The recent resurgent interest in feltmaking among Fiber Artists has spawned new interest in the nomadic structures of Central Asia, namely the Turkistan region, home of peoples known as “Turkmen.” The newly named countries of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are among the places where traditionally constructed felt yurts exist today. These portable dwellings are homes for the nomads in the steppes (plains) of Central Asia. Yurts are round structures, assembled with a lattice or trellis wall, a door frame, roof poles and a crown. The shape of the roof can vary. After erecting the lattice structures, large “mother felts” are wrapped around the outside framework for protection from the elements. These felts are made from wool shorn from the sheep that accompany the nomads, and the wood for the lattices is acquired through barter in other regions. Long tent bands or ribbons are tied around the circumference of the yurt. These bands are woven pieces that measure about 18 inches wide and 50 feet in length.
The Textile Museum is now featuring Turkmen weavings that incorporate a variety of techniques and reflect the intimate family histories of those who weave them. The colorful woven tent bands include a mixture of complex multi-media techniques, such as tufting, flat weaving, varying pile heights, and pile knots. Taking up to three years to complete, they relate the personal stories, designs, and artistry of their creators. When worn from exposure to the elements, parts of these bands are recycled for use as mats, rugs, and interior decorations inside the yurt.
The highlight of this fascinating and well documented exhibit was viewing the accompanying movie, sponsored by Sam Walton’s daughter-in-law. This movie features an Asian family constructing a prize winning yurt in a contest setting. Their entry took five years to complete and included lavish tent bands and interior decorations of rugs, wall hangings and tassels.
UPDATE: The Voice of America did a news story on the exhibit that was broadcast in Uzbekistan. (It’s entirely in Uzbek, but the piece does feature great shots of the pieces on display.)
Japanese Tradition / Innovation in Cloth
The Baltimore Museum of Art
Through October 7, 2007 www.artbma.org
Since 2002, the Baltimore Museum of Art has been acquiring a small but superb collection of textiles manufactured by Nuno, a technologically innovative company named for the Japanese word for “fabric”. The lead designer of Nuno, Reiko Sudo, succeeds in blending the traditional craft of weaving cloth with cutting edge technology. Nuno produces textiles with both synthetic and natural fibers, as well as metallic threads, papers, feathers, engineered fibers, and unusual objects. The company has helped to pioneer and perfect many processes such as lamination, flocking, heat pleating, deconstruction and distressing, heat and acid processing, and innovative printing. Fiber artists are adopting many of these techniques, including laminated felting (also called “Nuno felting”), a process of embedding wool roving into a sheer fabric such as silk organza. Other prominent examples of Nuno’s influence on studio art techniques are rust dyeing, foiling, transfer dyeing on synthetics, and weaving insertions into cloth.
Reiko Sudo categorizes Nuno’s techniques according to Japanese elements and illustrates each with impressive mastery and diversity in this exhibit. The unique fabrics shown are complex in both design and execution, and push the viewer to rethink the traditional relationships one has with “ordinary” fabric.
KIRA is that which glistens or glitters and is represented in this exhibit by her Scrapyard Series of fabric, printed by acetified metal objects left over time to rust, thus imprinting random designs; as well as Rubberband Scatter, which mimics real rubber bands strewn across fabric. These are screened onto cloth using a blend of acrylic and silicone.
SUKE’ is the nature of sheerness and fragility. This element is illustrated by Delphi, a pleated fabric colorized by pressing sheets of transfer dyed papers onto the polyester during the heat setting process. Copper Cloth has thin copper wire wefts and exemplifies Sudo’s talent for combining unique materials with traditional manufacturing to create a sheer, fluid metallic fabric. Slipstream is a highly textured fabric with thin strips of Mino washi paper that float between two layers of organza, accented with tiny woven squares.
BORO relates to the concept of roughness or cruelty. Fabrics are woven and then abused with acid, burning, pulling, ripping, and roasting; this creates dimension and richly textural surface design. Moss Temple is a modern version of a thick velvet sandwich, sliced apart and distressed for an impressive three-dimensional impact that lures the viewer into the piece.
FUWA is the element of softness and airiness. Woven garments and accessories are characterized by innovative woven textures and surfaces. Tsunami Shibori Scarf has a geographic look, which is achieved by squeeze dyeing, and then pinching the fabric through a cardboard pattern and heat setting the tufted surface.
The Baltimore Museum of Art is a gem in the heart of the city. It boasts a contemporary sculpture garden set along a path that winds through tiers of stonework, providing the visitor with different vantages of its art and landscaping.
Red has been recognized in all cultures, throughout the ages, as the color of passion, fire, blood, fortune and status. A Hollywood red carpet conveys glamour and celebrity; in China both the bride and groom wear red wedding garments to elevate them on their special day to the level of royalty. The color red is used in many flags as a symbol of blood (USA) and power (USSR). It is even the universal color of choice for the stop sign.
The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., is exploring the color’s significance in an exhibit that features functional, decorative and ceremonial textiles. The collection includes pieces that range from a Halston evening gown to a Slavic tunic adorned with symbols to ward off the evil eye; from an AIDS ribbon symbolizing blood to a Vietnamese funeral banner; and from a contemporary Navajo rug to a pre-Columbian textile fragment. Highlights included a lovely black Japanese kimono lined in a brilliant red, which illustrated the historical significance of the power of red. During the Heian period, commoners were forbidden to wear red, so as acts of subterfuge, they began lining their garments in red and wearing red undergarments.
The exhibit is historically balanced and exceptionally well documented, and includes a wide range of cultures and an interesting variety of textiles. Dallas retailer Neiman Marcus is one of the sponsors. After viewing this exhibit, I stopped in to see the museum’s Jenkins Library. It is a treasure trove of books, videos, and other reference materials that are accessible to the public for use on site. The library staff members are enthusiastic in handling any request you may have regarding textile research and may be contacted via the website.
