The Henry Art Gallery
Some textiles are so rare,
so beautiful, and so loaded with cultural meaning that they transcend their
traditional role as mere vestment, container or decoration, and rise to the
level of great historical document. The
Bayeaux tapestry and the Pazyryk carpet are two textiles which arguably reach
this standard. The Gateway Tunic from
the Pre-Columbian culture of Tiwanaku is also a candidate for consideration as
a textile of this high level. Come to
this lecture and learn more about this fascinating and important art work.
The Gateway Tunic dates to
the beginning of the first millennium.
Its intricate tapestry weave depicts ceremonial and architectural detail
that complements and extends information already known from the archeological
record. Yet the textile likely
pre-dates many of the stone monuments on the site, including the Gateway of the
Sun, and depicts other monuments not currently known – pointing to potential
archeological treasures not yet excavated.
The tunic is a visual
tour-de-force. Complete, and in nearly
perfect condition, in rich hues associated with Tiwanuku royalty, the tunic is
encoded with important information about Tiwanku’s ancestors, her principal
deity forms, ritual practices, and ceremonial sites. Margaret Young Sanchez, curator of the recent exhibition Tiwanku:
Ancestors of the Inca at the Denver Art Museum, said “in both iconography
and composition, this tunic is the most complex and sophisticated surviving
artwork from ancient Tiwanaku and one of the most important works of art from
ancient South America.”
Speaker Biography:
James Blackmon is a textile polymath.
For more than 30 years he has been collecting, importing, restoring,
conserving, cleaning, weaving, appraising, studying, writing on, teaching,
curating, and lastly, dealing in, textiles.
He has also served on the board of the Textile Arts Council of the Fine
Arts Museums of San Francisco and is currently a member of the Textile Museum’s
Advisory Council. His most recent
project was as curator of “The Fabric of Life: Columbus Collects Textile Art” at
the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.
Though Jim Blackmon emphatically states
that he is not a scholar, after more than 30 years of involvement in this field
he is certainly qualified to be called a textile expert. His primary area of interest and research
has been focused on the world’s two great wool-weaving traditions – the Andean
textile tradition, and those of the Near East and Central Asia. To a lesser extent he has also been involved
in the textiles of North and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Meeting Schedule:
6:15 Mix
and mingle. Announcements.
6:30 James
Blackmon – “The Gateway Tunic of Tiwanaku: The World’s Most Important Ancient
Textile?”
7:30 Questions,
answers and discussion. No show and
tell is planned for this meeting.
Please note: This
meeting is free to all, thanks to the generosity of Judy Sourakli and the Henry
Art Gallery! As always, all are
welcome.
Meeting Location:
The Henry Gallery is located on the
west side of the University Washington campus, off of Red Square. The gallery is at the point where NE 41st
meets 15th Avenue NE. The phone number
is (206) 543-2280.
Parking:
Parking is available on the neighboring streets or in the underground garage at NE 41st and 15th Ave. NE.