Something Unexpected

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions

Today at the IQSCM, we start a one-week course titled, "Asian Patchwork and Quilting: Folk Art/Religious Art."

Although we'll be learning about and viewing pieced and quilted objects from all over Asia, China will be the main focus for the course. In fact, each student will be assigned a Chinese patchwork or quilted object to examine, document, and interpret during the course of the week.

Along the way, they will share "Something Unexpected" with you, our "Pieced in China" readers. Every day, each student will post a brief observation and a picture of an aspect of their object that they found particularly interesting or unexpected.

We hope you enjoy this sneak peek of students in the process of learning about Chinese patchwork and quilting!

Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

Our Last Day

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions

On our final day in China, we went to two more antiques markets in the hope that we might find some patchwork. We knew it was a long shot, and in the end we hardly saw any textiles at all.

One market, however, was right outside the gates of Ba Xian An, Xi'an's Daoist Temple. It was a beautiful temple, and very well cared for.

Some old folks were practicing some tai ji quan under the shade of ginkgo trees and many people were there to pray and burn incense -- it was quite peaceful.

The other market we went to had dozens of stalls, but many of them had exactly the same things. We did a little souvenir shopping, but overall it was disappointing that they had no textiles.

But none of this takes away from the overall success of our research trip. We will be leaving China tomorrow with so many wonderful experiences under our belt. Most importantly, we now have a greater understanding of not only what patchwork from this part of China looks like, but who makes it, and how and where they make it.

 

Further, we now have an idea of what kinds of research questions we may want to pursue in the future and we have a fantastic partner to work with as we move forward, the Art Museum at the Xi'an Jiaotong University.

Cheers from Xi'an! You'll hear more from us later this week.

Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

A Wonderful Partnership

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions

We spent the morning at Xi'an Jiaotong University Art Museum, going on a tour of their beautiful new facility and having a meeting with the staff about possible future collaborations. At the meeting, we gave Vice Director Li a gift for their museum's collections: a nineteenth-century American Log Cabin quilt.

They reciprocated with a quilt for our collections: a thirty-year-old bai jia bei, or "One Hundred Families Quilt."

It was made by a woman in Gansu Province for her son, who was once a student at XJTU and is now an art professor specializing in Chinese calligraphy. This was a really exciting moment for me, because although I had heard about a bai jia bei tradition, and we had seen new ones being made at the village we visited yesterday, I had never seen an old one. This is the confirmation I've been looking for that this is a tradition that has been around a long time.

It is a small, fairly plain quilt, but it is wonderful to me because it was made especially for a child's everyday use. It is evidence of an embedded tradition, proof that patchwork bedcovers are not simply a tourist market craft. Even if we find nothing else in our remaining days, I'm feeling like we've had some true success on this research trip.

It was a really good day, and I am so grateful to our XJTU Art Museum partners -- they've been wonderful collaborators on this project.

Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

Demos

By Marin Hanson

Curator of Exhibitions

Today, we went to a village called Wang Jian, where we met a woman who makes bai jia bei -- "one hundred families quilts," which are based on the old tradition of making a patchwork quilt from pieces of fabric donated by many different families. No longer made from donated fabric, they still evoke the idea of the original. Unfortunately, according to Jack Zhang, our museum colleague, the old versions don't seem to exist anymore, even in the small villages.

The quilts our hostess in Wang Jian makes are based on a block we would call a Pineapple Log Cabin in the U.S. What they call it here is "ba gua," which refers to a set of eight symbols essential to Daoist philosophy. The symbols are often arranged in an octagon shape, much like the eight sides of the blocks the maker has sewn together in this quilt:

We were lucky enough to have our hostess give us a demonstration of how she makes the appliqued and embroidered medallions she often places in the center of her quilts:

It was particularly interesting to learn that she uses recycled cardboard as the base of the medallions, wrapping it with fabric and then apppliqueing and embroidering through both layers. The cardboard seems to usually be old cigarette cartons!

We will be coming back to the U.S. with two new beautiful pieces for the IQSCM collections. Although they are made mainly for the tourist market, we feel they are good representations of how this tradition has evolved and how it is able to live on.

Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

Road Trip

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions

We started out the day with only a vague idea of how it would go.

Jack Zhang, assistant to the director of the Xi'an Jiaotong University Art Museum (our liaison for this research trip) told us we would be going to Baoji City -- located west of Xi'an -- to see where some local textile handicrafts were made. We thought it would be about a 1.5-hour drive. In the end, just getting out of Xi'an alone took about an hour! After 3.5 hours we got to the village of Dazhai, about half an hour north of Baoji.

Fortunately, it was completely worth the long journey.

We got to meet and spend several hours with the two coordinators of a local, textile-based cottage industry (at the front of this group picture).

These two women, along with over 100 other women from their village, produce a huge array of folk crafts that are eventually sold all over the country. The things they make (all by hand) are based on traditional Shaanxi objects-- things like tiger hats (to protect children from evil spirits), embroidered shoes, and decorative hangings.

But the item we were most interested in was the bai hua zhang, or "hundred flowers banner" (it isn't actually floral in design -- the "hundred flowers" name mostly expresses the concept of abundant imagery). The banner we saw had 104 different squares, each one embroidered by a different woman with scenes from Chinese folk tales and religion.

The squares were then pieced together into a large banner that would traditionally have been used as a hanging in a Buddhist temple. One of the goals of our trip was to see how Chinese textile traditions have evolved, how they are being expressed today. We realize that these traditions survive partly due to their close tie to the tourist market -- so to be able to see where these souvenir objects are actually being made -- by average women from a small village in Shaanxi! -- was informative and gratifying.

We also got to meet a 79 year old woman, Li Ai Jie, from a different village, who has received  many honors from the Shaanxi provincial government for her textile handicrafts.

We are very grateful to Professor Lu Xiaoning (pictured here with her) for introducing us to Mrs Li as well as to the women from the handicraft cooperative.

Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

At the Market

By Marin Hanson
IQSCM Curator of Exhibitions 

On Sunday, we went to the Panjiayuan Market. It's the largest "antiques" market in Beijing. Most of the vendors are selling cheap, knock-off souvenirs, but you can find real vintage items as well. The physical layout of the market is huge -- probably 40-50 outdoor rows of stall after stall, plus one large building with two floors of furniture, embroidered screens, early Communist era clothing, etc etc. We decided to skip some whole sections of the market since they were dedicated to books, manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures, and we had ONE single objective: find textiles, preferably patchwork and appliqued pieces.

Initially, it looked as though we weren't going to have much luck. After the first hour or so, we'd only seen one or two stalls with textiles, including some very interesting lotus shoes (tiny embroidered shoes for bound feet). Then, as the saying goes, when it rains, it pours.

In the eastern section of the market we came across a dozen or more stalls with good textiles (not just newly made tourist items), about a half a dozen or so of which had pieces that really interested us. Many of these stalls were run by people of the Miao ethnic minority.

One particularly good stall was run by a man named Lei Hongbin.

He, too, was ethnically Miao and told me that he became interested in selling ethnic minority textiles because he'd seen so many items being sold with improper information or incorrectly identified. (A side note: at ANY market like this, in any country, you need to take everything dealers say with a HUGE grain of salt -- Buyer Beware.) He seemed more credible than other dealers and I chatted with him for quite a while. (Another side note: my rusty Chinese did start to come back to me and although I think I probably only understood about one third of the actual words he spoke, I probably understood about two-thirds of the overall meaning of what he said, if you get the difference).

He told us about what some of the Miao symbolism meant and showed us how Miao skirts would have traditionally been worn. They were usually layered, with up to nine (!) being worn at once, and topped off with jackets (again, layered, with up to six at once) and a decorative apron. He also talked a bit about how a great deal of design and technique crossover occurs between close neighbors, like the Miao and the Buyi people of Guizhou Province.

While the Panjiayuan visit didn't result in any acquisitions, it was a fruitful day in terms of research. We saw several genuine vintage ethnic minority quilt tops and saw just as many recently-made pieces being passed off as the real thing. I can imagine that we might want to return here again some day to purchase a few select pieces for the IQSCM collection (and avoid a whole lot of other ones!)

Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

Getting Ready

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions 

Yesterday, while all of us are in town for the IQSCM biennial symposium, the research team met to discuss our upcoming trip. We reviewed our research agenda, talking about the sites we would be visiting and the types of patchwork objects we expect to find. We also discussed practical issues, such as what to pack, what gifts to bring, and how to exchange business cards (a big deal in Asia!).

Although our free time will be limited, cultural tourism opportunities abound in Xi'an. In addition to the famous Terra Cotta Warriors, Xi'an is home to the Ban Po neolithic settlement and the most complete city wall that survives in China. If you haven't been to Xi'an before, here's the "Official Xi'an City Trailer," a slick YouTube video about this ancient city. Any suggestions for what we should go see?

We also discussed a few excellent resources on Chinese folk art and symbolism. Nancy Berliner's "Chinese Folk Art" and Patricia Bjaaland Welch's "Chinese Art" are books we'll be referring to regularly both during and after our trip.


Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

Expanding Our International Collection

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions

One reason why this research trip to Xi’an is so exciting for us at IQSCM is that our collection currently does not have any pieces from northwest China (Xi’an is in Shaanxi Province, on the edge of the less populated, far western portion of China). But we do have many excellent examples of patchwork and quilting from other parts of the country.

One of our collection’s strengths is ethnic minority quilt covers from southwest China. Members of the Maonan, Buyi, Yao and other minority groups make applique and patchwork bedcoverings, of which we have many representatives, like this one from Guangxi Province.

Many southwestern Chinese ethnic groups also use patchwork, quilting, and applique to construct elaborate garments, as well as utilitarian objects like baby carriers and diaper pads.

One beautiful costume example is this quilted Miao jacket.

Ceremonial objects, like this rare and visually impressive Longpo Yi, or “Dragon Wife’s Robe” from the Yi people of Yunnan Province, are also sometimes made with patchwork.

The Longpo Yi is used during funeral processions and is worn by a female descendent of the recently deceased.

We are looking forward to learning about patchwork from a different part of China--Shaanxi Province--and to adding new examples to our collection.


Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

A Sign From the Universe

By Marin Hanson
Curator of Exhibitions

When I was 12, my parents sent me to Chinese language summer camp. That’s right, a camp where you do all the normal camp things like singing songs and playing sports, only you do it all in Chinese. And I returned every summer to the northern Minnesota camp, run by the Concordia Language Villages, for the next 10 years.

When I went away to college, I decided to continue studying Chinese, completing a Chinese Studies minor and attending a semester abroad at Nanjing University. The year before I did my study abroad, however, the Concordia Language Villages offered their very first summer study trip to China – and I was one of the first to sign up. That was my first trip to China.

We studied Chinese language and culture for two weeks in Xi’an but we also did a lot of general tourism. In Beijing, we made the obligatory trip to the Great Wall. And it was there that I got my first taste of what would eventually, MANY years later, become a love of patchwork – fabrics sewn together in intricate patterns to make new, infinitely more interesting constructions.

Women were stationed all along the wall hawking their souvenirs, many of which were patchwork garments, accessories, and baby blankets. I bought as many as I thought I could pack in my luggage. I don’t know why I loved them so much – at the time, I couldn’t so much as even sew a button on a shirt (OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but not by much). But textiles like this patchwork jacket...

... are the main thing I purchased – on that trip, and every time I’ve returned to China since. Clearly, the universe was trying to tell me something because here I am, 20 years later, making a research trip to Xi’an specifically to study these types of textiles!


Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.

An Exploration in Patchwork

By Marin Hanson
IQSCM Curator of Exhibitions

An IQSCM team is going to China to study patchwork – but what does that mean, exactly?

Well that’s the exciting part, we sort of know what it’s about, but not exactly. Patchwork has been made all over China for centuries, but very little research has been done on it. Many people know about Chinese imperial and aristocratic textiles, such as dragon robes and intricate silk brocades, but the textiles of the common people, like patchwork, are less familiar.

Patchwork is definitely a tradition in the region our team is going to – Shaanxi Province, whose capital is Xi’an, the city near which the famous Terra Cotta Warriors were discovered and unearthed in the 1970s.

Here is a patchwork hanging embroidered and appliqued with a host of auspicious symbols – it is in the collection of our research partner – the Art Museum at Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU). Doesn’t the center look a lot like a Log Cabin–Pineapple variation?

We want to accomplish many things on our research trip:

• identify historic examples of patchwork by visiting several museum collections
• establish what kinds of patchwork are still being made today, especially for the tourist market
• solidify our relationship with XJTU Art Museum with the goal of returning in the near future to continue our research

Keep an eye on our blog to find out how we’re progressing!


Marin Hanson is the Curator of Exhibitions at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She holds undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Northern Illinois University and earned her MA in museum studies and textile history with a quilt studies emphasis from UNL. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on cross-cultural quiltmaking practices, with particular emphasis on China and the United States.