Workshop: Understanding Carpets and Rug Weaving
Avenir Foundation Conservation and Collections Resource Center
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
October 6-9, 2025
Event Description
The GWU Museum and Textile Museum are pleased to announce, “Understanding Carpets and Rug Weaving,” a four-day workshop organized and hosted by The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. Held from October 6 through October 9 at the museum’s Avenir Foundation Conservation and Collections Resource Center, the workshop will be led by Walter B. Denny (The Textile Museum Research Associate, The University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Sumru Belger Krody (Senior Curator, The Textile Museum Collection) with support from the museum’s curatorial, collections management, and conservation staff. The workshop will address professional concerns of museum curators and academic scholars from all levels of experience including those currently undertaking graduate study.
The program will include a mixture of formats: illustrated lectures giving an overview of the history and development of rug and carpet weaving; group discussions; and practical exercises in the analysis of weave structures, including an up-close study of a selection of rugs and other textiles from The Textile Museum Collection. Participants will come away with an understanding of basic weave structures in the context of various carpet cultures (Anatolia, Iran, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia), weaving traditions (nomadic and settled), eras (from Early Modern times to the 19th century) and economic spheres (court and commercial production), as well as methods for analyzing and documenting rugs and carpets. We will also discuss the storage, conservation, and display of carpets in a museum context.
The museum will provide lunch and coffee, as well as all materials necessary for the workshop. Participants will be responsible for their own travel, accommodation, and dinner expenses. The Museum will provide a syllabus, some basic documentary materials to be read in advance, and detailed accommodation recommendations upon registration. Registration for the workshop closes on August 6, 2025 and is limited to 7 participants (including one scholarship recipient). Those who wish to be added to a waitlist should email MuseumCuratorial@gwu.edu. To reserve a spot, registrants must pay a $250 registration fee. Should a participant wish to cancel their registration, this fee will be refundable through September 6, 2025, after which time a refund will not be provided.
SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS
The museum is happy to provide a scholarship covering the registration fee and hotel accommodation to one graduate student or PhD candidate for the workshop. Students who are in good standing and currently enrolled in a U.S. higher-education institution are eligible to apply. We welcome applicants from programs in art history, archaeology, history, classics, religious studies, and other fields who might benefit from close engagement with our collection and training in material-culture approaches.
To apply, please submit a CV and cover letter with a summary of your research interests, plans for future research, and an explanation of how the workshop would benefit your intellectual and professional development. All materials should be submitted as a single PDF document to MuseumCuratorial@gwu.edu.
Applications are due by July 1, 2025.
Applicants are also encouraged to explore other sources of funding support within their own institutions, and from various professional organizations that support research in the area of carpets, textiles, and the history of Islamic art.
Find more information and register online here.
Contact: MuseumCuratorial@gwu.edu
Image: A woman using ground loom weaving a rug at Makawir village, The Bani Hamida Women’s Weaving Project, JRF, photo: Jordan River Foundation. Note: this image is not affiliated with the GWU Carpet and Rug Weaving Workshop.
