Textiles Studies
Date of this Version
Fall 2017
Document Type
Book Review
Citation
Newsletter of the Textile Society of America, Fall 2017, pp. 24-25.
Abstract
Sacred Scraps: Quilt and Patchwork Traditions of Central Asia
Author: Christine Martens
Published by: International Quilt Study Center & Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2017.
Drawing upon years of extensive travel, field research, and personal interviews with craftsmen and scholars in Central Asia, Chris Martens has produced a magnificent book to accompany the 2017 exhibition at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, for which she served as guest curator. This book, and the exhibition, documents the prolific quilt and patchwork traditions of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Funds for travel, research, and systematic collecting came from the museum, with the support of the Robert and Ardis James Foundation; she also received support from The International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) for travel in Turkmenistan. By juxtaposing historical photographs with her own stunning visual documentation of these craft traditions today, Martens has constructed an important cultural narrative based on her field notes and personal experience as traveler, artist, and scholar. The book is brilliantly designed, with text, documentary image, and object working together to establish a contemporary lens with which to view and understand the functional objects she collected, now among the holdings of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. The museum's photography beautifully illustrates each object, labeled by name (with local terminology), ethnic identity, and its geographic location of use.
Included in
Art and Materials Conservation Commons, Art Practice Commons, Fiber, Textile, and Weaving Arts Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Museum Studies Commons