On Sunday we took a post symposium tour to San Diego’s Mingei International Museum, to see the show that opened the night before. Kay was there to greet us and she and Signe Mayfield took us on a gallery tour. The show is gorgeous and has lots of work from both Kay and Bob. There were pieces that I remember seeing on exhibit when I was getting started in the mid-70’s. I’ve always admired her work–it is beautiful and it is woven. These two pieces are well known and it was a treat to get to see several of them in person again. In the afternoon Melissa Leventon gave a talk about Kay’s work. I was thrilled to tears that Melissa reconized me by showing my ruffles in the last slide. It was to show Kay’s influence on the artists coming up.
TSA Symposium 2014
Textile Society of America Symposium, Day One
I met two former students who are very accomplished.
Serena Lee, from San Francisco, was my Home Ec student when she was in the seventh grade. She is giving a lecture at the symposium about ethnic dress of the Lolo/ Yi groups across the Vietnam- China border. I heard her practice her riveting talk this morning. She leads textile trips to that area of the world and is an expert on the various ethnic costumes.
Laurel Wilson, PhD was my weaving student in New York where she became interested in textiles. Her dissertation is ” ‘De Novo Modo’: the birth of Fashion in the Middle Ages”. She is passionate about her research and has given lectures around the country. Her concentration is on 14th century and how the introduction of the horizontal pedal loom in the 11th century caused big changes in class structure , gender relations, and ultimately the birth of fashion in Western Europe. It was fascinating to listen to what all she had to say.
I sat under an umbrella this afternoon with Zvezdana Dode from Stravropol, Russia who I met on the Italy trip. She is working on a book : ” ‘Silk Horde’: Costume and Textiles of the Mongolian Empire”. She is also giving a paper here at the symposium and was so interesting to talk to.
So, there are a lot of experts here and everyone is passionate about textiles.
Tonight was a reception with the menu planned by Alice Waters. I was thrilled to have the rest of the world experience her local grown sustainable foods. There was an almost full moon and lots of interesting people. It was really nice when someone I didn’t know knew my name.
