Material Choices - Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific (Paperback)

Winner of the R. L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Award sponsored by the Textile Society of America Asia is renowned for the production of fine handwoven cottons and luxurious silks -- important items of trade for centuries. In addition to these celebrated fabrics, however, weavers throughout the region produced cloth from ramie, hemp, pina, and banana fibers (including Philippine abaca and Okinawan ito basho), as well as a number of lesser-known plant fibers. Over the course of the twentieth century, many of these Asian plant fiber weaving traditions became marginalized or hovered on the brink of extinction, given the advent of synthetic fabrics, growing industrialization, and increased international textile trade. As the essays in this book testify, however, they have not vanished altogether. Rather, in recent times weavers have purposefully chosen to pursue various efforts directed at their preservation, revival, or reinvention. In many cases, the production of bast and leaf fiber textiles is now thriving in newly globalized situations. This volume presents eight essays documenting the current state of bast and leaf fiber weaving traditions in Vietnam, Borneo, Korea, Burma, Okinawa, the Philippines, Japan, and Micronesia. The processes that have nurtured or buffeted attempts to preserve or revive the production of these textiles are examined and abundantly illustrated with color photographs. Roy W. Hamilton is curator of Asian and Pacific collections at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. B. Lynne Milgram is professor of anthropology at Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto. The other contributors include Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Bu-ja Koh, Sophiano Limol, Elizabeth Oley, Melisssa M. Rinne, Donald H. Rubinstein, Amanda Mayer Stinchecum, Ma Thanegi, and Tran Thi Thu Thuy.

General

Imprint:	Fowler Museum Of Cultural History,U.S.
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	November 2007
First published:	2007
Editors:	Roy W. Hamilton • B. Lynne Milgram
Dimensions:	305 x 229 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	188
ISBN-13:	978-0-9748729-8-8
Categories:	Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > Art styles not limited by date > Oriental art Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > Social & cultural anthropology > General Promotions
LSN:	0-9748729-8-9
Barcode:	9780974872988

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!