September 28 & 29, 2017 10:15 AM – 4:00 PM
Montreal, Canada
This program is now SOLD OUT. If you would like to be added to the waitlist, please contact caroline@textilesociety.org.
[Image left: Mantle with anthropomorphic figures, Paracas, 200 BCE – 300 CE, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Image right: Aazhoningwa’igan/Bandolier bag, Anishaabe or Iyarhe Nakoda, 1900 -1905, McCord Musuem]
Registration Details:
Registration will open for members on August 7th, and nonmembers on August 14th.
Member Rate: $300
Nonmember Rate: $350
Student and New Professional Member Rate: $150
Scholarship applications are now closed
For questions about the program please contact TSA Board Member Lauren Whitley
For questions about registration please contact Caroline Charuk
Program description:
This 2-day Textiles Close Up will focus on historic textile collections, as well as, contemporary textile-making in Montreal, Canada. Day #1 will begin at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with a behind-the-scenes viewing of Ancient Andean weavings with curator Erell Hubert, followed by a curator-led tour of the Andean galleries. After lunch at the MMFA, attendees will head a few blocks away to Concordia University for an afternoon exploring the exciting textile work in the Textiles and Materiality Research Cluster at this innovative school. Day #2 will start at the McCord Museum with a special viewing of First Nation’s textiles with curator Guislaine Lemay, alternated with self-guided tours of the “Wearing Our Identity” exhibition. Lunch will be at a café in Montreal’s charming historic district, followed by a special visit to the Musée de la Mode for a behind-the-scenes viewing of textiles for fashion.
General Information:
This program is limited to 12. There will be some standing during behind-the-scenes viewings and walking (3 blocks between tour sites.)
Please note: No meals are included in the program. The group will lunch at the Montreal Museum of Art café on Thursday, and at a restaurant in the historic district on Friday, but these are á la carte costs to be covered by each attendee.
Expert guides:
Erell Hubert is curator of pre-Columbian art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. As an archaeologist, she has been doing fieldwork in Peru since 2008, mostly at Moche sites on the north coast and most recently at the Wari site of Cerro Baúl in Southern Peru. She holds a Ph.D in archaeology from the University of Cambridge. Her dissertation, titled Moche Colonial Identity in the Santa Valley, explored the role of figurines in processes of identity negotiation among the Moche. She was also associate curator of the exhibition Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon (2013-2014) presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Seattle Art Museum and published a history of the pre-Columbian collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Recently, she has been working on the role of museums in constructing “archaeological cultures”.
Kelly Thompson is an artist and associate professor in the Fibres and Material Practices and MFA Studio Arts programs at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. She is involved with working in an expanded field of textiles in art practices, and explores the intersections of digital imagining and material engagement with traditional weave and fibres construction, print, dye and jacquard technologies. Her recent artwork explores concepts of digital traces, mapping, language, and translation that are woven into cloth, engaging with technology, sensorial affects and materiality in jacquard woven cloth. She is also the current Studio Arts Graduate Program Director and co-director of the Textiles and Materiality Research Cluster at Milieux Institute, Concordia University. www.materialcodesephemeraltraces.com/ or www.kellythompson.org
Geneviève Moisan completed her MFA in Fibres and Material Practices at Concordia University in 2016. Her research interests range from purely technical to questions of material culture, and the importance of “making” in a contemporary art practice. Her recent Jacquard woven artwork began with a traditional research into 19th century French silk Jacquard woven “scenes de genre”. She studied their imagery, historical context and complex techniques – especially brocades – in order to re-actualize them with her own Jacquard technique and own interpretation of human relationships. At the moment, she works as the textile support and equipment specialist for the Textiles and Materiality research cluster at the Milieux Institute in Concordia University. She is also part of studio subTela where she specializes in digital embroidery and conductive thread laying to make smart wearable textiles. Her work has recently been shown as part as the World of Threads Festival in Toronto in 2016, as well as in Milwaukee, Venice, Paris and Oaxaca, Mexico.
WhiteFeather is a multiple award winning artist-researcher, as well as an educator, independent writer, curator, and arts consultant currently based in Montreal. She holds an MFA in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University and has presented work internationally in exhibitions, festivals, conferences, and guest lectures – most recently in Toronto, Reykjavik and Berlin. She positions her BioArt practice within the context of craft, via material investigations of the aesthetic and technological potential of bodily and vital materials. Her current research-creation practice is focused on the material applications of living systems, the haptic intelligence of microorganisms and their interactions with technology. WhiteFeather currently works as Technician and Interim Principal Investigator for the Speculative Life Lab and as Coordinator for the Textiles and Materiality Research Cluster.
The Textiles and Materiality Research Cluster is part of the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University. Textiles and Materiality brings together research creation expertise from textile arts and material culture to experiment with methods, processes and interdisciplinary modes of thinking that will shape the future of textiles, material objects and charged experiential spaces. The cluster fosters research-creation expertise in textile arts and technologies, such as complex weaving, electronic fabrics, interactive garments, rapid prototyping technologies, emerging materials, soft surfaces, and smart fashion. The synergy, momentum, and strategic collaborations that emerge from this collective, support innovation in new material research practices, leveraging the rich potential of interdisciplinary work. https://textilesandmateriality.wordpress.com/
Guislaine Lemay studied in archaeology at l’UQAM, earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and then a master’s degree in ethnohistory at the University of Montreal. Her transition to museum work came as a result of her position as assistant researcher and then Curatorial Assistant at the McCord Museum working more specifically on the First Peoples collection. She has been working at the McCord for twenty-five years. In 2008, she was named Curator of Material Culture, then Curator of Ethnology and Archaeology and Interim Curator of Decorative Arts. Most recently, she was the Curator for the Wearing our Identity exhibition at the McCord Museum.
Itinerary:
September 28
10:15am Meet at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts entrance https://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/
10:30-11:30 Behind the scenes viewing of Ancient Andean textile collection
11:30-12:30 Tour of Andean galleries
12:30-1:30pm Lunch at MMFA café
1:30pm Head to Concordia University, meet at EV building http://www.concordia.ca/maps/sgw-campus.html
1:45– 4:30pm Tour of Textiles and Materiality Research Cluster and SubTela http://subtela.hexagram.ca/ and https://textilesandmateriality.wordpress.com/
4:30-5:00pm Reception
Evening Dinner on your own
September 29
10:15am Meet at McCord Museum http://www.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/
10:30am-12pm Behind the scenes viewing of First Nations textiles/dress with self-guided tours of “Wearing Our Identity” exhibition
12:30pm Lunch at café in historic district of Montreal
1:30pm-4pm Behind-the-scenes tour of textiles for fashion in the collection of the Musée de la Mode and viewing of the special exhibition “Established in Montreal: Actors in the Fashion Industry 1845 to today” http://museedelamode.ca/fr/category/babillard/
Textiles Close Up is a series of study-workshops launched in 2013 that provides opportunities to examine textiles in leading museum and private collections, guided by renowned experts. Workshops focus on the exploration of the materials, techniques, styles, culture and history of selected textile traditions, which vary for each event. The format offers first-hand, close-up viewing of textiles in the storerooms, laboratories and study rooms of various institutions offering unprecedented access and learning opportunities.
