Exhibition: Ancient & Living Traditions in Weaving: Selections from the Virginia West Fiber Art Study Collection and Julie Geschwind's World Textiles Teaching Collection
Katherine Shark '20 has worked in Summer 2019 with Decker Library Special Collections as independent study for academic credit through MICA's Art History department, overseen by Decker librarian Katherine Cowan and faculty Jenny Carson.
Shark's culminating research project is this exhibition which she curated for the Decker Library display cases, drawing on the library's Virginia West Fiber Art Study Collection and on the teaching collection of Julie Geschwind, faculty for MICA's History of World Textiles course (AH324.01). The exhibit includes an Andean textile fragment from the Chancay culture collected by Virginia West which may be the oldest item in the Decker Library!
Virginia West is a Maryland fiber artist with a practice focused on weaving. West was on faculty at MICA from 1969 until the early 1980s, in what was then known as the Crafts department. West assembled reference files of her weaving projects and teaching materials on subjects ranging from ancient to contemporary fiber art, and donated these materials to Decker Library by way of MICA's Fiber Department. Julie Geschwind is a textile curator and scholar who teaches at MICA.
Join us for the exhibition opening from 3-5pm on September 16, and see the exhibit from September 16 - October 15, 2019.