Image: Bison-dogbane skirt, Nan Awaya Ranch, Antlers, OK. Deidre Elrod, Multimedia Photographer. Courtesy of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
TSA Colloquium Series (re)claiming futures
Session 1: (re)claiming Lost Traditions in Native American Textile Art
Date and Time: Tuesday, April 26th, 2022, 7pm EDT / 4:00 pm PDT. This is a virtual event.
$10 TSA Members / $15 nonmembers. You will receive a Zoom link in your registration confirmation email. To become a TSA member and support programs like this, join here.
A recording will be available to everyone who registers for 7 days after the event for later viewing.
Series Description
Join the Textile Society of America for this online colloquium showcasing (re)claimed stories/narratives and histories of textile creation, practice, and study. In these presentations and panel discussions, innovative artists and scholars will discuss textile histories and practices of American communities traditionally underrepresented in the political and cultural landscape. Offering insights that often challenge mainstream academic discourse and longstanding frameworks of knowledge, these speakers will underscore the plurality of textile histories, producers, and purposes while advocating for more inclusive approaches in the textile field. The series is conceived of as an ongoing conversation with the presentations building on one another, and it is suggested that TSA members engage with the entire series as they would approach a day-long conference. This series is generously supported by the Lenore Tawney Foundation as part of their ongoing commitment to insure access to critical voices of the textile community.
There are four one-hour sessions in this series, the first in April followed by sessions in May, September, and November. The registration fee is $10 for TSA members and $15 for non-members. To become a TSA member and support programs like this, join here.
Session 1: (re)claiming Lost Traditions in Native American Textile Art
This panel discussion highlights two case studies for community-based research that prioritizes Indigenous traditions and knowledge systems. The moderator for this session is Joe Baker, a Native American artist, educator, and co-founder and Executive Director of the Lenape Center.
- Jennifer Byram will describe a project in which Chahta (Choctaw) community members collaboratively recreated an eighteenth-century style Chahta skirt. Made of fibers sourced, processed, and woven by group members, this skirt and its production process served to strengthen bonds within the community and between the community and the natural environment. Jennifer Byram is a Research Associate in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Tribal Historic Preservation Office and a PhD student of Archaeology in the University of Arizona School of Anthropology.
- Vera Longtoe Sheehan will discuss how a team of Abenaki women designed and made regalia to be worn in recently revived agricultural ceremonies. Sheehan describes the consensus-based collaborative processes that enabled the creation of the regalia and ensured the passing on of skills, designs, and histories from one generation to the next as “a form of Indigenous resistance and exercise of sovereignty.” Vera Longtoe Sheehan is the Director of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association and Founder of the Abenaki Arts and Education Center. She has a MALS in Interdisciplinary Studies from SUNY: Empire State College.
For questions about the program or registration, contact Maggie D’Aversa margaretdaversa@gmail.com
