This week’s FEEDBACK FRIDAY was on textile conservation and preservation using natural dyes.
Watch the video recording here:
We were joined by Robin Hanson who has managed the textile conservation lab at the Cleveland Museum of Art for the past 21 years, Nancy Britton, Conservator Emeritus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and whose specialty is upholstery conservation, and Kate Smith, owner of Eaton Hill Textile Works and director of the Marshfield School of Weaving in Marshfield, Vermont.
Many thanks to Robin for coordinating this powerhouse presentation of women working hard for years in their respective fields.
The three jointly presented on two collaborative reupholstery projects they have done together with the focus of their presentation on a piece of Thomas Hope Furniture in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection and a bench also by Thomas Hope in the Met’s collection.
Kate dyed the yarn and wove the fabric for both projects and the three will focus on the process as well as how important it is to keep this type of natural dye and textile conservation alive and well.
Next week, we’ll be talking with LaChaun Moore on Ethnographic Fiber + Dyes From Black & Indigenous Farmers.
RSVP here.
LaChaun Moore is an artist who engages the public with her ethnographic fiber making and research practice that focuses on plant species that are linked specifically to Black and Indigenous farmers who have been systematically exploited for their agricultural ingenuity. She has built a small-scale farm growing naturally-colored green and brown cotton as well as ancestral indigo sourced from a Low Country plantation. As part of her research LaChaun co-hosts the WEAVE podcast which is part of Gist Yarn & Fiber.
FEEDBACK FRIDAY
If you are not familiar with FEEDBACK FRIDAY, every week, we speak with dyers, artists, scientists and scholars about our favorite topic, natural dyeing and color. Curated by Amy DuFault, Botanical Colors’ Sustainability Director and presented by Botanical Colors’ Founder Kathy Hattori.
We even have our own theme song thanks to musician Jimmie Snider!