Contemporary Peruvian textile artists are predominantly of mixed Andean and Spanish ancestry, and they illustrate a mastery of their craft that draws strongly upon this Andean-Mestizo heritage. Fine textiles served as symbols of wealth and socioeconomic status among Pre-Columbian Andean cultures because of the fine fabrics, their elaborate weaving techniques, and their … [Read more...] about 20th-century Andean-Mestizo Textile with Chimú or Moche Motifs: Researched and Conserved by Alyssa Cartier
The Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee Nation, is a confederacy of six nations: The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. Female artists from all of these nations created elaborate beadwork, but this frame was most likely produced by the Mohawk, who produced beadwork on purple velvet and using these colors, motifs, and the looping, raised beadwork technique shown on … [Read more...] about Native American Beaded Frame: Researched, Conserved, and Restored by Kylei Giles
The colorful textiles featured in this exhibit are known as molas, which are artworks designed and produced by female artists of the Guna culture (also known as the Cuna or Kuna culture) of Panama. A mola is a rectangular panel of cloth that is decorated using a reverse appliqué technique: Two to six layers of different-colored fabric are stacked one on top of the … [Read more...] about 20th-century Guna Culture Molas from Panama by: Kylei Giles, Brianna Shatto, and Melissa Payte
Dolls are popular tourist-trade items throughout Mexico and northern Central America. The styles of the dolls have changed over the decades, with some adopting a more generic or international “stuffed toy” form; the dolls continue, however, to be adorned with traditional dress, and this has provided a valuable record of changes in these traditions over time. Some dolls are … [Read more...] about Mesoamerican Dolls: Researched by Ngozi Ekeke
BEFORE CONSERVATION AFTER CONSERVATION Mukudj Mask Traditional Punu culture Mukudj masks are worn in rituals to represent the ideal female and to represent deceased ancestors. The masks usually have white or light-colored faces, full red lips, slit eyes, arched eyebrows, and three distinctive scarification marks … [Read more...] about Mukudj Tourist-Trade Mask and Kifwebe Mask: Researched and Conserved by Caitlin Baker