Textile Museum of Canada

May 2011
As I said in my earlier post, I have a treat for Textile Lovers :)

Recently we went to Toronto, Canada to visit my aunt who was there for a month. And as always, I made a long  list of what all we must see in Toronto, and as usual couldn't cover all due to time and logistic reasons. There were four museums on my list, Bata Shoe Museum, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Textile Museum of Canada and Gardiner Museum (ceramics). But we covered just two them ROM and Textile Museum. So here I am sharing a 'detailed' experience of the Textile Museum of Canada.

Textile Museum of Canada, 

connecting cloth, culture and art

Dedicated to promote an understanding of human identity through textiles, the Textile Museum of Canada (TMC) is a non-profit institution, exhibitions, volunteering and school programs. TMC has a collection of more than 12,000 textiles from around the world. Covering 2,000 years of textile history, the collection includes fabrics, ceremonial cloths, garments, carpets, quilts and related artifacts.. Here is what we saw there. Please enlarge and enjoy the pictures!

Magic Squares: The Patterned Imagination of Muslim Africa in Contemporary Culture

-by Jamelie Hassan, Hamid Kachmar, Aila Toor and Tim Whiten

Hunter's Shirt, Hunter's Coat and Man's Tunic - West Africa, Mali / cotton, hand woven

Wrappers - West Africa, Niger / cotton, hand woven

Hat & Man's Outfits - West Africa, Nigeria-Hausa / grass, leather and cotton woven

Cuff - East Africa, Ethiopia / cotton woven and embroidered

Man's Robes (Shabka & Riga) - West Africa, Nigeria / damask, plain woven and braided

Door Hanging - North Africa, Egypt / cotton appliqued

Hats - West Africa / cotton

Commemorative Cloth - West Africa, Senegal, Dakar / plain woven, roller printed

99 Names of Aman - 99 names of aman embroidered on Dusk Masks was created in the wake of security panics that followed 9/11 in New York City and also as a response to 2003 SARS epidemic in Toronto.

Purse & Cushion - North Africa, Algeria / leather, dyed

Blanket - West Africa, Cote / cotton, strip woven, hand spun

Loop : Peter Wilkins, Contact photography festival 2011

Peter Wilkins’ recent series Loop is an examination of built environments and how “pattern languages” relate to urban planning and public space within Toronto.

The Volunteering and School Programs include:

Permanent Collection Gallery  

-An Iconography of Celebration

Jacket - Europe: Greece, Ionian Islands / cotton; gold thread; copper; embroidered; couched; velvet

Kimono, furisode - East Asia, Japan / silk embroidered

(left) Jacket - Central Africa / cotton-rayon woven & roller printed

(right) Masquerade Costume with Ceremonial Mask - West Africa / knitted

Apron - Souhthern Africa / goat skin, glass bead

Wedding Shawl - South Asia, Pakistan Punjab (now in India) / bagh phulkari, embroidery

Dress & Wedding Shoe Cover - India, Gujrat / cotton, silk, glass mirror

Jacket - China / silk, embroidered

Wedding Collar - China / silk, metal sequin, embroidered

Prayer Rug - China, Eastern Turkestan / silk, cotton, knotted pile

Silk Oasis

-on the Silk Road Bukhara

Map

Hope you enjoyed this treat of real long textile post. 

Soon I''ll show the glimpse of Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) soon. Keep reading, explore cultures.