Art of Textiles

As many of you may know, I did my master’s thesis on white on white embrodiery. Working with white cotton thread, on white cotton fabric, using paper patterns, in the early 1800’s in Delaware, Eleuthera du Pont and her sisters created hundreds of dresses, collars, and cuffs. My research was published in 1988 in Winterthur Portfolio, a scholarly journal published by the University of Chicago Press.
Textiles are, for me, a particularly appealing way to learn about people, a moment in time, cultural traditions, and geography.
Textiles are very apltly named “material culture” and since in many cultures the production of textiles is done by women, they are a great vehicle for understanding women’s culture. Quite literally textiles tie different people together, and serve as a thread that connects many different artisans, and the artisans with the consumer, often linking different social and economic groups. Producing the fabric, adding color and ornamentation, and then assembling the finished product, all creates an elaborate network of people that I find very fascinating.
I just spoke to Mary, a traveler who has journeyed in Japan and Paris with me on art tours, and in Japan and Italy on our mountain hiking trips. Mary mentioned Maiwa and their work with textiles in India. I was fascinated. Take a look at the Maiwa blog at
When we were in Cambodia in 2003, we stayed in Siem Reap to visit the amazing temples at Angkor Wat. I was excited to discover Artisans Angkor Their program of teaching villagers from throughout Cambodia traditional crafts such as silk from the beginning (raising the cocoons) to spinning and coloring and weaving and sewing the final product, was exciting. After the training, the villagers return home and have a economically sustainable livelihood. The website states: “Created as the offshoot of an educational project in the 1990’s, Artisans Angkor has now become a Cambodian semi-public social company that aims at providing job opportunities to young rural people near their home village.”
As I look forward to this year’s art tour to Japan in November, I am excited about reconnecting with rural art projects, and look forward to seeing the artisans on Naoshima, Inujima and Teshima, all remote islands in the Inland Sea. An Imabari cotton scarf is a recent textile treasure from Japan that I enjoy wearing, made by the Miyazaki company which was founded in the late 1800’s!