Textile Tuesday with Isabella Rosner

“The Toilet of the Princess” (from a pair of Indo-Chinese scenes), 1690-1715, attributed to the workshop of John Vanderbank the Elder, probably woven by Great Wardrobe (Great Queen Street, Saint Giles-in-the-Fields, London), at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. From Melinda and Amelia’s episode.

Following my previous Textile Tuesday article from December 2021 about the first season of my podcast, Sew What?, I am back to discuss season two’s interviews with Textile Society of America members. Sew What?, which celebrates historical needlework and those who stitched it, has benefited from TSA’s support from its very beginning. In season 2, I interviewed the president of TSA, Melinda Watt, as well as two leading curators and TSA members, Amelia Peck and Dr. Erica Warren.

Easy chair upholstered by Caleb Gardner, Newport, Rhode Island, 1758, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. From Melinda and Amelia’s episode.

I interviewed Melinda and Amelia together for an episode about curating textiles at large museums. It was an honor to interview them, as my internship with them at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2015 and 2016 started my journey of loving and researching historical needlework. Sew What? listeners and I really appreciated learning how textile curators plan out their own exhibitions and collaborate with other curators for interdisciplinary exhibitions. I interviewed Erica alongside fiber artist Bisa Butler, my favorite living artist. What an incredible opportunity that was! Our conversation centered on the exhibition of Bisa’s work Erica curated at the Art Institute of Chicago (Bisa Butler: Portraits, which ran from November 2020 to September 2021). Melinda, Amelia, and Erica have so much knowledge, and I am very grateful that they were willing to generously share their expertise with the Sew What? audience.

Bisa Butler, “The Safety Patrol,” 2018, at the Art Institute of Chicago. From Erica and Bisa’s episode.

Thank you to the Textile Society of America for the opportunity to promote the podcast and to celebrate the TSA members who have been interviewed thus far. You can listen to the episodes with Melinda, Amelia, and Erica, as well as all other episodes, on your favorite podcast app or at sewwhatpodcast.buzzsprout.com. Though the third season marks the end of Sew What?’s formal seasons, standalone episodes will be released every so often on Thursdays at 12pm British Standard Time. The most recent season, which concluded in February, features interviews with museum professionals, historians, writers, and makers, as well as non-interview episodes focusing on Indigenous needlework traditions across five continents. Images and sources for each episode are posted on the Sew What? social media accounts, @sewwhatpodcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The podcast also has a website, sewwhatpodcast.com.

Sew What? podcast: https://sewwhatpodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Melinda Watt and Amelia Peck episode: https://sewwhatpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1075825/8301905

Dr. Erica Warren and Bisa Butler episode: https://sewwhatpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1075825/8376049