Meeting Announcement:

Yarns from the Aegean Islands

with

Sumru Krody

at

Pioneer Hall

1642 43^rd Avenue East, Seattle

In the Madison Park neighborhood

Thursday, September 6th, 2007, 6:30 PM

Embroidered textiles from the Greek Islands and Epirus region were customarily produced for bridal trousseaux and used in domestic life. They offer us a unique window into island societies at the intersection of two worlds: the Latin West and Ottoman East. Sumru Belger Krody, Associate Curator of Eastern Hemisphere Collections at The Textile Museum will discuss these seventeenth-nineteenth century textiles, their diverse styles, and the reasons behind these differences. The presentation will tell the story of the ways in which cultural and political history and design were intertwined.

Sumru will explore the embroidered textiles of each island group and region; what these textiles look like, how they were made, how they were incorporated in the lives of islanders, and how they reflect those lives. Physical characteristics, methods of production, and function often crossover from one geographic region to another. The reasons behind these crossovers make an intriguing story relating the interactions between the political, economic, social and artistic worlds. From the early seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century, these four influences fostered a unique environment in a small geographic area where diverse embroidery traditions were able to emerge. These embroidered textiles can be seen as remarkable examples of the power of these island communities to assimilate foreign influences into their own native folk traditions.

Speaker Biography:

Sumru Belger Krody is Associate Curator of Eastern Hemisphere Collections at The Textile Museum and the Managing Editor of The Textile Museum Journal. She has coordinated and co-curated several Textile Museum exhibitions, including most recently Harpies, Mermaids, and Tulips: Embroidery of the Greek Islands and Epirus Region (2006). She is the author of two exhibition catalogues, Harpies, Mermaids, and Tulip (2006) and Flowers of Silk and Gold: Four Centuries of Ottoman Embroidery (2000). She is currently curating an exhibition entitled Ahead of His Time: The Collecting Vision of George Hewitt Myers, which will open on September 28, 2007. Her research focus for the rest of 2007 and in 2008 will be on Central Asian ikats. She is preparing an exhibition on the subject. The exhibition will draw its objects from the recent gift to The Textile Museum collections of 150 Central Asian ikats from Murad Megalli.

Meeting Schedule:

6:30 Mix and mingle. Announcements.

7:00 Sumru Krody: Yarns from the Aegean Islands

8:00 Show and tell – Bring anything you’d like to share with the group. Something from Greece would be particularly appropriate.

Please note: This meeting is free to members, $5 at the door for guests.

Meeting Location and Directions:

Pioneer Hall is the home of the Pioneer Association of the State of Washington. See the map below. Parking is available on nearby streets.

From I-5 or 405, take 520 toward the University of Washington. From the Eastside, exit at Lake Washington Blvd and turn left off the bridge and right into the Arboretum. From I-5, take the first exit from 520, Montlake Boulevard. Go straight through the light, following the main road until you take a right into the Arboretum. Go through the Arboretum, turning left at the light, at Madison Street. Go about a mile, and turn right on E. Blaine Street. Go two blocks. Pioneer Hall is straight ahead.