February 21 GUEST SPEAKER:
Christine Martens
Christine Martens
Meeting Information
Date
Wed., February 21, 2018 at 7 pm
Admission
Free for TSGNY’s Full, Donor, and Student Members. $15.00 for Newsletter Subscription Members and Guests. Admission fees support TSGNY’s Nancy and Harry Koenigsberg Award.
Meeting Location
Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist
40 E. 35th St. (between Park & Madison Avenues), New York, NY. (Entrance at street level on the far right of the church itself; doorway marked #40.)
UPCOMING MEETINGS
March 21: Jo Stealey
April 18: Sui Park
May 16: Michael James
June 20, 2018 -- MEMBERS’ SHOW (& Koenigsberg Student Awardee announced)
Boyson, Uzbekistan. Wedding, dowry quits and mattresses in background
Tajikistan. Woman with quilt of velvet and silks
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Bazaar, selling cotton stuffing for quilts
Christine Martens will discuss her journey from a studio practice to an 18-year investigation of textile cultures in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and other countries in Central Asia. Her long-term research began with documentation of feltmaking in Konya, Turkey, in order to demonstrate the roots of the craft to her students at the Spence School, Manhattan.
Discovering Kyrgyzstan at a symposium led Martens to explore large-scale embroideries for yurts in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. That led to her exploration of nomadic and sedentary traditions as well as the cultural, religious, and political landscape of Central Asia, using textiles as primary sources of knowledge. Projects emerging from her travels include the assembly of a collection of Central Asian quilts for the International Quilt Study Center Museum at the University of Nebraska. That collection was the subject of a catalogued exhibition, Sacred Scraps, at the IQSC Museum in 2016.
The recipient of many grants including a Fulbright Scholar Award and an Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, Martens also received two Visual Arts Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and one from the New York Council on the Arts. She has written numerous articles related to her research in publications including Hali, Hermitage, and Surface Design Journal, and a catalog essay for Fashioning Felt, Cooper-Hewitt Museum.
The 6pm Pre-Meeting Program: State of TSGNY
Board members will present an informal “annual report” on the state of our organization, highlighting accomplishments, goals, and current needs.
Come and participate in shaping our reflections for future outcomes. See you there!
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If you have an idea or suggestion for an upcoming 6:00pm Pre-Meeting Program, contact Joan Diamond to discuss your presentation and available dates.
joan.mann.diamond@gmail.com.