mini lectures by ETN members

Mon, 29^th July, 17:30 - 18:50

17:30 – 17:40
The Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection (HLATC) - Amanda Thatch, University of Wisconsin, USA

The Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection (HLATC) at the University of Wisconsin—Madison contains over 13.000 textile objects that are available for research and study. The HLATC, housed in the School of Human Ecology where the Fashion and Textiles programs are taught, also hosts a range of textile-related programming, including exhibitions and symposia. This networking session will introduce the HLATC, along with its associated galleries and digital resources, so that textile artists and scholars from all over the world are more aware of this remarkable resource, and can potentially partner with the HLATC to support textile projects of all kinds.
https://hlatc.blogspot.com/;  https://sohe.wisc.edu/research-development/centers-of-excellence/cdmc/textile-collection/


17:40 – 17:50
The 11th Edition of Valcellina Award and the New Book "FIBER ART 20th year of Valcellina Award” - Barbara Girardi, IT

The Valcellina Award, whose 11th edition will shortly be activated, is the International Contemporary Textile/Fiber Art Competition open to young fiber-artists. This event - the most important initiative organized by Le Arti Tessili - is organized for the purpose of enhancing the interest in the contemporary textile art among young artists under 35 years of age, encouraging new talents, and stimulating artistic research and experimentation. The project activates important collaborations between educational institutions, association, textile companies and public institutions.
After one year of work, the new book "Fiber Art 20th year of Valcellina Award" by Le Arti Tessili Association is ready to be presented to the international audience of the ETN meeting.
www.leartitessili.it; www.valcellinaaward.net


17:50 – 18:00
Weaving and Textile Design Studio in Tuscany - Anna Silberschmidt, Studio Aphorisma, CH/IT

Studio Aphorisma is a weaving and textile design studio in the countryside between Florence and Siena in Italy. We organize courses in textiles and colour design on a regular basis. Starting next year we will have a guest atelier and offer residences for weavers and textile artists who would like to work on a textile project in our studio. There will also be a scholarship for students interested in research in the field of weaving and textile art.
www.studio-aphorisma.com

18:00 – 18:10
European Wool - Marie-Thérèse Chaupin, Association ATELIER-Laines d’Europe, FR

Some European sheep breeders are now taking in hand the future of the wool of their flocks. New wool yarns and products were developed in the last years, from the clip to the cloth, origin guaranteed, processed in Europe. Interesting examples exist in France, Italy, Spain, UK, Germany or Sweden. Building cooperations between the breeders and the processors is one of the aims of the network ATELIER-Laines d’Europe. Together we are working for new ways for supporting breeders, environment, social and ethical working conditions, and to make new materials available for creation, for artists and craft people.
http://atelierlainesdeurope.eu/ 


18:10 – 18:20
Fiber Art Installations and the Weaving Workshop at the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design - Natalia Tsvetkova, Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, RU

Natalia Tsvetkova talks about her fiber art installations that refer to ecological ideas. She uses “waste” (polyethylene, wire) & recycled materials to create “natural” objects such as trees, leaves, flowers, butterflies from VERY UNNATURAL materials, but traditional textile technologies as hand loom weaving, sewing, knitting etc. Her works can be presented not only in exhibition halls, but also in nature, and they were already shown on different exhibitions in Russia, Canada, China etc.
Natalia Tsvetkova is also working as an associate professor in the Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design, Textile Art Department from 1999 till present. In 1999 she organized the hand loom weaving workshop with the concept of making 3-D textile forms & installations. Beside her own work she will present examples of her students´ works using this idea.
www.artavita.com/artists/2119-natalia-tsvetkova  


18:20 – 18:30
The Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art - Huang Yan and Assadour Markarov, School of Public Art and Sculpture in Hangzhou, CN

The First and Second edition of the Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art took place in 2013 and 2016. Ms. Huang Yan and Assadour Markarov will introduce the whole project “Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, China”. They will describe the venues of the exhibition - Zhejiang Art Museum, China National Silk Museum and Museum of China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and will explain the themes, concept and the idea of the Triennials as well as artists who took part. At the end they will talk about the future of the 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art of 2019, with its title - “Boundless Encounters” - directions and new approaches.
www.fiberarthangzhou.com


18:30 – 18:40
The Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) - Paola Sinisterra, HK

The Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) is part of the heritage conservation project of The Mills, the former cotton spinning mills of Nan Fung Textiles in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. Through CHAT’s own curated multi-faceted programmes including exhibitions and co-learning programmes, we invite visitors to experience the legacy of Hong Kong's textile industry and engage in new dialogues and inspirational journeys that interweave contemporary art, design, science, heritage, community and craftsmanship.
Paying homage to the progressive energy of Hong Kong’s textile industry in the past, CHAT tells the stories of Hong Kong’s textile industrial history and beyond, challenges the conventional meanings of textile arts and presents myriad interpretations of textile material and subject matters.
CHAT is an art centre that weaves creative experiences for all.
www.themills.com.hk/en/chat


18:40 – 18:50
The International Shibori Symposium in Japan - Hiroko Watanabe, JP and/or Lala de Dios, ES

In November of 1992, the first International Shibori Symposium (ISS) was organized in the Arimatsu district of Nagoya, Japan. Over 1000 participants representing over 20 countries exchanged knowledge and inspiration about shibori. The overwhelming success of the symposium gave birth to the World Shibori Network and other symposiums followed along the years expanding over different continents and countries: India, Chile, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France, Hongkong, China, México and Japan again. The mission of the ISS is to bring together a diverse crowd of scholars, artists and textile enthusiasts for a meaningful exchange of knowledge, practice and tradition. The 11th ISS held in  the summer of 2018 was not an exception, featuring an impressive array of workshops, lectures, exhibitions and tours through different locations in Japan.
Professor Hiroko Watanabe and author and scholar Ms Yoshiko Wada co-chaired the 11th ISS. Both are strong believers in the role of textile culture as a basic part of human life and an essential way to link people and countries together.
https://www.11iss.org/

Wed, 31^st July, 15:50 - 17:00

15:50 – 16:00
World of Wearable Art  - Susan T. Avila, University of California, Davis, USA

Wow!! That is the typical reaction one has after seeing the World of Wearable Art (WOW) performance in Wellington, New Zealand. This annual competition blurs the boundaries between fashion, art, and costume. Unlike other wearable art exhibitions or fashion shows, WOW is more than just a visual event.  Music, lighting, and choreography provide a dynamic, narrative thread for a performance extravaganza where the body is a moving armature for textile art. As a 2018 finalist, I participated in this remarkable event; in this networking session, I will share my experience and introduce several of the WOW artists and designers.
www.worldofwearableart.com


16:00 – 16:10
Indigo: Time Made Visible - Linda Brassington, artist, researcher and lecturer, UK

The traditions of indigo dyeing represent a ‘Garden of Eden’ in the world of textiles. My research is examining intangible cultural heritage in contrasting sites of practice in Central Europe and Japan. It is questioning how traces of past activity are revealed in the workshop, how empty space can capture a sense of lacunae as a hiatus in time, a point between the past and the present. This presentation reflects on the vulnerability of craft, and demonstrates how a ‘paradise’ of textile heritage can become a ‘desert’, a microcosm of memory embedded in the surface and structure of its buildings.
Linda Brassingtons practice is focused on indigo in resist-dyed and printed textiles. Following an extensive career in art and design education at the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham, she is undertaking practice-based doctoral research in resist dyeing, exploring metaphorical and performance meanings in modern and contemporary cloth. Her work has been exhibited worldwide.
www.axisweb.org/p/lindabrassington


16:10 – 16:20
The Aural Textiles Project - Cally Booker, UK

Textile design typically takes inspiration from visual cues to the detriment of our other senses. Here we will describe how textile practitioners from across Scotland have been working with scientists and researchers to develop new woven, knitted and screen printed textiles inspired by the sounds around us. The work of the Aural Textiles collective culminated in an exhibition in Forres, Scotland, and has now evolved across countries and into other (non-textile) disciplines. In this presentation, we will share information about the process and outcomes, and invite discussion of these.
www.auraltextiles.com 


16:20 – 16:30
Future Bio-Arctic Design Project (F.BAD) - Ritva Jääskeläinen & Jenni-Liisa Yliniva, University of Lapland, FI

F.BAD project combines natural sciences (Natural Resources Institute Finland), technology (University of Applied Sciences Lapland) and textile design (University of Lapland). We search for natural, non-toxic alternatives as well as harmful, synthetic chemicals used in the textile production and aim to create naturally smart textile prototypes, with e.g. insect repellent properties. We experiment with Jacquard-weaving, knitting, natural dyeing, digital and screen printing to combine plant-based active ingredients, like aromatic oils, from Northern Finland with textiles. Design of textile prototypes is inspired by Arctic nature. E.g. microscopic images of the plants used for research provide interesting visual motives for weaving and printing.


16:30 – 16:40
TAU – The future woven in textile "Human hands and technology"- Yuka Kawai, Tama Art University, JP

Tama Art University was founded in 1935 in Tokyo, Japan. Under the principle of the university, “Freedom and Will”, we have developed textile education working toward to diverse creativity. Japan is one rare case of a country in which dyeing and weaving culture by traditional procedures coexists with cutting-edge textile technology. Aiming to communicate this characteristic from Japan out into the world, we aim to foster excellent designers and artists engaging in activities in textile field and beyond. We discuss the role of textiles from different social perspectives, and implement hands-on learning through joint projects involving academic, business, and governmental circles within the international community. This session will introduce TAU Textiles, spotting light also on the current students and graduates’ achievements; and by sharing the information I would like to facilitate exchange and networking among artists and designers for future activities.
http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/english/dept/td.htm16:40 – 16:50


16:40 - 16:50
NTA – Visions for Nordic Textile Art Now and in the Future – Elisabeth Brenner, SE

NTA – Nordic Textile Art has since the foundation of the association in Bohuslän Sweden in 2006 worked to strengthen and expand the Nordic network so that textile artists, textile designers, curators, writers and people interested in textiles can connect. From being a primarily Swedish dominated organisation, the NTA board now is made up of members from Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden. Having representatives from all of the Nordic countries has always been a goal, which has now been realized.
Meeting in person is especially important at a time when much networking takes place in the virtual world. For this reason NTA arranges a meeting/convention every year in one of the Nordic countries.
In 2017 one of NTA’s visions was realized. NTA was an important partner in a cooperative  venture with the Textile Museum Borås and the European Textile Network (ETN ), in planning the international event: CROSSOVER Borås 2017,  the 18th ETN Conference, a major and spectacular event for NTA, ETN and the town of Borås.
In 2018 NTA, along with other textile organisations in Europe, was invited to the conference: ‘Building Bridges’ for brainstorming about textile collaboration in Europe and the future of the ETN. An important event with discussions and brainstorming about the importance of international cooperation, including on the textile front.
The future of the NTA looks bright, with major events, exhibitions, and new events which it will have  been involved in from the outset.
www.nordictextileart.net


16:50 – 17:00
Weaving Communities - Further Growing Dunedin’s LOOM ROOM – Christine Keller, NZ

Christiane Keller started 2013 to teach loom weaving to the interested hobbyist. The first class was run with five paying people. Classes are now run in four parallel classes with between four and ten students each. Salvaged and refurbished looms from at least two New Zealand Polytechnical institutions are part of the LOOMROOM’s equipment. The loom count is above 45, students range from ages 4 to 78.
Dunedin’s LOOMROOM receives very little public funding from the Dunedin City Council and is privately run by Christiane Keller. After building her new Studio in 2018, she now has 6 floor looms installed. The independence of formal organisations while difficult at times has enormous chances to build something special. The fees are affordable; students do not work for marks but for the fun of working together, learn with and from each other and gather skills. The LOOMROOM aims at supplying the infrastructure for people to make objects and to make sense. To make work more local is part of the trend towards the aim of building a sustainable future.
"...if I believed in money as the only measure for wealth, the LoomRoom would not exist today. I believe it is time we start to measure community, environment, skill level, well being and beauty. I feel richer being part of this project."
https://christinekeller.co.nz/