TSA Workshops, Short Courses and Lectures

Hawaii

Bishop Museum
Identifying Textiles: Surface Finishes and Techniques
Workshop at the Bishop Museum
In conjunction with the Textile Society of America 2008 Symposium

8:30-4:30
20 participants @ $110 each
Bus departs Sheraton Waikiki Hotel Bus Depot at 8:30
A Textiles and Technology Workshop will again be offered by TSA preceding the 2008 Symposium. Identifying Textiles: Surface Finishes and Techniques will be held at the Bishop Museum. Desirée Koslin has developed the second in this series, a one-day session to be held on September 24 at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. Fabric samples using a range of historical and contemporary methods of surface decorating and finishing treatments will be examined for characteristics that allow identification, and sometimes dating, for cataloguing and general purposes. These samples will be selected and brought by the instructor to provide a comprehensive overview of all major historical and current techniques and treatments. Historical, historicizing, stylistic and technological features will be integrated into the workshop process. A review of the most recent technologies used in fabric finishes will be included. Susan Brown, assistant curator at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, will present current innovations in textile technologies. Workshop participants will view and study a prepared layout in museum storage of kapa (bark cloth) and kapa-making tools. Please see symposia_2008.htm for more information about how to register for this workshop and for the 2008 Symposium.

Previous TSA Workshops, Short Courses
and Lectures

Identifying Fabrics: Technique and Terminology
Textile Museum of Canada
Toronto, October 11, 2006

Identifying Fabrics: Technique and Terminology was the first workshop to be presented at a TSA Symposium. In this pre-symposium course participants studied fabric samples, paper models, and projected macro photographs to increase their skills in recognizing and describing fabrics. Useful for conservators and curators in cataloguing, this deductive method also appealed to teachers and collectors who desire a straightforward pragmatic approach for analyzing fabrics. Sandra Sardjorno led the morning session focusing on wovens, which covered simple weave structures, patterning techniques, and compound weave structures. In the afternoon session Desiree Koslin introduced her unique methodology, a deductive approach that encourages learning through empirical observation. Using checklists and fabric samples, she guided participants through a pragmatic analysis that complements the study of structure and/or technique. The study examples provided a start for the participants’ personal swatch books.

Desiree Koslin teaches a range of courses on the history and structure of fabrics at the graduate program in Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory and Museum Practice at Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC. She weaves, writes and conducts research on various aspects of fabrics and dress.

Sandra S. Sardjono is an Assistant Curator of the Department of Costume and Textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She had previously worked as a Textile Conservator at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York.

Exploring Contemporary Textiles:
A Day with Matilda McQuaid
and Hil Driessen
New York City, September 8, 2005

Matilda McQuaid, Head of Textiles and Exhibitions Curator at the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, and Curator of Extreme Textiles: Designing for High Performance, provided a curator’s journey through the exhibition. Matilda discussed the challenges and triumphs of working with cutting edge industries for several years to develop this important show. In addition, she shared the process involved in developing the exhibition, including its inception, her research, and finally her interpretation. She also discussed her overall view of the textiles now taking center stage in many industries.

Hil Driessen, designer from The Netherlands and exhibiting artist constructed a total environment installation at FIT originating from her digital art. Hill develops products such as carpet, wall coverings, printed and woven furnishing fabrics, printed apparel, and printed laminate for hard case furniture using the most current technologies. The TSA group experienced the installation firsthand with the artist and discussed the process, the manufacturers, and the technology critical to her realization.

Historic Weaving Techniques:
An Approach to Understanding
Workshop with Milton Sonday

November 10-14, 2003 and February 2-6, 2004
Place: Cleveland Museum of Art
Host: Louise W. Mackie, Curator of Textiles and Islamic Art

This two-week workshop provided an in-depth exploration of historic weave structures. It was led by the eminent scholar Milton Sonday, former curator of textiles at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, who has focused his career on the study of textile techniques. His most recent publication - "A Group of Possibly Thirteenth-Century Velvets with Gold Disks in Offset Rows" - was published in The Textile Museum Journal (1999/2000) and includes examples of his current method of illustrating woven structures. Mr. Sonday is a member of the Advisory Board of C.I.E.T.A. (Centre International D'Etude Des Textiles Anciens) in Lyons, France. He was a founding member of The Textile Society of America and was the second TSA president. Mr. Sonday has given similar workshops to museum curators and other staff with responsibility for textile collections at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Victoria and Albert Museum; The Textile Museum; The Textile Conservation Center, University of Southhampton, Winchester; and New York UniversityÇs Conservation Center. The workshop met behind the scenes at the Cleveland Museum and had access to its superb textile collection.

OUTLINE OF WORKSHOP
The workshop was organized into various sections, starting with an introductory discussion of basic non-woven techniques in order to put weaving into perspective within the entire field of textile structures and techniques.

In advance of the workshop, each participant was asked to prepare four samples of over one, under one interlacing of three types (instructions were provided). This lead to a discussion of looms and which type might be best suited for weaving the samples.

Weaving techniques were presented in an order that reflects historic developments in so far as they can be deduced based on surviving examples and published documentation. Techniques discussed included warp crossing and re-crossing; the making of warp floats and the development of damask; using pairs of warp threads to pattern and the development of compound complementary warp-patterning; tapestry and the development of techniques using two sets of warps that includes compound complementary weft-patterning, double cloth and various organizations of floats in a simple weave. The use of supplementary warps (including velvet) and wefts were discussed.

As the workshop progressed, each participant made simple models of basic techniques that are easy and fun to make, easy to read, and useful for future reference. Approximately 20 warps needed to be prepared in advance of the workshop (instructions were provided).

Because an understanding of basic loom mechanisms is essential, an important aspect of the workshop was the development of drafts notations of warp threading and the making of sheds. Some techniques were demonstrated.

One day was devoted to analysis of repeat patterns.

Scholarships: Two scholarships, made available through the generosity of an anonymous donor, were awarded and covered the cost of registration.