Gallery exhibition notice: Material Choices: Bast and Leaf Fiber Textiles in Asia and the Pacific

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jan. 25, 2008

Media Contact: Derek Ferrar
Media Relations Specialist
Phone: (808) 944-7204
Email: ferrard@EastWestCenter.org

February 10-March 30, 2008
East-West Center Gallery, Honolulu
Presented by the East-West Center Arts Program and the Fowler Museum at the University of California-Los Angeles

In a world now awash in a global trade of industrially produced cottons and synthetic fabrics, it is easy to forget that all of the cloth needed in any community once had to be woven by hand, and that much of it was made from bast or leaf fibers. Today even the word bast, which refers to a layer of fibers found in the stems of plants, is unfamiliar to most people.

This exhibition, originally developed by the Fowler Museum at UCLA and modified by East-West Center Gallery staff, features a diverse selection of bast and leaf fiber fabrics from the Asia-Pacific region and illustrates how weavers have overcome the notorious challenges of processing and dying these materials to create textiles of subtle, natural beauty and sophisticated design.“

What makes this exhibition so exciting is the way it enables us to see how these materials are used differently by each culture in ways that really express their unique identity,” says East-West Center Gallery Curator Michael Schuster. “It’s literally the fabric of societies.”

“Material Choices” introduces gallery visitors to bast and leaf fibers such as hemp, ramie, abaca and other banana fibers, piña (or pineapple fiber), pandanus, New Zealand flax, and a variety of lesser-known fibers. More than 25 rare textiles are on view, representing the Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, New Zealand (Maori), Papua New Guinea, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Tonga, and Hawai`i.

Among the highlights is an abaca suit from Mindanao, beautifully dyed with elaborate stitch-resist patterning. Perhaps the best example of its kind in the world, this suit is on loan from the Fowler Museum’s collection, as are most of the other items in the exhibition. Other exceptional pieces include an indigo-dyed double-ikat (kasuri) summer robe (katabira) from Japan’s ‘Snow Country’ and, from private collections here in Honolulu, Philippine piña garments, a banana fiber robe from Okinawa, and a large Hawaiian lauhala mat.

For more information, click here for the pdf brochure or visit the EWC's Arts and Performances.

Special Events
The following special events will be held in connection with the exhibit.  All events take place in the East-West Center Gallery; admission is free.

Sunday, Feb.10, 2:00 p.m.
Opening festivities, including reception and exhibition walk-through with guest curator Roy Hamilton.

Sunday, March 9, 2:00 p.m.“Exploring Hawaiian Lauhala” by Wendy Roylo Hee. Discussion /demonstration and viewing of the short film Ulana Lauhala  by Wendy Hee and Heather Giugni.

Sunday, March 16, 2:00 p.m.“Contemporary Fiber Work,” an illustrated talk by Prof. Mary Babcock, Fiber Artist, University of Hawai`i Art Department.

Sunday, March 30, 2:00 p.m.“Ma`awe Hawai`i,” a demonstration by Hawaiian fiber artist Marques Marzen.

The East-West Center Gallery is located on the ground floor of John A. Burns Hall, 1601 East-West Road (the mauka – Koko Head corner of East-West Road and Dole Street). The Gallery is open to the public free of charge weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. It is closed Saturdays. Weekday parking is available on the adjacent University of Hawai`i at Manoa campus for $3. Parking on Sundays is generally ample and free. For more information, call (808) 944-7177.

The Material Choices exhibition, as well as other  EWC Arts programs, are made possible by generous support from the Hawai`i Pacific Rim Society, Friends of Hawai`i Charities, the Cooke Foundation, Atherton Family Foundation, Jackie Chan Foundation USA, and generous contributors to the EWC Foundation, including members of the EWC Arts `Ohana.

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Note: Photos available on request.

For more information regarding the exhibition please contact Dr. Michael Schuster at (808) 944-7543 or via email at
schustem@eastwestcenter.org.

Media inquiries can be addressed to Derek Ferrar at (808) 944-7204 or via email at ferrard@eastwestcenter.org.

The EAST-WEST CENTER is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States.  The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States.  Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.