This event is CANCELLED due to restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Join the Textile Society of America for a day-long program of curator-led tours and textile viewing at three museums in Toronto. The day will begin at the Textile Museum of Canada, where Senior Curator Roxane Shaughnessy will lead a tour of Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios. Telling the little-known story of a group of Inuit artists and printmakers who produced a collection of graphic textiles in Kinngait (Cape Dorset, Nunavut) in the 1950s and 60s, the exhibition traces the evolution and impact of this textile initiative on Inuit graphic arts and explores its legacy through the work of Inuit fashion designers working today. Next, Curatorial Director Sarah Quinton will lead a tour of the exhibition Anna Torma: Permanent Danger, which features large-scale embroideries that express this Hungarian-Canadian artist’s experiences of family, immigration, joy, and the act of artistic creation. Following the curator-led tours will be a behind-the-scenes visit to the museum’s storage.
After lunch at the acclaimed Hart House Grill, the group will move on the Royal Ontario Museum. Curator Sarah Fee will lead a tour of the exhibition Cloth that Changed the World: India’s Painted and Printed Cottons, which surveys the techniques and designs that made Indian chintz the first global fashion, the cloth’s lasting impacts of art and society, and recent exciting innovations in India today. This is first exhibit of the ROM’s renowned collection of Indian chintz since 1970. Next, curator Deborah Metsger will guide the group through the companion exhibition Florals: Desire and Design, which explores plants and flowers as a prestigious commodity in eighteenth-century Europe. Indian cotton fashion pieces and wall hangings covered with hand-painted flowers from the ROM collection showcase how Indian artists customized painted cottons to indulge the Western market’s fascination with florals. The last stop of the day will be the Bata Shoe Museum, which celebrates the style, development, and function of footwear in a stunning exhibition space. Collections Manager Suzanne Petersen will greet the group and give an overview of the museum and the exhibitions on view in the galleries, which will be open until 8:00.
PRE- and POST-TOUR Suggestions
On the evening of April 22, the day before this tour, participants have the option of meeting for dinner with members of The Textile Society of the UK. If you would like to join this meet-and-greet dinner, please contact Lee Talbot (ltalbot@gwu.edu) by April 1.
On April 24, the day after this tour, the Royal Ontario Museum will hold the one-day symposium Always in Fashion: India’s Painted and Printed Cottons. Participants in the TSA program MUST REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT SEPARATELY
https://www.rom.on.ca/en/whats-on/always-in-fashion-indias-painted-and-printed-cottons
From April 23 – 27, The Centre for Fashion Diversity and Social Change at Ryerson University and the Royal Ontario Museum will host the conference Natural Dyes in Northeast America: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions. This conference will bring together an international roster of speakers, including Kathy Hattori, Dominique Cardon, and Rowland Ricketts. Participants in the TSA program MUST REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT SEPARATELY
While in Toronto, participants should consider visiting the Aga Khan Museum, which will be hosting the exhibition Paradise Garden: The Wagner Garden Carpet from the Burrell Collection, Glasgow https://agakhanmuseum.org/exhibitions/paradise-garden-the-wagner-garden-carpet-from-the-burrell-collection-glasgow
Tour guides and leaders:
Sarah Fee, Senior Curator, Fashion and Textiles, the Royal Ontario Museum, and former board member of The Textile Society of America
Deborah Metsger, Assistant Curator, Botany, the Royal Ontario Museum
Suzanne Petersen, Museum Collections Manager, the Bata Shoe Museum
Sarah Quinton, Curatorial Director, Textile Museum of Canada
Roxane Shaughnessy, Senior Curator and Manager of Collection, Textile Museum of Canada, and former board member of The Textile Society of America
Lee Talbot, Curator, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, Washington, DC, and board member of the Textile Society of America
Venues: The Textile Museum of Canada; The Gallery Grill, Hart House, the University of Toronto; the Royal Ontario Museum; The Bata Shoe Museum
Starts: Thursday, April 23, 10:00 am: The Textile Museum of Canada, 55 Centre Ave, Toronto, ON.
Ends: Thursday, April 23, 5:30 pm: The Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON
Registration fee includes: museum admission and tours, transportation by shared taxi between venues, and lunch
Schedule:
10:00 meet at the Textile Museum of Canada (TMC)
10:15 – 11:45 tour of TMC exhibitions and storage
11:45 – 12:15 transit from TMC to the Gallery Grill, Hart House, University of Toronto (by taxi)
12:15 – 1:30 lunch
1:30 – 2:00 transit from restaurant to Royal Ontario Museum
(10-minute walk; taxis available)
2:00 – 4:30 tour of Royal Ontario Museum exhibitions
4:30 – 4:45 transit to Bata Shoe Museum (5-minute walk, taxis available)
5:30 tour ends (galleries open until 8:00)
