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From The George Washington University Museum:

The Cotsen Textile Traces Global Roundtable: From India to the World
Online, 17–18 November 2021

Panel fragment, painted and resist dyed, India, ca. 1770, 96 × 46 cm (Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection T-2021, The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum).

More than 200 textiles from India form a cornerstone of the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection at The George Washington University Museum and the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. They testify to cross-cultural exchanges, offer a rich resource for artistic inspiration and cross-disciplinary research, and serve as the inspiration for the Center’s second annual Cotsen Textile Traces Global Roundtable. On November 17, the theme is ‘Embroidered Textiles’; on November 18, ‘Painted and Printed Textiles’.

The Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection represents a lifetime of collecting by business leader and philanthropist Lloyd Cotsen (1929–2017). Comprised of nearly 4,000 fragments from all over the world, the collection offers insights into human creativity from antiquity to the present. Cornerstones of the collection include fragments from Japan, China, pre-Hispanic Peru, and 16th- to 18th-century Europe. The entire collection is available online.

To join us for the roundtable, please register early to reserve your space. Once you have registered, we will email you links and details for joining each day of the roundtable on Zoom. We will also email registered participants a full program with a detailed schedule.

This program is made possible through funding from the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection Endowment, as well as support from Barbara Tober in honor of Dr. Young Yang Chung.

W E D N E S D A Y ,  1 7  N O V E M B E R  2 0 2 1

Embroidered Textiles

9.00  Welcome and Introduction to Indian Embroidered Textiles from the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection
• Lori Kartchner, curator of education
• John Wetenhall, director
• Marie-Eve Celio-Scheurer, academic coordinator for the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center

9.20  Keynote Conversation: Indian Textiles: Conversing with the Transcendent
• Ghiora Aharoni, Cotsen Studio artist-in-residence
• Mayank Mansingh Kaul, independent curator and writer, New Delhi

10.00  Panel 1: Chikankari and Inspiration for Today’s Fashion
• Shalini Sethi, creative head, Good Earth, New Delhi
• Paola Mandfredi, independent researcher and consultant, Milano, Italy
• Jaspal Kalra, social entrepreneur, design educator, executive director of Kalhath Institute, Lucknow, India

11.00  Panel 2: Kantha, Then and Now
• Ruchira Ghose, former director, National Crafts Museum, New Delhi
• Niaz Zaman, advisor, Department of English and Modern Languages, Independent University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Pika Ghosh, visiting associate professor, Haverford College, Haverford, Pa.

Noon  Panel 3: Embroidered Traditions From Kashmir and Beyond
• Monisha Ahmed, independent anthropologist, Mumbai, India
• Asaf Ali, co-founder of the Kashmir Loom Company, New Delhi and Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir

1.00  Reflections on Day 1
• Maximiliano Modesti, craft and fashion entrepreneur, Paris and Mumbai, India
• Attiya Ahmad, associate professor of anthropology and international affairs, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

T H U R S D A Y , 1 8  N O V E M B E R  2 0 2 1

Painted and Printed Textiles

9.00  Introduction to Indian Painted and Printed Textiles from the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection
• Lori Kartchner, curator of education
• Marie-Eve Celio-Scheurer, academic coordinator for the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center

9.15  Keynote Lecture: Indian Printed and Painted Textiles, a Global Phenomenon
• Lee Talbot, curator, The Textile Museum Collection
• Ben Evans, editor, Hali Publications, London
• Rosemary Crill, former senior curator, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

10.00  Panel 1: Hand Painted and Printed in India Today
• Brigitte Singh, artist, artisan and designer, Jaipur, India
• Renukha Reddy, artist, Red Tree Studio, Bangalore, India
• Sufiyan Ismail Khatri, Ajrakh craftsman, Kutch, India

11.00  Panel 2: From India to the World (Asia and Africa)
• Sae Ogasawara, professor emeritus, Japan Women’s University, Tokyo
• Ruth Barnes, curator, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
• Sarah Fee, senior curator of global fashion and textiles, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Noon  Panel 3: From India to the World (Europe and America)
• Helen Bieri Thomson, director, Musée national suisse, Zürich, Switzerland
• Sylvia W. Houghteling, assistant professor, Department of History of Art, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
• Amelia Peck, Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Decorative Arts and supervising curator of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center, The Metropolitan Museum, New York