Description
The Bard Graduate Center (BGC) seeks funding for the 2023 exhibition, “Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest,” which will feature twenty Indigenous textiles selected from the holdings of the American Museum of Natural History and placed on public view for the first time. These works, acquired more than a century ago, will be complemented by works by living masters of the Navajo weaving tradition. “Shaped by the Loom” will be curated by BGC alumna Dr. Hadley Jensen in collaboration with fifth-generation Navajo weavers Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas with the aim of educating audiences about this living cultural practice and its place in a more inclusive history of American art.
“Shaped by the Loom” will be organized around six themes central to the weaver’s perspective: homeland and cosmology; ecology; dyeing and coloring; techniques and technologies; design elements; and value and exchange. In addition to the AMNH works and contemporary weavings (by artists including Pete, Ornelas, Kevin Aspaas, D.Y. Begay, Marie Begay, and Isabel Deschinny), the exhibition will present dye charts, looms, and other tools essential to the weaving process. Historic photographs, recorded interviews, and ephemeral documentation will provide further context. Pete and Ornelas (whose letter of support for the project is included in the proposal’s supporting documents) have made multiple visits to AMNH to view weavings in the collection and are reviewing wall text, gallery guides and interpretive labels.
Throughout the run of the exhibition (February 17 – July 9, 2023), Navajo weavers, loom and toolmakers, natural dye experts, multimedia artists, and other specialists will travel from the Southwest to participate in workshops, artist demonstrations, conversations, and hands-on activities. Pete and Ornelas will lead key public programs and docent and educator trainings, and they will speak at the opening symposium. The program series will engage institutional partners including the Alliance of Museums of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, LaGuardia Community College, and the New York University Ability Project.
A digital publication will include a catalogue of the AMNH Navajo textile collection, a series of themed pages exploring major facets of Navajo weaving, an educator guide specifically designed for K-12 educators and audiences, and an appendix by the late scholar of Native American art Ira Jackniss. The publication will include about sixty high-resolution images.
Discussion of this special grant began after it was determined that “Shaped by the Loom” did not conform to the loan exhibition grant guidelines or the AAP’s customary collection-based exhibition work. This project is entirely in keeping with the AAP’s strategic goals and objectives, particularly in the areas of advancing projects that prioritize representation and equity, advancing essential work with under-utilized collections, and engaging diverse collaborators.
