Textiles Collection of the Museum of International Folk Art

More catalog than comprehensive survey, Textiles accompanies a current exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe and serves as a showcase for an important yet hidden part of this museum's extraordinarily collections. Sumberg (curator of textiles and costume, Museum of International Folk Art; coauthor, Sleeping Around: The Bed from Antiquity to Now) has organized the work broadly between nonwearable textiles and dress, with each functional category illustrated with pieces that represent the museum's global breadth. The 400 color photographs show each piece in its entirety, with additional detail illustrations depicting their intricate technical aspects. Captions include a description of materials, size, approximate date, and acquisition details. VERDICT While the book's broad scope precludes focused or scholarly analysis within the text, the explanatory notes provide glimpses into the broader cultural importance of these treasures. The selected bibliography and index are similarly brief and geared to a general audience. Textiles will be appreciated by lovers of ethnic arts and crafts.-Nancy B. Turner, Syracuse Univ. Lib., NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Textiles can be woven, felted, knit, crocheted, or made by a number of other methods. The base fabric or ground can then be decorated with dyeing techniques, embroidery and other stitchery such as quilting or appliqué, and by attaching ribbon, beads, lace, metal, and other trim. Cloth can also be patterned using weaving techniques, while color can be added before weaving and even before spinning the yarn. Textiles are used flat, not sewn to make a threedimensional shape such as a garment. This is not to say that flat textiles aren't worn. In many parts of the world a piece of cloth is wrapped around the body as a garment, held in place with a belt or a pin or tucked into itself.When aflat textile is primarily used as a garment it is shown in the Dress section of this book. Excerpted from Textiles: Collection of the Museum of International Folk Art by Bobbie Sumberg All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.