President’s Letter
Fall 2007

Several years ago at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, we attempted to define the word “textile.” A seemingly simple goal, the task led us to consider the manifold nature of textiles in all cultures throughout history, present in the lives of almost all individuals from birth to death, and encompassing many different technologies, from felting to complex weaving and surface design processes. We arrived at a broad operative definition, “anything of fibrous material fashioned by human hands,” but that led us to consider that both Nori seaweed and salad would qualify as textiles. We wondered if we could delimit the definition by excluding what could be eaten. As far as I remember, we did not proceed past that point. To prompt further consideration, I wonder if any of you has arrived at a more functional definition. If so, I would be delighted to hear from you; perhaps it would be useful also to consider sharing others’ definitions in a future newsletter.

We anticipate that this will be a topic of conversation and dialogue at TSA 2008 in Honolulu, when members gather at our Biennial Symposium. The theme will be “Textiles as Cultural Expressions,” exploring the subject of textiles from many perspectives. But just what IS a textile? That question still perplexes me. Today, the meanings of textiles are hurtling in many directions at once-e-textiles, ethnographic textiles, “Extreme Textiles” (as in the recent exhibitions for which TSA Board member Matilda McQuaid served as curator at the Cooper-Hewitt), expressive textiles (as in “Writing with Thread,” for which Tom Klobe, our TSA 2008 symposium co-chair, is project director). We need to keep asking: what is a textile? And are our definitions changing? Do old definitions no longer fit, or can they be amended to accommodate new meanings? Have we never defined the term adequately in the first place?

Meanwhile, the ubiquitous and significant presence of textiles in all societies prompts further consideration as to the operative relationships among cultural traditions and contemporary practice. What role does tradition play in contemporary production? How does tradition affect contemporary art? All textiles, no matter when produced, were once “contemporary.” In some situations, tradition seems to serve as a controlling or structuring mechanism, limiting the speed of change. In other situations, tradition is rejected, but in so doing, tradition still serves as the point of departure. Where am I headed with these questions? To Hawaii, of course-where I hope you will join us at TSA’s 11th Biennial Symposium, to be held at Honolulu’s Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, September 24-27, 2008.

There, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, lies an island group that is farthest away from any land mass in the world! And yet, for centuries it has been a nexus of cultural crossings from around the world, each associated with important textile traditions. Many cultures are richly represented in local museum collections, from beaten bark cloth of the Pacific islands (kapa or tapa), to Japanese workers’ garments, to Hawaiian quilts representing an amalgamation of traditions, to the colorful feathered capes of Hawaiian royalty. An outstanding roster of exhibitions at museums and galleries in Honolulu will explore the unique cultural heritage and traditions of the islands, representing both the preservation of distinct traditions, and the rich blend of cultures that characterizes Hawaii today.

Hoping to see you in Honolulu a year from now, with Aloha,

Carol Bier
TSA President

President’s Letter
Spring/Summer 2007

In February the TSA Board met at Overbrook House in Buzzard’s Bay, MA, for our regular biannual Board meeting, and to review the Long-Range Plan. Amidst the beauty of winter on Cape Cod, we gathered beside a roaring fire and focused our collective energy on TSA operations and aspirations.

We assessed our accomplishments of recent years and we articulated where we need to strengthen our efforts to achieve our goals effectively, efficiently, economically, and with enjoyment. Happily, we affirmed the five categories identified as priorities by the Board in 2003-04 for TSA’s first Long-Range Plan: Membership Expansion and Involvement; Education and Professional Development; Outreach; Financial Development; Advancement of the Field. The full text of the Long-Range Plan (2007-2011) is posted on our website.

Over the years, TSA Board members have worked very hard to define goals, determine appropriate strategies to achieve them, and oversee the implementation of these goals, addressing established priorities. Working together, through a strong and effective committee structure, we have indeed achieved many of our previously-set goals.

Awards
We are proud to recognize many milestones–our Awards Committee formerly under the leadership of Mary Dusenbury is now a standing committee with Vita Plume serving as chair. It steered us towards the inauguration of our Student/ New Professionals Awards, for which the first recipients were announced in Toronto in 2006. We have established the Founding Presidents’ Awards to recognize excellence in the field, for which the first recipients will be named at the 11th TSA Biennial Symposium in Honolulu in 2008. The provision of a scholarship for all TSA programs, workshops, and study tours has been approved, and procedures for implementation and selection are being developed.

Finances

The Board in 2003-04 set goals for financial development, which we have also met. The Finance Committee, under the direction of our Treasurer, Patricia Cox Crews, developed an Investment Policy and a plan for asset allocation, with Board approval. We continue to strive for a balanced budget every two years, relying on both Membership dues and Symposium revenues to help sustain our annual operating expenses. As we expand our initiatives and broaden the scope of our fellowships, scholarships, and awards, we will require a stronger commitment to generating funds to support our activities. In the current Long- Range Plan (2007-2011), there is an additional goal to secure the guidance of a development consultant to help us develop a fundraising plan, and to assist us in identifying new revenue sources.

Membership

We also seek to expand our Membership by broadening our base of individual and institutional members, encouraging higher levels of support, and soliciting corporate members.

Communications

We are pleased with the ways our website continues to develop, and we have recently added sections for press releases, with new postings concerning our awards, Study Tour to Japan, 11th TSA Biennial Symposium in Honolulu in 2008, and the Call for Papers (deadline Oct. 1, 2007). We solicit your support in circulating our press releases to interested parties, and we ask that you check our website periodically as we find new ways to make it interesting and relevant to our individual and collective endeavors. Please also send in your suggestions for its continued improvement.

Ensuring Continuity

Overseeing changes in the composition of the Board every two years as outlined in our Bylaws, is a key responsibility of the Nominations Committee. This year, the Nominations Committee will be chaired by Pam Parmal, who served as President of TSA from 2004-06. Nominations are sought for Vice President/President Elect, Treasurer, Internal Relations Director, and Directors at Large. Please communicate your interests and suggestions directly to Pam at pparmal@mfa.org.

Advancing our goals and priorities as stated in the Long-Range Plan, requires dedicated Board service. Those of us privileged to serve you in this way can attest to the special gratification we have experienced in working together. It is challenging, exciting, and demanding; yet overall, we each acknowledge a sense of deep reward in sharing a trust, accomplishing so much collectively as we each contribute individually to this important set of shared goals.

In February the Board is charged with renewing annual contracts for operations of the TSA National Office, production of our newsletters and annual directory, and management of our website. This year the Board was especially pleased to recognize the exceptional work of Kim Righi, now TSA’s Executive Director. This new title reflects the Board’s recognition of both Kim’s very successful first year as head of our National Office, and of her assuming increased responsibility for our organizational tasks: fund-raising, financial reporting and record-keeping; coordination of contracts; performance of book-keeper, accountant, website manager, and mailing house; production of our newsletter, directory, and membership brochure. We look forward to working with her as she continues to implement directives from the Board. Her advice, guidance and good cheer are of inestimable value and benefit not only to the Board, but also to our members.

2006 Proceedings

Before summer arrives, you should each receive your copy of the TSA 2006 Symposium Proceedings, again published in CD-ROM format. You will find it contains a rich array of fully searchable papers, many illustrated in color, representing cutting-edge research on many textile topics, from traditional garments and ethnographic studies to the far reaches of scientific applications of textile technologies and experimentation. Author bios and abstracts are linked to the Toronto program as a Table of Contents. The hybrid HTML format allows for document portability and hard copy printouts, as well as full searching capabilities by author, subject, title, and keyword.

In 2002 TSA adopted the CD-ROM format as a cost-savings measure. Advantages of this format also include flexibility of use in searching, emailing and printing documents, and the capacity to include color illustrations at a time of escalating print production and postage costs. TSA is committed to providing a forum for evaluation of the CD-ROM format used for our Proceedings. Please be sure to print out the Evaluation Form included on the CD, and fax or mail it to the TSA National Office. If you wish to contribute to the structuring of this process, or others, please send us an email to tsa@textilesociety.org with your comments and suggestions. We will be delighted to hear from you as we strive to improve our policies and procedures.

As you plan for 2008, remember that Oct. 1, 2007, is the deadline for proposals for the 11th TSA Biennial Symposium, to take place in Honolulu, Sept. 24-27, 2008. The Symposium Organizing Committee, chaired by Tom Klobe and Reiko Brandon, is composed of many dedicated individuals who are planning a dynamic and vibrant Symposium around the theme of "Textiles as Cultural Expressions." We hope to see you there!

Carol Bier
TSA President

President’s Letter
Spring 2007

Twenty years ago the Textile Society of America was but a dream. By March 1987, the dream was about to become a hesitant, tentative reality. Today we are a vibrant, dynamic educational organization, with dedicated members from more than 40 states and 18 countries!

10th Biennial Symposium

The recent Symposium,"Textile Narratives + Conversations," organized by Nataley Nagy and Frances Dorsey and held in Toronto, marked our 10th biennial gathering, with a record number of speakers and participants drawn from around the world. Some of us still bask in the glow of that wonderfully rich set of events, deliciously diverse in the presentation of textile arts through exhibitions, panels, papers, discussions, tours, receptions, plenary sessions, the marketplace, and workshops. Described by the organizers as "an enticing and savoury array," it was indeed a feast. This Symposium will long be remembered for its satisfying intensity-intensely focused narratives and conversations, plus an intellectually stimulating buffet offering a steady diet of fibrous food for thought.

Beginning with TSA's initial offering of an introductory workshop, "Identifying Textiles: Techniques & Terminology," organized and presented by Desirée Koslin and Sandra Sardjono with support and guidance from Board members Joanne Dolan Ingersoll and Margo Mensing, the 2006 Symposium was augmented by many exciting pre- and post-conference tours to galleries, museums, collections, markets, and Toronto's culturally rich neighborhoods. This Symposium and its affiliated events brilliantly encompassed the goals of TSA's mission to provide "an international forum for the exchange and dissemination of information about textiles worldwide from artistic, cultural, economic, historic, political, social and technical perspectives."

Our Founders' Vision

Indeed, 20 years has passed remarkably fast. We could not be what we are today without the dedicated and passionate commitment of so many actively involved members, volunteers, presenters, committee chairs, Board members and officers, to each of whom we owe a large debt of gratitude for realizing the vision of our Founding Presidents. We are what we are today, in large part, because of you, our Members.

In the Bylaws of the Textile Society of America, the wisdom of our founders is already apparent. They established procedures for electing Board members and officers with staggered terms to ensure a continuity of growth and development based on a consistent vision, and they identified key committees to oversee our operations so that we could carry ideas from conceptualization to their realization. From the early development of our Bylaws to the more recent preparation of a Long-Range Plan under the capable guidance of Pamela Parmal, Madelyn Shaw, and then-President Mary Dusenbury, the structure and functioning of a dynamic yet flexible organization is sketched for current and future Boards to follow, review, and revise to meet the needs of our times. This is now our 10th elected Board, and we are prepared to carry on with vigor and joy the lines of development as set forth by our predecessors.

Founding Presidents Awards

During the past two years Mary Dusenbury assumed leadership of the Awards Committee, and as a result of the hard, thoughtful work of that committee, we have established the Founding Presidents Awards to honor TSA's five founding presidents-Peggy Gilfoy (deceased), Milton Sonday, Lotus Stack, Mattiebelle Gittinger, and Louise W. Mackie. These Awards recognize and promote excellence in the fields of textile studies. Through the generosity of many donors, we anticipate that we will be able to provide monetary awards to one or more outstanding presenters at TSA Symposia. Initial recipients will be participants in the 11th Biennial Symposium in Honolulu. They will be selected by the Founding Presidents Awards Selection Committee from among those individuals submitting abstracts for consideration by the Symposium Program Committee.

Please be sure to announce the Founding Presidents Awards to students and colleagues. Please also consider making a donation to TSA in support of these Awards.

11th Biennial Symposium 2008

"Textiles as Cultural Expressions" is the theme of the 11th TSA Biennial Symposium, to be held in Honolulu, HI, Sep. 24-27, 2008. On view at the University of Hawaii Art Gallery will be a special loan exhibition, "Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities," with an international colloquium planned to precede the TSA Symposium. The Sheraton Waikiki, our Symposium venue and host hotel, has offered us reduced rates, which can be extended from three days before to three days after the conference. Plan to take advantage of Hawaii's spectacular climate and beaches, as well as its rich cultural offerings of museums and galleries. The array of textile tours arranged by the Symposium Organizing Committee, is truly outstanding. Tom Klobe and Reiko Brandon, Symposium Co-Chairs, are working with an enthusiastic group of local textile specialists who are committed to make this a memorable series of events. Hawaii lies at the heart of Pacific crossings, and its diverse heritage offers extraordinary insights into cultural processes and indigenous traditions. Begin planning now! Deadlines for submission of abstracts and panel proposals is October 1, 2007. Airfare bargains may be available many months in advance. We hope to see you there!

Japan Study Tour

The TSA Study Tour to Japan in November, 2007 will be led by Yoshiko Wada, who is internationally recognized for the breadth and depth of her research and creative practice of traditional Japanese resist-dyeing techniques. The tour will be limited in size to accommodate intimate experiences for learning and sharing ideas. Scholarship support will be available. Please register for this tour by visiting this page.

TSA Book Awards

The R.L. Shep Book Award Committee seeks nominations for the best book treating a subject related to ethnic textiles published in 2006. Please submit your nominations by March 15, 2007 to Margot Schevill, Chair, at mschevill@aol.com.

TSA Workshops

Our inaugural workshop, "Identi-fying Textiles: Techniques and Terminology," will soon be available to other organizations and institutions by request and reservation for a fee. We anticipate offering instructor training sessions so that the curriculum can be offered at various locations. Keep an eye on our website, www.textilesociety.org, for workshop updates and availability.

Short-Range Tasks

As TSA expands its program offerings, scholarship programs, and awards of merit, there is ever more work to be done in announcing, gathering, reviewing, and selecting recipients; and in planning, organizing, and hosting events at different venues. At the February 2007 Board meeting in Buzzard's Bay, MA, the Board will be reviewing the priorities of the Long-Range Plan, and developing strategies for bringing to fruition our new programs and awards, as well as identifying the means for generating funds beyond Membership dues to sustain these new initiatives. Please let us know of your willingness to serve on TSA committees, and consider offering financial support to help us advance our shared goals.

Carol Bier
TSA President

President’s Letter
Fall 2006

As I write this, I anticipate with pleasure the TSA Symposium in Toronto, and with some sadness the last Board meeting over which I will preside. Serving as the President of TSA for the past two years has been a privilege and a rewarding experience. Since I joined the Board in 2000 as co-Chair for the Northampton Symposium, I have watched the organization grow, stabilize, and expand its programs. TSA is now in a place where it can begin to return the support that its membership has given it over the years. We have begun initiatives that will allow us to: acknowledge outstanding scholarship; offer financial aid to attend our Symposia, study tours and workshops; and provide more professional development opportunities. This is an exciting time for TSA, and I am proud to have been a part of it.

While developing and implementing TSA’s long-range goals has been rewarding, one of the most gratifying aspects of serving on the Board has been the chance to become better acquainted with the other Board members and the TSA membership at large. Without everyone’s help and support, the organization would not be doing as well as it is. I would like to use the rest of this letter to acknowledge and thank all of those who have made significant contributions to the organization over the last two years, often at their own expense, and always on their own time.

Awards
Of course, I must begin by acknowledging the 2004-2006 Board. Mary Dusenbury completes her Board term as Past President, and I can’t thank her enough for her leadership and all of the important work she has done for TSA. She has been an extraordinary mentor, and I am deeply grateful that she had enough faith in my abilities to ask me to serve as Vice President during her term. These past two years, while she should have been allowed to gracefully and quietly complete her term, she agreed to serve as chair of the new Awards Committee. This committee also included Vita Plume, Madelyn Shaw, Mary Ann Fitzgerald, and Patricia Cox Crews, who worked hard to develop a new award/financial aid program. The establishment of Symposium scholarships through the Student/New Professionals Awards and the Founding Presidents’ Awards are just the first in a series of programs that will support the work and the professional development of the organization’s members.

The Awards Committee also oversees the R.L. Shep Book Award for outstanding publication of the year in the field of ethnic textile studies. The 2005 Shep Award Committee was chaired by Beverly Gordon and composed of Margot Schevill and Desi Koslin. They reviewed all nominated books and made the final selection for the award to be presented this year. The 2006 Award Committee is chaired by Desi Koslin, with Margot Schevill and Victoria Rivers. I wish to thank both committees for their service and for helping us to acknowledge the important work on textiles being done by our members.

Publications
Carol Bier joined the Board as Vice President/President Elect in 2004, and I can’t tell you how delighted we all were that she agreed to take on the position. She is an extraordinary professional, and I know she will strengthen TSA even more with her organizational skills and commitment to giving her all to any task she takes on. I know I am leaving TSA in very capable hands.

During the past two years Carol served as Chair of the Publications Committee. This committee included Ashley Callahan, Laura Strand, Karen Searle, Lisa Kriner and Mary Mallia. Each member of the committee takes responsibility for one of TSA’s public outreach vehicles. Ashley ably and conscientiously updates the TSA website weekly with the help of Dorry Clay of Literae Interactive, webmaster. We have been extremely fortunate in having Ashley to manage this important aspect of TSA’s public face.

Laura Strand has served as manager of the TSA listserve and we owe her a debt of gratitude for maintaining the listserv and developing it into a useful information source for its members.

We also need to acknowledge and thank Karen Searle, who for seven years has produced the TSA Newsletter three times a year, and has gone out of her way to solicit articles. Karen has also designed and produced a number of mailings for us, and designs and produces the annual Membership Directory, as well as soliciting its advertisements. We are deeply grateful for her talent, her generosity and the time she gives to the organization. I would also like to thank Rebecca Klassen for compiling the Newsletter’s Calendar, and Susan Ward for the extraordinary skill and eye for detail she employs as the Newsletter’s Copy Editor. However, we would not have a newsletter at all without the many contributions from our members, and I’d like to thank you all for your submissions.

Also on the Publications Committee is Mary Mallia, who serves as Librarian at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC and works with us to co-publish the annual TSA/TM Bibliography. We are also grateful to the Textile Museum for continuing to support this collaborative project.

Internal Relations Director Lisa Kriner works closely with Kim Righi in the TSA Office to edit and proofread the TSA Membership Directory. I’d like to thank them both for efficiently overseeing this key publication.

Finally, I’d like to thank Carol Bier for guiding our publications along. We are also extremely grateful to her for taking on the production of the 2004 Symposium Proceedings and for agreeing to see the Toronto Symposium Proceedings through to publication. Carol worked extraordinarily hard with a team of volunteers to make the 2004 Proceedings consistent and easily searchable in CD-ROM format. I’m sure the 2006 Proceedings will be even better.

Finances
Patricia Cox Crews, TSA’s Treasurer, also deserves a great deal of thanks for so ably managing TSA’s finances. However, Pat’s most significant contribution has been her oversight of the Finance Committee, composed of Mary Dusenbury, Ann Hedlund, Paul Marcus and myself. Over the past two years the committee has worked diligently to stabilize our investments and to put TSA in a secure financial position. The committee prepared a financial policy and, with Paul’s help, reinvested our funds to insure our financial stability and allow us to begin funding our many initiatives. However, we are far from reaching our goals, and you may expect to hear from us from time to time as we begin actively to fundraise for specific initiatives to support the work and professional development of our members.

Nominations
The final member of the Executive Committee who deserves the Society’s gratitude for her many years of service is Madelyn Shaw. Since 1998, when Madelyn served as co-Chair for the New York Symposium, she has worked extremely hard for the organization and deserves our deepest thanks. For the past four years, Madelyn has served as Recording Secretary and has gamely adapted to the peculiarities of numerous computers in order to keep records of our meetings. This year Madelyn also served as Chair of the Nominations Committee and, with the help of Joanne Dolan Ingersoll, Vita Plume, Ruth Scheuing, and Gayle Strege, managed to provide us with such a good slate of candidates. Board service involves a serious commitment of time and money, and is not something taken on lightly. Madelyn and her Committee members made countless phone calls and found it challenging to convince people to make this commitment. We should all be extremely grateful to the Committee for their hard work and to those who agreed to put their names on the ballot.

Internal & External Relations
Lisa Kriner, Internal Relations Director, and Laura Strand, External Relations Director, deserve our thanks and acknowledgment. They both took on new Board positions two years ago, and have worked very hard to define these important roles.

Laura is stepping down from her position, but we will not let her go away completely, as she will continue to manage the TSA listserv and serve on the Board as a Task Representative. Laura has also been putting together a list of academic programs related to textile studies that will be available over the TSA website, and will provide a significant resource. With Mary Ann Fitzgerald’s help, Laura has also updated our PR list--an extremely important task--and we are grateful to them both.

In addition to overseeing the annual Membership Directory, Lisa has involved herself in the many tasks related to her position, such as answering member inquiries and developing membership services. She is currently working on a new membership brochure.

I can’t thank both Lisa and Laura enough for their commitment to the organization. It has been a great pleasure working with them both.

Programs
The final committee that I must acknowledge and thank is the Program Committee, co-chaired by Margo Mensing and Bobbie Sumberg, who worked with Joanne Dolan Ingersoll to develop and oversee the Workshop and Study Tour programs. Joanne planned the New York tours of Matilda McQuaid’s exhibiton, “Extreme Textiles,” and the Museum at FIT’s exhibition on contemporary Dutch design. More recently, she and Margo have worked with Desi Koslin, Sandra Sardjono, and Denyse Montegut to organize the TSA Textile Techniques Workshop that we hope to offer regularly. We expect it to become an important resource for anyone interested in developing their knowledge of textiles.

For the past two years Bobbie Sumberg has overseen the development of our Sudy Tour program and organized a basketry tour in the Southwest. Unfortunately, that tour did not fill, but we hope to offer it again in the future. She is now developing a tour of Japan with Yoshiko Wada that we will offer in the Fall of 2007. I am very grateful to Bobbie, Margo and Joanne for continuing these important efforts.

I must also acknowledge and thank Kim Righi and Kaye Boyer for their dedication to the organization, making sure that things run smoothly and properly. I am grateful for Kaye’s help and advice with many projects, and in particular for her skill in negotiating contracts. This year we switched management services from Boyer Management to Righi Services. Thanks to Kim and Kaye’s organizational skills, this transfer was seamless. I am extremely indebted to them for this, and especially to Kim for staying on with us. We could not run this organization without her.

Symposium
Of course, I cannot write this without thanking Fran Dorsey and Nataley Nagy, as well as everyone at the Textile Museum of Canada and Harbourfront Centre, for handling all the details of organizing the 2006 Symposium. As I well know, this is an extraordinarily time-consuming task, and they have tackled it with grace and skill. If the response to the Call for Papers is any indication, the Toronto Symposium should be one of the best ever. I would also like to thank Kim Righi for stepping in and helping with many tasks related to the Symposium.

Looking Ahead
Serving on TSA’s Board has been a real pleasure, and I look forward to my last two years when I will serve as Past President. I thank everyone on the 2004-2006 Board and would like to especially acknowledge those stepping down: Mary Dusenbury, Madelyn Shaw, Laura Stand, Bobbie Sumberg, Margo Mensing, and Ashley Callahan. You have the thanks of everyone in the organization.

I welcome the newly-elected Board members, Pat Hickman, Vice President/President Elect; Roxane Shaughnessy, Recording Secretary; Janice Lessman-Moss, External Relations Director; and Fran Dorsey, Sumru Krody and Matilda McQuaid, Board Members at Large, and I look forward to meeting with them and seeing you all in Toronto.

Pam Parmal
TSA President

President’s Letter
Winter 2006

The TSA Board met in February in Toronto, where Nataley Nagy, Director of the Textile Museum of Canada, and her staff made us very welcome. The meeting was a precursor to the 2006 Symposium and, if Nataley and her staff’s hospitality is any thing to go by, it should be a lively, exciting and stimulating meeting. Much of the Board’s discussions addressed the fall Symposium—the keynote speakers, the venue, and the hotel. The program was also discussed, and we have received almost 150 paper submissions, which bodes well for the quality of the Symposium and TSA members’ interest in it. We will put the program together this winter, so watch for brochures in the mail this spring.

Symposium Proceedings

The Board also discussed publication of the Symposium Proceedings. Carol Bier and a group of hard-working volunteers spent countless hours organizing, formatting and editing the Oakland Proceedings. It was a mammoth task and has forced us to evaluate our production process. Carol and the Publications Committee spent quite a bit of time discussing the format of the Proceedings as well, and recommended that we continue to produce the Proceedings in CD-ROM format. I know this will not please some of you, but the benefits of the CD-ROM appeared significant to the Publications Committee and to the Board. The CD-ROM format allows us to include color images and full searching capability through the publication. The CD-ROM is less expensive to produce than a printed book, which allows us to save money and keep members’ dues reasonable. It is also extremely portable; I have actually referred to my copy while commuting on the train, when I often get my writing done, and it is much easier to carry back and forth to work than a heavy book. Other Board members have used it in their classrooms. One uses the papers published on the CD with her students, who are asked to research specific artists or textiles in developing ideas for their artwork. The papers she has heard at TSA Symposia often provide inspiration in choosing specific artists, designers or artworks to assign. She can then easily provide her students with copies of the published papers by printing them, or by simply sending them in .pdf format.

For those of you who prefer paper, or do not have access to a computer, hard copies are available from the TSA office at the cost of production and shipping. They are, however, bound, black-and-white printouts of the CD-ROM. The Board is well aware of issues concerning long-term viability and storage of the CD-ROM format. We are placing hard copies in the TSA archive and will continue to revisit this issue on a regular basis. And, as always, we welcome your suggestions for improvements.

Carol Bier has offered to oversee production of the Toronto Proceedings, with support of the Publications Committee and an editorial team of volunteers. Ann Svenson Perlman, a textile conservator and new TSA member, has offered to work on the formatting and design. More volunteers are needed. If anyone is interested in working with Carol next year, please let us know. The Board has approved the creation of a new Task Representative, that of the Proceedings Editor. After Carol and the Publications Committee have worked through the production process for the Toronto Proceedings, this representative will fill this position.

TSA Office

I would also like to report that our office management service has changed. Boyer Management Services who dealt so ably with annual renewals, symposium registrations, financial accounting and the day-to-day management of TSA, will no longer do so after December 2005. I would like to thank Kaye Boyer and Kim Righi for all their help in stabilizing the organization and creating such an efficient central office for us. Fortunately, after the first of the year we will not be losing Kaye and Kim. Kaye will continue to advise us on management issues, and Kim, who has gone into business for herself, will continue as our office manager.

Nominations

Late this spring you will receive a ballot in the mail for our biennial election. This term we will elect a new Vice President, who will become President after a two-year term; Secretary; Internal Relations Director; and three at-large members. The Nominations Committee, under the able leadership of Madelyn Shaw, is now gathering nominations. We hope to present a slate with more than one candidate for each position, but because of economic cutbacks in universities and museums it is becoming increasingly difficult to find candidates. We will do our best, but if you find little choice on the ballot, please understand that it was not for lack of trying. If you are interested in taking on a leadership role in the organization and in running for the next election, please don’t hesitate to contact a Board member and let them know of your interest. I encourage everyone to complete their ballots and return them promptly.

Pam Parmal
TSA President