Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain,   The Textile Museum   Highlights the work of Lucienne Day (1917-2010), Jacqueline Groag (1903-1985) and Marian Mahler (1911-1983). Inspired by modernist painters, their colorful and playful products transformed the post-war British home and made stylish design available to everyone. Over 50 textiles designed by Lucienne Day will be displayed, complemented by the designs of Mahler and Groag -- in addition to select pieces of mid-century furniture by Lucienne's husband, Robin Day. Showcasing excellent design in a spectrum of bright colors and whimsical patterns, the exhibition is sure to take visitors back to the era of Sputnik and Twiggy while proving the lasting relevance of these talented women designers’ work.

Fowler in Focus: Courtly and Urban Batik from Java, The UCLA Fowler Museum.
Drawn from the Fowler Museum’s extensive holdings of Indonesian textiles, these eleven beautiful textiles offer fine examples of both courtly and urban batik from Java. The two contrasting styles equally testify to the remarkable free-form artistry that is the hallmark of fine hand-waxed batik. Refined batiks from Java’s royal courts were highly localized cultural expressions made and used within the immediate neighborhood of the palace. In contrast, more brightly colored batiks made in urban workshops in the island's North Coast trading ports demonstrate the highly cosmopolitan nature of those communities, serving such diverse purposes as Islamic banners for the Sumatran market or altar cloths for Java's Chinese residents.
 
Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia, The UCLA Fowler Museum.                                                                                     This experimental exhibition breaks new ground where previous exhibitions have left off, starting with the basic understanding that the textile arts are widely regarded as the archetypal form of women’s labor in Southeast Asia. Through the medium of video recorded in eight sites in four countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and East Timor), weavers and batik artists tell their own stories directly to the museum audience. What motivates them to master demanding techniques and create new patterns? How do they adjust to changing social and economic situations?                                    Determination…longing…dream inspiration…theft…war…a panoply of human experience emerges from the stories of these remarkable women, chosen by several experienced textile researchers for their outstanding character and fortitude. The videos are accompanied by newly made textiles created by each of the featured weavers and batik makers.

 Nini Towok’s Spinning Wheel: Cloth and the Cycle of Life in Kerek, Java, The UCLA Fowler Museum                                   The community of Kerek is the last place in Java where batik is still produced on handwoven cotton cloth and where a full range of handwoven textiles still provides the foundation for a remarkable system of interrelated beliefs and practices. Named after Nini Towok, the Javanese goddess who cultivates cotton in the heavens and sends her yarn to Earth in for form of moonbeams, the exhibition explores the multiple meanings of Kerek’s rustic but beautiful textiles. Many fine examples of these rarely seen cloths illustrate the various techniques, patterns, and color combinations. The exhibition concludes with a series of seventeen outfits, each specific to a particular individual according to their sex, age, social status, occupation, and place of residence.                  

“Recent Studies of Textiles from the Silk Road” sponsored by the China Society. Dinner and lecture 6:30 p.m.   Dr. Zhao Feng, world authority on ancient Chinese textiles, widely published in his field and researched Silk Road textiles at major museums throughout the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musee Guimet in Paris, and the Victoria & Albert and British Museums in London. No-host Chinese banquet dinner promptly at 6:30 pm at the Golden Dragon Restaurant, 960 North Broadway, Chinatown (LA 90012). Free street parking after 6pm, or enter into driveway just south of restaurant, marked with a sign, free as well. Reservations required by September 20: Send a check for $35/person, made out to Yvonne Chang, 3625 Shoreheights Drive, Malibu CA 90265. Please indicate the organization that you are a member or guest of.