|
Hand bag collected in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1993. This hand bag is included in a collection of Mexican textiles that were recently donated to Beloit College’s Logan Museum of Anthropology Woven in Oaxaca: The Frances Bristol Collection Logan Museum of Anthropology First Floor Gallery July 1 - Sept. 28 ******* This event is free and open to the public. |
The story of New Jersey textile collector Frances Bristol will feature in a new exhibition, Woven in Oaxaca: The Frances Bristol Collection, at the Logan Museum of Anthropology. The show will open on Tuesday, July 1, and run through Sunday, Sept. 28, in the first floor gallery of the Logan Museum, on the Beloit College campus. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and the public is welcome.
A life-long traveler, Frances Bristol amassed a remarkable collection of more than 300 textiles from annual two-month trips to Oaxaca, Mexico, between 1952 and 1994. She often visited remote native communities to gather traditional styles of embroidery, photograph native weavers, and draw hand illustrations of how the textiles were used. Bristol meticulously documented each acquisition, noting its type, the date and location of the purchase, and the sale price. She donated her collection to the Logan Museum in January 2007, in recognition of her long-time friendship with William Simpson Godfrey, a former professor of anthropology at Beloit College whom she had met when he led field schools in Mexico.
The exhibit is a public preview of some of the textiles and an introduction to Bristol, the types she collected, and the significance of the collection. Several pieces will be displayed, including approximately 15 examples that give a sense of the variety of pieces that Bristol collected and the span of time over which she purchased the textiles. The exhibition will include clothing, hand bags, and belts decorated in diverse styles.
The museum’s long-term goal is to create a more comprehensive exhibition based exclusively on the textiles, says Dan Bartlett, curator of exhibits and education at the Logan Museum, who believes that it will take place in two or three years. He says that the collection is so large and encompasses such a broad range of designs and functions that the museum plans to bring in a guest curator with a background in Mexican textiles to work with students, museum staff, and faculty on organizing and cataloging it. The museum also plans to publish a catalogue based on the exhibition.
For details about the show, contact Dan Bartlett, curator of exhibits and education at the Logan Museum, at 608-363-2678. Information about this and other college events can be found online at www.beloit.edu.