How to Go:
What: “Cut From the Same Cloth: Textiles of the World”
Where: Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, 2600 DeWeese Pkwy., Dayton
When: Through August 20. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Admission: Adults $14.50, Seniors (60+) $12.50, Children (3-17) $11.50, free for children under 3 and members.
For more information: (937) 275-7431 or boonshoft museum.org
We’re typically so busy visiting the river otters and meerkats, lining up for the Planetarium show or tasting the yummy pizzas the kids have just taken from the oven, that we may overlook some of the tucked away treasures at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.
Many of them can be found in the Temporary Collections Gallery where you’ll encounter intriguing items taken from the 1.7 million objects owned by the museum. Jill Krieg, associate curator of anthropology, is charged with the responsibility of scouring the museum’s holdings and dreaming up exhibits that will showcase the permanent collection.
“Our diverse collection includes biological, geological and anthropological specimens,” explains Krieg. Biological examples range from taxidermy birds to skeletal remains of all kinds of animals. Geological specimens might be amethyst geodes or ice age bones. The archaeological artifacts range from ancient textiles to arrowheads.
At the moment the museum is featuring “Cut for the Same Cloth,” an exhibition that focuses on textiles of the world. It will be on show through Aug. 20 and many of these items have never before been on display. A textile, we learn, is a type of material composed of fibers woven, knitted or felted together to produce fabric/cloth. The world’s oldest textiles are flax fibers that date to 30,000 years ago!
The featured fabrics, Krieg explains, weren’t chosen because they’re beautiful — which they are — but because they reflect the ways in which people from around the world and throughout history express their cultural and individual identities.
“What’s great about textiles is that everybody can relate to them because they are still part of our lives,” Krieg says. “We utilize textiles in much the same way that people have always done — to create clothing or furnishings like rugs and tapestries. We want to use these objects as a way to talk about people.”
That’s precisely what distinguishes an exhibit at a natural history museum, she adds. “There’s that extra layer of interpretation as opposed to a fashion or art exhibit. It’s more than just about the beauty of the piece or the craftsmanship.”
Krieg says textiles can teach us many things. “Clothes tell a lot about a culture,” she says. “They may tell about social status, about the economy, the trade. You can tell how people might have interacted. A great example is the Silk Road where silk was cultivated in Asia and then slowly spread throughout Europe and the Old World.”
What you’ll see
The gallery is organized by textile type such as cotton, fur, silk, velvet, leather. On display you’ll see different items made from that particular fabric.
While furs are not textiles because they are not fabricated in the same way by interweaving natural or synthetic fibers, they were included in the exhibition as a related material used for similar purposes such as cltohing and blankets. Furs and animal hides — such as deerskin — are a natural material that has been substantially altered with chemicals to make them usable as fabrics.
“The first thing my mother always taught me to do when I was shopping was to check and see what fabric something was made of,” says Krieg. “I still do that! She grew up in a time when sewing was so much more important. It made me appreciate where my clothes came from. Today the younger generation is so removed from the idea that someone is actually sewing and making your clothing.”
You’ll see Chinese silk dresses, Japanese kimonos, Native American dresses, Turkmen robes, Peruvian ponchos, African Kente cloth, Indian sarees. Techniques range from knitting or weaving to felting and most of the items on display have never before been viewed by the public.
Items date from a piece of Hopewell fragment that’s 2,000 years old to new items dating from the 1970s. Many of the pieces were donated to the museum by Virginia Kettering, who traveled the world and especially loved Asian artifacts.
Krieg said her favorites in the exhibit are the set of Nigerian wedding clothes and the scalp lock jacket which incorporates human hair. “Our hope is to teach children what people wore in different time periods throughout history and in different areas of the world,” Krieg says. “It’s fun to compare and contrast to what we wear today.”
Krieg had fun putting together a play-list for the exhibit. The music you’ll hear as you walk through the gallery reflects traditional songs from all parts of the world.
Gallery Guide
If you’re visiting this exhibit with children, you probably won’t have time to read all of the interesting information Kreig has assembled. Be sure and take home the free gallery guide that gives a brief history of textiles, information about specific fabrics, and an excellent glossary of terms.
You can use the guide at the museum as a treasure hunt. Krieg has written a “Can You Find Me?” section where she describes objects ranging from a Ghost Dance Dress associated with a Native American religious movement in the late 19th century to a Panamanian Mola and a Chinese opera costume.
The exhibit also features a hands-on station where the kids can color and make paper dolls inspired by the collection on display. And the children will love the dolls from around the world.
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