Like all great arts, textiles recreate our visiton of the world. We hold them up as exemplars of skill, ingenuity, creativity, and ambition. Textiles are poetic metaphors woven from ideas just as much as they are physical items woven from fibres.

Joy Boutrup is a textile engineer, chemist, and historian from Denmark. Catharine Ellis is a textile artist from North Carolina who specializes in combining weaving and dyeing. They first met at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and, despite living on different continents, they have worked and taught collaboratively for many years.

Amy’s current practice focuses on an unusual weaving technique called ondulé, which produces ever-present waves of threads throughout the cloth. These fabrics are specially constructed for resist dyeing and other alternative techniques. The resulting textile panels are contemplative fields that reference the undulating nature of light, the sea, and expressions of transcendent experience.

Traditional ajrakh block printing is one of the most iconic crafts to survive into the twenty-first century. But ajrahk, as practiced by the Khatris of the Kachchh Desert, has done much more than just survive; it has flourished and expanded to become a craft with a keen sense of tradition and a vision for how this tradition can be taken into the future by a new generation of ajrakh artisans.

On October 1 Aya Matsunaga delivered her lecture to an intimate and receptive audience. Aya talked about her development as an artist and the formative influence of working for fashion designers such as Benetton while she was living in Treviso, Italy. While studying in the United Kingdom at Nottingham Trent Aya realized the potential of knitting machines as a preliminary step toward the creation of her own handmade textile techniques.

When leading natural dye expert Michel Garcia goes into a garden, what does he see? He sees botanical strategies for survival that often give new insights into dye procedures and methods.

When leading natural dye expert Michel Garcia goes into a garden, what does he see? He sees botanical strategies for survival that often give new insights into dye procedures and methods.

A tireless investigator of the plant kingdom with a chemist’s insight, Michel returns this year to give what has become one of the hottest tickets of the symposium—his biennial lecture. This year he shares recent discoveries from his natural dye studies, delivered with his trademark wit and humour.

Is it possible to be passionate about pattern and colour and texture and complexity, and yet make simple, even austere, quilts? Barbara Todd’s lecture will follow the evolution of her practice, showing how she has transformed her many and disparate sources of inspiration into coherent bodies of work. Her sources range from a child’s drawing to a stone carving from 2,500 B.C.; from a poem by Nelly Sachs to yesterday’s phone conversation; from a meticulously detailed 18th century marriage quilt to casual snap-shots. Her media are also wide ranging—from woolen fabric to cut wood, steel, and glass.

Recorded at the 2016 Maiwa School of Textiles Lecture Series on September 19, 2016.Jenny Balfour Paul is recognized internationally as a leading authority on indigo.

Recorded at the 2009 Maiwa Textile Symposium on October 21, 2009

Each member of our panel has carved a road in the wilderness. It is not easy to walk off the map, but they have all done it, struck out alone to follow a path as unknown to themselves as it was to others. And then something happens ...

Each member of our panel has carved a road in the wilderness. It is not easy to walk off the map, but they have all done it, struck out alone to follow a path as unknown to themselves as it was to others. And then something happens ...
 

Each member of our panel has carved a road in the wilderness. It is not easy to walk off the map, but they have all done it, struck out alone to follow a path as unknown to themselves as it was to others. And then something happens ...
 

The Artisan's Alliance of Jawaja make their presentation to a Vancouver audience at the Maiwa Textile Symposium via Skype.

The Artisan's Alliance of Jawaja make their presentation to a Vancouver audience at the Maiwa Textile Symposium via Skype.

Inspired by both the colour and the plant, the Lamberts created Bleu de Lectoure in 1994. Soon their lives were given up to woad. It took more than two years working with chemists from the University of Toulouse to uncover the original fermentation, extraction, and dyeing processes. In an antiques store one day, fate helped them out. They stumbled upon a notebook that belonged to Napoleon’s chemist.

Join Michel Garcia as he leads us on a walk through the garden of natural dye plants, explaining the motivation and origins of this project, how it has evolved, new challenges faced, and what the future holds.
 

Join Michel Garcia as he leads us on a walk through the garden of natural dye plants, explaining the motivation and origins of this project, how it has evolved, new challenges faced, and what the future holds.
 

In part two, Ashoke Chatterjee presents the remainder of his lecture and answers questions from the audience. Part one contained the visiual and the first part of Mr. Chatterjee's presentation. Part two is audio only. Mr. Chatterjee presented his lecture via satallite from Ahmedabad, India