De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Textiles Close up: Pacific Basin Textiles & Featherwork in San Francisco
De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
November 6, 2015
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Join TSA for a day at the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park for an exploration of the textiles traditions of Oceania. The day will begin with a curator-led tour of the exhibition Royal Hawaiian Featherwork: Nā Hulu Ali’l led by Christina Hellmich, curator in charge of the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas and the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Organized in partnership with the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, the exhibition features approximately 75 rare and stunning examples of the finest featherwork capes and cloaks in existence, as well as royal staffs of feathers (kāhili), feather lei (lei hulu manu), helmets (mahiole), feathered god images (akua hulu manu), and related eighteenth- and nineteenth-century paintings and works on paper.
After a catered luncheon in the de Young café, we go behind the scenes for close examination of both loom-woven and non-loom textiles from several Oceanic cultures with Jill D’Alessandro, Curator of Costume and Textile Arts, and Laura Camerlengo, Assistant Curator. The scarcity of loom weaving among Pacific Island cultures has long perplexed scholars of both Oceanic art and textiles. In the central Pacific, loom weaving exists only in the Caroline Islands archipelago of Micronesia and a few areas in northern Melanesia. Objects to be viewed include two recent acquisitions that represent these weaving traditions: a Santa Cruz Islands bag and a mid-nineteenth century sash from the Caroline Islands, which illustrates the unique tied-in warp technique; and an object acquired by the museum in 1905, a Vanuatu plaited loincloth from Captain Hitchfield’s 1897 expedition. The day concludes with free time to explore the museum’s galleries and the special exhibition Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
Expert Guides:
Jill D’Alessandro, Curator of Costume and Textile Arts at Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, joined the museums in 2002. Over the past decade, D’Alessandro has organized numerous exhibitions on a diverse variety of subjects, ranging from ethnographic textile traditions to twentieth-century fashion design. She has contributed essays to several museum publications as well as to Fiberarts, Hali, and Tribal Arts magazines, on subjects including Caroline Island weaving and non-loom techniques in Papua New Guinea.
Christina Hellmich joined the staff of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco at the newly reopened de Young museum in 2005. She has served as curator in charge of the department of the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas since 2011. Recent essays include “Cosmopolitan Relationships in the Crossroads of the Pacific Ocean,” in Writing Material Culture History (Bloomsbury Academic , 2015) and “A Tino Aitu Figure Below the Surface,” in Nukuoro: Sculptures from Micronesia (Hirmer Publishers, 2013).
Registration Details:
Registration opens July 30. Registration is limited to members for the first 2 weeks of registration and opens to non-members on August 15. Join at anytime to ensure your space in these popular programs.
Registration Deadline extended to Oct 29th
Member Rate: $125
Nonmember Rate: $165
Student and New Professional Member Rate: $45
3 spaces are reserved for students and new professionals at a subsidized rate. Members at the student and new professional level should email tsaweb@textilesociety.org to register.
One scholarship is available to a TSA Member – application deadline October 15
