A Day on the Range

Calling All Cowboys

In the US we have a “mini” holiday every day.  For instance “take you cat to work day" or “potato farmers’ appreciation day”.  Well, this weekend is Cowboy Appreciation Day.  Here, in the west, we take our cowboys seriously.  When I was growing up every boy and girl had, at one time or another, a cowboy/cowgirl outfit complete with hat, boots, fringed jacket, sheriff’s badge and a holstered cap gun.
TV shows made life on the ranch seem glamorous, exciting and a bit dangerous.


This part of Americana has left us a legacy of designer cowboy boots and hats, which fetch a tidy sum, for wannabe wranglers. We wear jeans with designer labels and western embroidered motifs (even though Levis were initially manufactured for laborers, not cowboys).   Some of our best occasions for entertaining are rodeos and, in Santa Fe, the upcoming “Buckaroo Ball”, a charity event.

"The cowboy is America's most prominent and enduring symbolic figure.  He has come to represent American manhood and a spirit of  self-reliance and independence"

Cowboy: The Enduring Myth of the Wild West, Russel Martin, Stewart, Tabori and Chang, Pub., NY, 1983

"No cowboy history is complete without accessories ... from the Stetson and flowing neckerchief to the lavishly embroidered and fringed shirts."


Cowboy: How Hollywood invented The Wild West, Holly George-Warren, Reader's Digest Assoc., Inc., NY, 2002

Art of the Boot, Tyler Beard, Gibbs-Smith Pub., Salt Lake City, 1999

The American Bandanna:: Culture on Cloth from George Washington to Elvis, Hillary Weiss, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1990











So dust off those chaps and spurs!!

 Happy Trails

International Folk Art Market Photos

Last week I spoke about the annual folk art market in Santa Fe and promised photos of the visitors, vendors and their wonderful wares.  The Market was colorful, energetic, and I finished my Christmas shopping!!!
I love buying gifts that are unique and benefit the artist-maker.  90% of all sales go to the international artists.

If you are planning a visit to Santa Fe next July, this is a must!!!

Vendor-artists wear their traditional costumes

Musical instruments from Madagascar

There were many demostrations, including this backstrap loom weaver

Visitors enjoy entertainment of music and dance

And, of course, there are textiles!!!

Interrnational Folk Art Market

International Folk Art Market - 12 Years in Santa Fe

In Santa Fe , we have many art events: opera, concerts, ballet and gallery openings.  One of the most impressive (and fun to attend) is the International Folk Art Market and related activities held yearly on the Milner Plaza at Museum Hill.  It has become so popular that this year many events were sold out prior to their opening dates.

According to IFAM over the past eleven years 690 artists represented 86 countries from 6 continents.  Sales were over 18 million dollars with 90% of that money returned with the artists back to their home communities.  IFAM states that many artists earn more than 10 times their annual income .  For some of these incredibly talented people this is the first opportunity they have had to leave their villages and communities.  I cannot imagine the culture shock of planning, preparing their crafts, and traveling to such a far off country (perhaps with little knowledge of English and our life styles).  This curiosity is shared by those attending the market sales.  Many, many photos are taken of the vendors who are usually wearing their native dress and costumes.  Questions are addressed by the artists, sometimes through interpreters.  It is obvious that the tens of thousands of visitors are both knowledgeable and appreciative of the high level of craftsmanship and there is rarely a visitor that leaves without armloads of purchases.


This year there are representative artists from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, 58 countries in all.

Naturally, we purchased our tickets far in advance and are ready with camera and credit card.  Next week I will share photos of the vendors and their amazing creations of pottery, jewelry, rugs, clothing.

Fibers of the Philippines

Today let us look at two textile fibers from the Philippines: Abaca and Pina

The abaca plant (Musa textiles),  a species of banana is native to the region and grows naturally.  Strong, coarse fibers are extracted from the large oblong leaves and stems.  The leaves grow from the trunk of the plant and the base of the leaves form a sheath around the trunk.  The striping process separates the long leaf fibers (5 to 11 ½ ft in length) from the pulpy matrix.  The fibers are dried in the sun and gathered into bundles.  If the fibers are intended for textiles, they are softened by pounding in a mortar, increasing their flexibility.  The fibers cannot be spun, but are hand tied end –to-end and are carefully coiled in baskets to keep them from tangling.  Before they are woven, they are dyed in skeins of plain colors or on tying framed for ikat.

Characteristics of abaca;  elegant in appearance and similar to  linen

                                        lightweight

                                        abaca fibers are usually blended with other fibers such as silk or polyester which produces a fabric with a distinct nubby appearance

                                          the fabric is washable and easy care

Pina (pineapple) is an herbaceous perennial , 2/12 to 5 feet in height with a spread of 3-4 feet.  It is not native to the Philippines, but a native to Brazil and Paraguay.  The native Indians spread the plant throughout South and Central America where Columbus found the fruit on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493 and brought it back to Spain.  The Spanish introduced it to the Philippines in the 16thC.

The fiber is a leaf fiber ( leaves are 20-72 inches in length).

Characteristics are similar to abaca and is usually combined with other fibers.  Combined with abaca, it is called ‘justi”.

From the Rainbow's Varied Hue: Textiles of the Southern Philippines,

Roy W. Hamilton, ed., 

UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, 1989

Flax Skirts of New Zealand

Polynesia 2

Last week I spoke of the feathered cloaks of Polynesia, specifically, New Zealand.  I mentioned that while there are many similarities in the cultures of the various island groups within this region, each nation has developed their individual identity.  Today we return to the Maori Arts Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand to see a contemporary example of a flax ceremonial skirt.

Maori Arts Gallery, Boatshed 2, Waterfront Walkway, Frank Kitts Park, Wellington, N.Z.
www.maoriartsgallery.com



One of iconic garments of Hawaii and Tahiti is the grass skirt.  Every luau features dancers performing the hula.  The dancers sway with graceful movements and their grass skirts perfectly mimic the swaying motions of the palms and the ocean waves.  In New Zealand,. these ceremonial skirts, piupiu, are worn by both men and women.  Unlike the  long, grass fibers of the other Polynesian skirts, those of N.Z. are made from the long, tightly grouped strands of tubular flax.  These patterned fibers hang from a woven waist band.

     
     New Zealand flax



The preparation of the flax involves scoring each strip of flax leaves with a dull knife according to the traditional designs, centuries old.  .  Care is taken to only penetrate the green layer of the leaf and does not penetrate to the inner fibers.  In  olden times a mussel shell was used to scrape and rub the scored area to expose the white flax fiber beneath.  The resultant design is alternating bands of green and white.  For a skirt with a waist of approximately 29 inches, nearly 128 scored and scraped fibers are required..  The strips are plied and tied together in preparation for boiling which will remove the chlorophyll (the green bands).  As the strips dry they curl into long tubes.  Dyeing comes as the next step.  Only the exposed fibrous areas will accept the dye, the resulting pattern is alternating black (dyed) and natural white bands.

Vintage ceremonial flax skirt, New Zealand

Contemporary flax skirt

Feathered Cloaks

Feathered Cloaks of Polynesia

Throughout the islands that are part of  Polynesia there are many commonalities, although each island (or island group) may differ somewhat in their customs.  One textile of remarkable beauty is the feathered cloak, but found only in Tahiti, Hawaii and New Zealand cultures. 

In Hawaii, feathered cloaks denoted rank as the higher the position of the wearer, the longer the cloak.  They were so popular many birds faced extinction, as the demand for their highly colored feathers was intense.  Their method of construction was a ground of netting into which groups of banded feathers were attached with separate bindings.  The rows of feathers overlapped , sometimes forming intricate patterns.

New Zealand is the last of the Polynesian nations geographically and also the last to have been populated by migrating peoples.  New Zealand natives, Maori, also created these glorious textiles.  The Maori, however, initially prized another cloak more highly, and that is the dog skin cloak.  These cloaks were much sought after by Europeans but by the mid 19thC were very rare.  Feathered cloaks, kahu huruhuru,  then became more popular among the Maori and were made from many different types of bird feathers, including native pigeon, pheasant, parrot and kiwi. These garments were made to tribute the forest god, Tane.  The method of construction differed from other islands. The feathers were an integral part of the woven garment, not sewn on after construction.

Feathers and Fibre: A Survey of Traditional and Contemporary Maori Craft, Mick Pendergrast, Penguin Books, Auckland, NZ, 1984 

Te Aho Tapu: The Sacred Thread, Traditional Maori Weaving, Mick Pendergrast, Reed Publishing, NZ, 1987

There are many surviving cloaks in museum collections.  This past year, while visiting our New Zealand relatives, my husband and I visited a shop in Wellington, The Maori Arts Gallery, which featured many contemporary crafted New Zealand native arts.  Among the Jade and bone carvings, flax garments and baskets were several feathered garments, skirts and jackets, photographs below.

Boatshed 2, Waterfront Walkway, Frank Kitts Park, Wellington, NZ

www.maoriartsgallery.com

Fabrics and Wallpapers; Textile Cousins

Wallpaper: A Textile Cousin

When I lecture about various categories of textiles I frequently  use an analogy of a family tree.  So, let’s say the nuclear family is apparel and apparel fabrics, furnishing fabrics for curtains and bed and bath linens.  These are the most common textiles and immediately familiar to us.  Next in the family might be carpets and rugs.  Another branch might be ethnic cousins, including costumes.  Also there are textiles for industrial uses.  Further along the family line might be basketry and cordage.  After all they are made from animal and vegetable fibers and are made with similar techniques.  One important, although distant cousin, is paper.  Vegetable fibers (originally cotton, paper mulberry, breadfruit and others) are pulped.  Unlike papyrus manufacture where the fibers are laid parallel to each other to create a smooth surface, paper is a mass of fibers prepared in a mold, heat and pressure are used to provide a smooth surface area.

The history of wallpaper is an interesting one.  From my files I found an article (Early American Life, Feb., 1980) in which Richard Nylander spoke of the use of wallpaper in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  Mr. Nylander was the curator at SPNEA, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, of which I was a member while living in New England.  A sample of wallpaper from a house built in the early 1700’s was in the collection but this wall treatment did not become popular until later in the century except among the very wealthy.

 Early paper was made entirely from rag, as wood pulp was not in use until 1850.  Sheets of paper were formed in a mold (like hand-made paper is today) , the molds being approximately 2x3 feet.  When dry the sheets were pasted together to form rolls, which were then printed.  It had been thought that early papers were printed and sold in small pieces and then pasted to the walls. Printing was done using wooden blocks, exactly as fabric was printed at that time, with separate blocks for each color or design element. 

Flocked paper was very popular and was created by the application of wool fibers onto glue surfaces.  Borders were also popular and ranged from 2 to 12 inches deep, occasionally designed specifically to accompany a certain paper pattern.

Continuous roller printing replaced block printing (again, as in textile production). Hand-printing with wood blocks in a single color can produce 25-30 rolls of paper per day while machine printing can produce 25 miles of paper.

With the substitution of wood pulp in mid 19thC and mass  marketing, the cost of  production was significantly lowered and this interior design element was available to most households in America.

I wrote of the design work of William Morris in February.  Morris designed over 40 wallpapers, and several ceiling papers. Morris stressed "wallpaper is only a part of a decorative scheme and must be looked at it the context of the other colours and forms”.

(William Morris: Décor and Design, Elizabeth Wilhide, Harry Abrams, NY, 1991)

Morris’ designs have been reproduced along with many other designers and offer a view into interior design of other periods. .  By including period wallpapers in the examination of textiles of the same period one is invited into the parlors, important buildings in a more comprehensive exploration of the interior design of the time.

In Liberty Style I mentioned the designer C.V.A. Voysey.  His work, following Arts and Crafts style, and preceding Art Nouveau, produced unique design.  He is, notably, one of the most successful designers of not only textiles, but also wallpapers, of his time.

  According to Gill Saunders (Fabrics and Wallpapers ; Sources, Design and Inspiration,  Barty Phillips Little, Brown & Co). writing the foreword for the volume, “Wallpaper has always been a poor relation in any history of interiors….this book establishes clearly the mutual dependence of wallpapers and textiles.”  Indeed it does.  The chapters instruct on texture, color and patterns & designs.