Medieval Textile Workshops, George Washington University Virginia Science and Technology Campus, February 21 and 22, 2023

Supported by the Medieval Academy, the MAA 2023 Local Arrangements Committee and UC Berkeley Department of History, the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum are offering two identical, full-day workshops that make use of the institution’s rich textile collections housed in the Avenir Center on GW’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Virginia. The Avenir Foundation Conservation and Collections Resource Center houses the majority of The Textile Museum’s world-class collections. These include Oriental carpets and late antique, early Islamic (including tiraz), Indian (including Mughal), Southeast Asian, Central Asian, Persian, Turkish, and Greek textiles. The collections also include textiles from China, Japan, and Africa, although these are fewer in number. The museum also has extraordinary holdings of pre-Columbian Peruvian textiles: styles that are particularly well represented include Ocucaje, Nasca, Huari, Chimu, Chancay, and Inca. In addition, the collections include extensive holdings of textiles in the modern traditions that descend from pre-Columbian origins, including those of Guatemala and Mexico, as well as the Andean countries of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Each workshop day, 2 faculty leaders will work with eight participants alongside the museum staff to examine examples from the collections. Workshop 1 will be led by Jennifer Ball and Valerie Garver. Workshop 2 will be led by Sharon Farmer and Sharon Kinoshita.

The workshop is designed for those familiar with but not-yet-expert in textile research and scholarship. Due to space restrictions, each day of the workshop is restricted to two faculty members and eight graduate students, junior scholars or independent scholars.

The cost of lunch and roundtrip transportation to the Avenir Center from Washington, D.C. for all applicants will be covered through the generous support of the University of California at Berkeley. The cost of lodging is NOT covered.