ARTH 266

Aspects of the History of Fiber Art: Global Perspectives on Fiber

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The global presence of textiles and their capacity to embody local and personal meaning makes

the history of fiber art a rich and varied field. This course offers a selective examination of the

development of fiber art in Western and non-Western traditions. Historically affiliated with craft

and viewed as signifier of the feminine and the non-industrial, textiles have at the same time played

a key role in nationalist, capitalist and industrial developments. The course will examine this

complex and charged history of fiber art through a series of linked case studies. Each one will

represent a selected geographical location and/or different historical period, for instance: textile art

and colonial presence in Southeast Asia, ties between the Scottish paisley shawl and the textile

traditions of India, the cross-cultural expression of Navaho weaving, and western concepts of

Japanism in relation to Japanese fiber art. These case studies will explore the tactile, sensual and

human dimensions of textile art while also focusing on the transcultural aesthetic produced in what

Mary Louise Pratt calls the ‘contact zones’ of colonial interaction. Concerns for gender and cultural

identity, social status and allegiance (whether familial, cultural or subcultural) will frame these

discussions.