the Costume Art of the Hmong
people of Mainland Southeast Asia. James Cook University
of North
Queensland,
Townsville, 1995.
Crystal, Eric. Textiles as Texts: Arts of Hmong
Women from Laos. The Women’s
Building, Los Angeles, 1987.
Hemmet, Christine. “Traditional
Costumes of the Hmong of Vietnam.” Through
the Thread of Time: Southeast Asian Textiles. River Books Co. Ltd,
Bangkok, Thailand, 1994, pp. 162-170.
John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
Hmong Art: Tradition and Change. Sheboygan Arts Foundation Inc,
Sheboygan, WI, 1986.
Kanomi, Takako. Textiles and Crafts of the
Golden Triangle. Shikosha Publishing Co Ltd, Kyoto, 1991.
Lan,
Yu-Chiao Liu, Lin, Christi Lan and Lin, Brenda. Bonding via Baby
Carriers. Les Enphants Co, Taipei, Taiwan, 2001.
Lewis, Paul and
Elaine. Peoples of the Golden Triangle. Thames & Hudson,
London and New York, 1984.
O’Connor, Deryn. Miao Costumes
from Guizhou Province West China. James Hockey Gallery, Surrey,
England, 1994.
Porter-Francis, Wendy. “A Flourishing Art:
USA.” Threads,
no 9, Feb./Mar. 1987, pp. 33-37.
Rossi, Gail. “A Flourishing
Art: China.” Threads, no
9, Feb,/Mar. 1987, pp. 30-32.
Torimaru, Sadae and Torimaru, Tomoko.
Imprints on Cloth: 18 Years of Field Research among the Miao
People of Guizhou, China. Akishige
Tada,
The Nishinippon
Newspaper
Co, Fukuoka, Japan, 2004.
TSA Newsletter
Fall 2006
Moving Into the Future: Evolving Focus in Textile and
Apparel Design Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
by
Beverly Gordon
The department of Environment, Textiles and Design
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison announces changes in its
Textile and Apparel
Design undergraduate major. This
will be a more completely integrated program, where students will not see themselves
as specializing in either apparel or textiles. All students will be given a wide-ranging
introduction to both areas, including basic textile and apparel design skills,
knowledge of textile science, textile and apparel history and their contemporary
global context, and knowledge about new developments in the textile industry.
The goal is that the program evolve along with twenty-first-century textiles.
We want to prepare students to be cognizant of the global, contextual dimensions
of the field and be able to adapt to its changing parameters.
Previously, the
phrase “power suit” would have suggested the garb
of high- powered Wall Street executives. In 2006, however, we can interpret the
phrase quite literally, for “smart cloth” has arrived. Increasingly,
scientists and designers must be concerned with new possibilities and developments
in fibers, fabrics and finishes, and garment design. In addition, the boundaries
between textiles and apparel are breaking down, and the global markets are shifting
constantly. The world is coping with a glut of textiles and those who produce
textiles and apparel are often not paid a living wage. The environmental cost
of our decisions is also an important issue.
We are redirecting our program to
more conceptual, broad-based approach. The goal is to educate forward-thinking
designers who are not tied to a given industry,
but who are creative problem solvers with social awareness and conscience.
Our students will be able to apply their skills to textiles, apparel,
accessories,
or related design problems of “social architecture” (e.g., temporary
fabric shelters for refugees or the homeless).
One additional benefit of this
new approach will be that more students will be drawn more deeply into the
textile design arena. In the past, over 90% of
those
entering our program were primarily interested in fashion or apparel. Fashion
seems “sexy;” it is tied to celebrity and popular culture. Fashion
trends are followed in the press and reality TV shows, with hardly a mention
of from where the fabrics come. We have found that once students are educated
about the field of textile design, however, many become enamored and excited
about it. Our goal is to make this ever more the case.
As
part of the redirection of this major, the department is searching
for two new faculty positions
in Textile and Apparel Design.One position will have primary responsibility
for courses in innovative apparel
design, focusing on visionary approaches to cloth and clothing. The second
will be responsible for courses in traditional and innovative fabric treatments,
such
as methods of applied embellishment and structural/sculptural techniques.
For more information, contact Diane
Sheehan or Beverly
Gordon.
TSA
Newsletter
Winter 2006
Exploring Contemporary Textiles:
A Day with Matilda McQuaid and Hil Driessen
By Joanne Dolan Ingersoll
TSA WORKSHOP, NEW YORK
SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
TSA was pleased to present a Study Day
in response to two important exhibitions inspired by the current
interest in
contemporary textiles: “Extreme
Textiles: Designing for High Performance” and “Dutch
at the Edge of Design: Fashion and Textiles from the Netherlands.”
The
day began at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, where curator
Matilda McQuaid gave the group an exclusive tour of “Extreme
Textiles.” Matilda shared her experience in developing the
concept and exploring the different industrial applications in
aerospace, medicine, geotextiles, architecture, and high performance
sports. For museums, this was an unprecedented collection of materials
and corporate participants, so she faced many challenges along
the way. A particularly difficult one was to convince manufacturers
to allow their proprietary information and experimental textiles
to be displayed to the public.
The exhibition began with a small
display of textiles from the Cooper-Hewitt's permanent collection
illustrating a variety of
familiar textile structures and using them to present the traditional
framework of textile classification as a comparison to what was
to follow. Then Matilda introduced a new paradigm of how textiles
can be organized for today’s wide-ranging functions. The
exhibition was organized based on performance characteristics:
stronger, faster, lighter, smarter, and safer. In organizing this
exhibition she found that the long-established classification system
based on structure was no longer the best way to understand the
qualities of these materials. Many textiles in the exhibition were
comprised of mainly braided, twisted, and non-woven structures,
yet were engineered for many different functions; using the adjectives
of performance became a more relevant classification system.
The
second part of the day took the group to the Museum at FIT, where
the exhibition “Dutch at the Edge of Design: Fashion
and Textiles from the Netherlands” was on display. The curator
of the exhibition, Harumi Hotta, brought together innovative designers
from the Netherlands who work well outside of the established textile
industries, producing textiles to create chairs, household products
such as a coffeepots, and even chandeliers.
The artist/designer
Hil Driessen remained in New York following the opening to talk
about her past, present, and future work to
the TSA group. Hil based her presentation around her installation,
a collaborative effort with fabricators –to make carpeting,
table linen, a 17th-century-inspired laminated cabinet, silk jacket
and scarf, and other objects that inhabited a conceptual dining
room. Inspired by the architectural style of the Amsterdam School,
Hil plays with scale and material in order to achieve her total
work of art, or gesamtkunstwerk. The patterns for all of these
materials came from Hil’s digital imagery based on a single
source, a ceramic bowl, onto which she crocheted a covering; she
then glazed and fired it, and used the imperfections and contrasting
textures that resulted for pattern.
Hil has been working with Stork
printers since the early 1990s, and has developed a unique aesthetic
centered on her digital imagery.
For the MFIT exhibition she utilized Stork, now called Printworks
in the Netherlands; the jaquard weaving resources at the Textile
Museum in Tilburg, NL; an Italian laminating company for the cabinet;
and a custom carpet manufacturer.
Hil also brought several prototypes
in development for the group to examine and discuss. She just completed
designing and fabricating
digitally printed panels to be used in an 1850s interior at the
University of Utrecht, and showed us examples. She is becoming
more involved in specific installations, where she successfully
marries historic structure preservation with the most current textile
technology. Hil’s presentation brought a mix of humor to
her serious creative endeavors, which brought her ideas to life,
and proved to be an inspiration for all the participants.
TSA is
eager to offer more workshop programs of all varieties in the future.
If you or your institution would like to collaborate
with TSA in hosting an event that would benefit our members, please
contact the board’s Program Committee for more information.
Margo
Mensing mmensing@skidmore.edu
or
Joanne Dolan Ingersoll dolaningersoll@gmail.com
TSA Newsletter
Fall 2005
TSA has been an important channel
for my professional development. My desire to participate in an
international
textile
preservation and access project began while attending the 2002
TSA Eighth Biennial Symposium. I met Judy Frater, Project Coordinator
for the Kala Rasksha Trust, and began working towards a future
textile preservation project with her organization. Less than three
years later, we secured funding and implemented a Museum Documentation
Project, a first of its kind in the state of Gujarat.
The Kala
Raksha Trust (RKT), a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) located
in the remote desert region of Kutch, India, has been dedicated
to preserving the traditional arts of the region since 1993. The
KRT now works in 15 villages with contemporary artisans who produce
six different embroidery styles: Suf, Kharek and Paako, Rabari,
Jat, and Mutava. The traditional embroideries have been learned
through hand-instruction by elders, and are created directly on
the cloth; thus heritage pieces are the only records kept. However,
textiles of this region have been collected by dealers, museums
and private collectors worldwide.
Thus, Kala Raksha’s Museum
acts as an important resource to ensure the cultural longevity
of these traditional arts. The
KRT holdings include over 600 traditional textiles and costumes,
contemporary craftwork, a library, archives, photographs and slides.
The
goal of the project was to reduce the overall handling of objects
while increasing the ease of access to the collection. Providing
direct access to the heritage collection is important to the design
process. Research, collections, and documentation are integral
to the Trust’s philosophy of utilizing traditions for development.
As
expressed in The Hindu, May, 2005: “The Museum, with its
heirloom textiles, also functions as a reference library… With
traditional embroideries slowly slipping out of the hands and memories
[of young Kutchi artisans] the museum is where [they] can–and
inevitably will–come to look at the sort of embroidered garments
their grandparents wore, to study their stitches and designs.”
The
Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts), India, provided
the initial funding. The collection is low-volume but
content-rich. For a modest budget of US$10,000, the Trust was outfitted
with two computers, a scanner, digital camera, color printer, Pastperfect
software and its companion networking software, computer backup
peripherals, staff salary and my expenses. The local Assistant
Director of DCH was present on the first day to kick off the project.
With
the Trust now equipped with the technology and expertise to begin
to preserve and access its Museum holdings for artisans,
researchers, and international scholars, I conducted a six-week
training workshop (Feb.-Apr. 2005) on preservation methods, and
implemented the Pastperfect collections management system, software
introduced to India for the first time at the KRT. The finite collection
allowed for a full-life-cycle implementation of a collection management
project–each and every stage, from storage assessment and
upgrade to building content-rich digital archives, was accomplished
for the entire collection.
Five staff members, three IT staff and
two collection care staff (tailors)–were trained in handling
and storage of textiles, basic collections stewardship, scanning
and digital photography,
and creating and maintaining a collections database. The Museum
catalog had been extensively developed by Judy Frater, with 35mm
photographs laminated onto sheets filled with detailed data, and
stored in 3-ring binders.
The IT staff quickly learned the collections
management software, and maintained backup systems. Developing
skills in flat-bed scanning,
digital photography, and archiving methodologies, they converted
the paper-based records into digital files for the new system.
The
collection care staff was responsible for storage upgrade of over
600 objects. The collections are housed in a traditional Bhunga
style building (rounded structure with a conical roof) equipped
with a ceiling fan. The campus is solar-powered. The interior temperature
remained fairly stable during the work day, but the desert environment
provided an abundance of UV, fine mud particulates, insects, and
reptiles. A collections storage assessment was performed to identify
overall storage needs. The majority of the textiles had been folded
and stored in plastic bags in flat metal drawers. Mud had filtered
into the cabinets, depositing a fine layer of dust onto the plastic-covered
objects. Rolled textiles were stored in glass-front metal hanging
units, configured onto aluminum tubes and covered in plastic.
We
utilized local materials such as muslin and cotton twill tape;
archival mat board was imported through a Chennai paper vendor.
Our first priority was to remove the objects from the plastic bags,
clean the cabinets, and interleaf the objects with washed muslin.
The rolled textiles were immediately covered in muslin and polyethylene
sheeting to block out UV light and dust; printed accession labels
with color images were attached to the polyethylene exterior to
provide a visual reference for the object. A new hanging storage
cabinet for oversized textiles was built and installed.
Along with
the modernization of the Museum, the Trust conducted a two-week
artisan Design Development Workshop taught by senior
faculty from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).
The new information retrieval system was well-utilized by artisans
during the workshop. The Museum staff assisted in the design workshop
by helping the artisans navigate the new collections database,
retrieving objects, and documenting the new designs. A “Design
Archive Collection,” separate from the heritage collection,
was created to aid in future curriculum development.
I witnessed
first-hand the impact of digital access to a collection. In the
Museum-based design development workshop, artisans and professors
used the collections database to select objects for design inspiration.
This tool allowed for unlimited research into specific categories
of the collection without opening a storage cabinet.
The importance
of preserving cultural heritage in an earthquake-prone region was
further highlighted as the staff and I had the opportunity
to attend a Workshop on Disaster Management and Preparedness, organized
by the National Museum Institute, New Delhi.
Our goal was attained:
access to collections increased, while overall handling decreased.
Today Kala Raksha’s holdings are easily
available to the artisans as a resource for design inspiration.
The “train-the-trainer method” helped to ensure that
the project would be self-sustaining. In phase II of the project,
a web engine will support world-wide access to the heritage collection,
as well as function to market contemporary designs produced by
the Kala Raksha artisans.
For more information on the Kala Raksha
Trust, visit
http://www.kala-raksha.org/trust.htm
- Mary Ann Sadagopan
Collections Care Specialist,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
msadagopan@mfa.org
TSA Newsletter
Spring 2005
Lemurs and Lamba: Textile Conservation Training
in Madagascar
By Julia Brennan
In January 2005 the conservation winds blew me
to Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world: the land
of chameleons, baobabs, vanilla, lemurs and lamba. My impression
of Madagascar was of an exotic land, the African gateway to Asia,
abundant in spices, rare biodiversity and the fabled lemurs. My
mission was to conserve a unique collection of 19th-century traditional
lamba or wrappers, representing the great artistic and technical
achievements of Malagasy weavers at the Andafiavaratra Museum.
When this important national collection was recently
uncovered, it captured the attention of local museums and international
scholars. Its conservation became the object of a unique collaboration
between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the US Embassy.
This project involved the first comprehensive textile conservation
training ever conducted in Madagascar, and was the first US Ambassador's
Fund for Cultural Preservation Grant awarded in Madagascar.
Our conservation activities were big news. Within
days of my arrival, articles on our workshop, together with photographs
of the Minister of Culture and the workshop participants, were
featured in many of the daily newspapers, heralding "Julia
Brennan est la!"
I was deeply honored to be invited to take part
in preserving such a significant part of Madagascar's cultural
heritage, and I was overwhelmed. I was greeted on day one with
piles of tattered, soiled and mildewed un-accessioned textiles
heaped in a corner of the rundown, dark exhibition room with plaster
crumbling off the ceilings, and 12 anxious trainees waiting for
me to perform miracles. Early each morning we had to heat water
for detergent baths on a charcoal brazier, and each day we had
to track down and purchase local materials and adapt them for our
needs. Electricity was erratic, daily storms caused roof leaks,
translations of textile terminology were ongoing, and the incremental
lessons had to be continually reinforced, but the enormous efforts
invested in this project yielded great rewards for the participants
and, certainly, for me. In three weeks of intensive work we transformed
almost half of the collection into a stunning exhibit; the textiles
were stabilized, cleaned, beautifully mounted, and displayed in
the newly plastered, painted and illuminated exhibition room, with
a grand opening to mirror the pride and hard work of the trainees.
It really was a miracle.
The Legendary Lamba
Until around 1920, nearly all Malagasy
women wove, and their handiwork—cloths of silk, cotton,
raffia, banana fiber and beaten bark—was the island's most
developed art form. Most of Madagascar's finest historic textiles
are in museums abroad, among them the British Museum, The Field
Museum, and the Musee de L'Homme. The Smithsonian also has several
fine lamba, including two cloths presented to President Grover
Cleveland by Queen Ranavalona in 1886.
Typical lamba are boldly striped, dyed with both
natural and imported synthetic dyes, and often adorned with metal
or glass beads along the fringed ends. For the Malagasy people,
lamba served as daily dress, head coverings, ceremonial attire,
prestigious gifts, and ancestor wrappings. Beyond their aesthetic
value, lamba also had deep-rooted social and religious significance,
and served as keys to the status of both weaver and wearer. This
tradition exists today in a limited way, with the manufacture of
burial cloths available in the markets. In the last few years,
Malagasy weavers have begun experimenting with imported and wild
silk, and the shawls, scarves, and home décor items they
are creating are appearing in local boutiques. Our hope is that
the current national exhibit of this historic collection will help
inspire a revival of this beautiful art form, and will re-establish
the status and use of the lamba in Madagascar.
The collection of 70 lamba being conserved is
the only collection of 19th-century cloth remaining in Madagascar
since the National Museum, Queen's Palace, burned in 1995, along
with many pre-1900 artifacts. This group of textiles had been housed
in a former king's regional summer palace at Ilafy, and was recently
transferred to the Palace of Andafiavaratra in the capital, Antanariarivo,
for preservation. It contains examples of all kinds of traditional
cloths, including the very large or traditional lamba, loin cloths,
ceremonial shawls, and funerary shrouds. Many of the textiles are
silk, the most prestigious fiber in Madagascar. A majority are
woven from the indigenous "wild" silkworm, Borocera,
which is unique to the island. Several examples are of very fine
raffia, beaten bark, reeds, hemp, and banana-stem fiber.
Training Approach
My job was to train a group of museum
staff in the basics of textile conservation using this collection
as our living laboratory; to develop and put in place a new storage
facility; and to design and install a major exhibit—all
in three weeks! Educating participants in preventative conservation
was the core goal of the project. This included establishing
guidelines for handling, cataloguing, processing, storage, treatment,
and exhibition of historic artifacts.
The scope of work was extensive. My teaching
methodology integrated principles and hands-on techniques, and
was a successful model for training a range of participants. Thanks
to the dedication of the project's 12 participants who each committed
to a full-time, six-day-a-week schedule, the final results were
impressive, and their work continues. Since the workshop, staff
and participants have installed the textile exhibition, implemented
the storage room, and begun rotations and conservation improvements
in other parts of the museum. These achievements are a testament
to the project's sustainability.
We started with basics: the importance of documentation,
good housekeeping, and detailed analysis. We then worked on cleaning
and stabilization treatments, and the preparation of display mounts.
Conservation and treatment focused on the wet cleaning and stabilization
of about 20 textiles. We conducted scientific analysis of the dyes
to determine color fastness and to select appropriate cleaning
methods. We designed and set up a flexible outdoor wet-cleaning
facility using available materials. We cleaned 15 textiles in this
manner, including a wild silk uniform belonging to the 18th-century
Prime Minister in whose palace we were working, a bark textile,
and a rare ikat-patterned raffia lamba.
In the second part of the curriculum we addressed
stabilization to secure areas of loss in the individual textiles.
Students learned stabilization techniques, not "restoration." We
supported holes and tears with patches of fabric that complemented
the original textile, and secured other damaged areas with a translucent
fabric laid over the damage. Using this approach, areas of wear
and damage are visible and recognizable, but they no longer cause
damage to the textile.
Understanding the distinction between conservation
and restoration was particularly important in working with a collection
in very poor condition; to my mind, this was one of the project's
most significant achievements. Workshop participants learned the
ethics and parameters of conservation, and to accept age and imperfections
as part of the history of the artifact. Equally important, working
on an important national textile collection heightened and reinforced
the participants' respect for and pride in Madagascar's textile
heritage.
I taught methods of display and mounting during
the last portion of the workshop. The designs of these mounts,
including Velcro and slat, roller and stretcher supports, were
all new techniques for the trainees. Finally, a modern and appropriate
textile storage room was designed and installed at the Andafiavaratra
Museum. This is the first storage facility of this standard in
Madagascar, and a model for other museums.
The workshop culminated in a superb national
textile exhibition. This show has attracted hundreds of visitors,
including many school groups coming to learn about historic lamba
for the first time.
Conservation: The Past as Prologue
This textile conservation project was
an important start for Madagascar. We made good progress in conserving
a small collection of textiles and raised participants' skill
and knowledge levels. However, ongoing sustainable training will
be vital in order to advance an understanding of the importance
and viability of preservation of cultural property.
Repeated training sessions will help set new
goals, empower the staff, and offer creative ways to achieve success
within the museum hierarchies. Training not only builds specific
skills, it also builds confidence and strengthens cultural pride.
These benefits will reach far beyond the walls of a single museum.
This kind of training focus can add greatly to
the value of Madagascar's museums and is much needed. Our foreign
counterparts and other museum staff are eager to learn and implement
better standards of practice; they simply need training and professional
encouragement. Many curators, anthropologists and textile researchers
travel and work abroad; however the field of conservation is not
as well represented in this arena. I urge my conservation colleagues
to volunteer their time to work overseas on small, distinct projects,
teaching fundamental principles and practices of conservation,
and aiding in the often-neglected field of preservation.
A project such as this one did not require large
budgets for infrastructure or materials. This grant, including
funds for materials, exhibition room construction, lighting, display
materials, national educational packets, storage room upgrades
and my travel costs, was $27,000. It was a small investment that
yielded remarkable returns. Textile professionals who can teach
conservation (and appreciate the adventure of working in less than
ideal conditions) will find abundant opportunities and funding
to get in on the ground floor. Their contributions will have lasting
impact.
Special thanks to Sarah Fee, the textile specialist
who first documented this collection, initiated the funding, wrote
the exhibit script, and brought me in. Thanks also to Paul Cunningham,
Public Diplomacy Officer at the US Embassy in Antananarivo, who
spearheaded the project and enthusiastically facilitated every
detail.
This conservation project was funded by the US
Department of State's Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation
and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Madagascar.
- Julia Brennan
Textile Conservation Services
www.caringfortextiles.com
TSA Newsletter
Winter, 2005
Appropriation, Acculturation,
and Transformation was the theme
of the Textile Society of America's Ninth Biennial Symposium
held in sunny Oakland, California, October 6-8, 2004. Organized
by co-chairs Inez Brooks-Myers and Susan Tselos, the conference
was attended by almost 300 members, who were treated to a thoughtfully
planned program consisting of 82 papers presented in plenary
and concurrent sessions.
While the overall theme of the symposium was
broad enough to include subjects from the vast field of textile
arts, the Bay Area's own fiber art movement was a particular focus
of the conference. A variety of papers delved into the legacy of
the innovators, artists, and schools associated with the Bay Area
fiber movement. Keynote speaker Jack Lenor Larsen gave a brief
history of this significant movement in his Thursday morning address,
explaining not only the "who" and "what" of
fiber art, but also conjecturing on "why" the Bay Area
became such fertile soil for creative textile art. Even more interesting,
however, were Larsen's observations on the state of America's contemporary
textile industry and its lack of open dialog with today's textile
makers and scholars. Hopefully, Larsen stayed for Susan Brown's
presentation on Friday entitled "Extreme Textiles: Designing
for High Performance," which showcased some of the exciting
textile advances currently taking place in the aerospace, military,
and medical fields, if not yet in the fashion and furnishing textile
fields. This was one of the most fascinating papers of the conference;
Brown's finds were inspirational, especially in light of the traditional
textile processes behind some of these high-tech textile products.
In addition to contemporary fiber art, papers
addressing South American and Asian textile arts were well-represented
at this symposium, yielding focused panels on several days. There
were also several papers concentrating on Islamic textiles. Carol
Bier's talk on 6th- to 10th-century Sassanian roundel patterns
and coin designs, and their connection to contemporary mathematical
thought, was particularly intriguing. Papers addressing Western
European textile traditions, however, remained, as at other recent
TSA conferences, largely missing from this symposium, which seems
strange in light of the wealth of collections in American museums.
Hopefully, more scholars in this area will present their research
at future conferences, which could result in even more varied and
interesting programs.
In between sessions of papers on Thursday and
Friday, an enticing textile marketplace was held in nearby rooms.
Luxurious woven shawls from India and Southeast Asia were the standouts,
and many TSA members (myself included!) indulged in some serious
binge shopping. Rounding out the symposium were excellent pre-and
post-conference tours to significant local exhibitions and private
collections-viewing real objects provided a welcome balance to
the informative slide talks.
One final observation: despite the large number
of schools in the area, junior professionals and graduate students
seemed in short supply at this conference. The future membership
of TSA depends on the recruitment and development of these young
professionals; therefore, more effort should be directed toward
outreach among these groups.
Lauren Whitley
Assistant Curator
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
