30 June 2017
The island of Bali is in Indonesia. While it can be described as an island paradise featuring extraordinary natural vistas and scenes of great beauty on both a grand and intimate scale, it is also home to one of the most complex and engaging cultures in the world. While the rest of Indonesia is Islamic, Bali is Hindu. However, Hinduism as practiced on Bali is endemic to the island alone. It is ...
23 June 2017
In the Kuba Kingdom, men and women work side by side to create highly symbolic cloth known simply worldwide as Kuba cloth. The cloth is fabricated from the leaf of the raffia palm tree, the plant with the longest leaves in the world. The transformation from leaf to textile is easy to understand, but difficult to execute. Discarded leaves are gathered, dried, softened, dye...
04 November 2016
What comes to mind when you think of traditional Chinese art? Is it porcelain, calligraphy, scholar's rocks or jade carvings? A category of artwork all too often overlooked is Chinese rugs. Surprisingly, there has been little historical documentation of wool weaving traditions in China. Despite the international trade that flourished for centuries, rugs and carpets were rarely exported. T...
27 May 2016
In the early parts of the 20th century and far removed from the political and military turmoil shaking the foundations of Imperial China, life in the small outlying villages of the southwest region remained largely unchanged. Isolated by the mountainous terrain, these villages were home to an ethnic minority called the Miao. Night had fallen, but a flicker of light could still be seen in o...
05 October 2015
Flags were first used by knights in medieval times to identify their allegiance, but earlier predecessors such as banners and cloth-draped staffs called vexilloids reach far back into the ancient world. First and foremost, these types of identifying markers were utilized as a practical method of differentiating friend from foe during battle; however, they also collectively represented nobl...
19 August 2015
A very high form of devotional painting called pichvai manifested itself among the multitude of arts that developed around Pushti Marg. In Hindi, 'pich' means 'back' and 'vai' means 'hanging.' Taken together these words provide an apt description of pichvais, which are large, decorative paintings hung behind tables or mats filled with offerings and statues of Krishna. All pichvai dep...
31 July 2015
Imagine walking into a light filled room; the walls are a cool pristine white with the slightest hint of blue. They appear to almost glow. The blue on the walls is actually the reflection coming from the furniture and other decoration in the room. A cobalt throw with thin streaks of white reminds you of a midnight meteor shower. A couch, the color of white sand on a beautiful beach, is li...
06 June 2014
Deep inside the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa is the Kuba Kingdom. There, men and women work side by side to create highly symbolic cloths, known simply as Kuba cloth. The cloth is fabricated from the leaf of the raffia palm tree, the plant with the longest leaves in the world. The transformation from leaf to textile is easy to understand, but difficult to exe...
21 May 2014
On a recent trip to New York coinciding with Sotheby’s contemporary art auction, I visited a gallery exhibition and came across a work of art that was refreshingly distinct. This piece, composed of aluminum and copper wire, hung on the wall like a golden tapestry interwoven with streaks of silver, red and black. Although clearly a sculpture, it mimicked the movement of cloth undulati...