BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures to host textile

    116

    By ANN-CECILIE MOEN

    BYU students are helping to organize and arrange a free textiles exhibit that will open mid-July at the BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures at 700 N. 100 East.

    Heather M. Seferovich, coordinator of public programs at the museum, said that they will have textiles from ethnic groups in India, Guatemala, Peru, Polynesia, and the United States. The U.S. exhibits will be from Navajo, Ute and Pueblo American Indian tribes.

    “We will examine techniques, economic issues, cultural issues and gender issues, including division of labor,” Seferovich said. “We will also examine the identity of textiles and their religious significance.”

    According to Seferovich, both galleries will be used for the exhibit. The small gallery will have an exhibit of ancient Peruvian textiles, including some that are tie-dyed. The larger gallery will have a cross-cultural analysis of textiles with highlights from special cultures.

    Exhibits will include colorful Mayan clothing from Guatemala, clothing and wall-hangings from India and tapa cloth from Polynesia. Tapa cloth, or bark cloth, is made by groups of women, and each woman gets a piece whose size depends on the time spent on the cloth by each woman.

    Two exhibit cases will display American Indian textiles and weaving. These will include Navajo rugs and Ute basketry, beadwork and quill work. Baskets, sandals, cordage and clothing from the Pueblos in the Southwest will also be displayed.

    “The special cultures were chosen because of the strength of our collection and the expertise of the students,” Seferovich said.

    She said that advanced undergraduate or graduate students are chosen to work on the exhibits. If the students are undergraduates and not anthropology majors, it is recommended that they first volunteer to become better acquainted with the museum.

    “The experience is invaluable,” Seferovich said. “The students are involved at every level, from practical aspects to … management.”

    The students choose their own display out of a pool of objects; they write promotion literature, and they plan the reception and the programming, Seferovich said.

    The Museum of Peoples and Cultures was founded in 1946 as the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology. Its name changed in 1979.

    Seferovich said that before Associate Director Marti Allen came on the board in 1991, the same exhibits would stay for many years. A rotating system was needed, and with the budget of the museum it was impossible to arrange without help from students. A class was created to reach the goals of the museum and the university, Seferovich said.

    “We could not do the rotating exhibition without the students. They are essential,” Seferovich said.

    “It’s a lot of fun, and we get to do a lot of things that graduate students never get to do in museum studies,” said Amy Anderson, 24, a senior from Fresno, Calif., majoring in archeology. She is working on Peruvian textiles for the exhibit.

    Fellow student Teah Jones, 22, an anthropology senior from Kent, Wash., who is working on the Navajo display, agreed.

    “We get hands-on experience,” Jones said. “It is rare that you actually get a hands-on approach and get to do it yourself.”

    Jennifer Gehmlich, 22, a senior from Calgary, Canada, who is majoring in anthropology, explained how she is preparing for her display about Indian textiles.

    First, she said she will look around and does research on the items that are available, and then she will decide on what items she thinks best represents the culture. When she has chosen the items she wants, Gehmlich said that she starts gathering them for the exhibition.

    “I have some from a personal collection, and I go the library and get information,” she said. “Some books … will tell you where to get the items, and I work with Dr. Allen to send out a formal request.”

    After the students have chosen the display items they write a condition report which is compiled into a catalog. This report will include the condition, value, description, measurement and origin of every item. This way, visitors can look up the information they want on every item, Gehmlich said.

    Shane Baker, staff archeologist and collections manager of the Museum of Peoples and Cultures, said that the museum tries to have a new exhibition every year.

    But museum officials face challenges in their work to get good exhibits to the university. Lack of money, time and employees, in addition to small facilities limit some of the exhibits, Baker said.

    Bad control of temperature and lack of security limits the loans of collections from bigger and more expensive museums, Baker said.

    “We receive a fair number of grants from both state and federal institutions,” Seferovich said. “But the museum can always use money.”

    She said that the museum “stretches the dollar” to make budget.

    According to an informational flier from the Museum of Peoples and Cultures, the museum offers anthropology teaching kits of native cultures of Mesoamerica, the Great Basin and the Southwest that are available for loan. The kits contain items and replicas in addition to educational books and videos.

    The educational kits have been a success, and almost 1,300 students from pre-school to college level were serviced during the first four months, Seferovich said

    She said that the educational outreach programs make the museum collections accessible for people who are not able to visit the museum. They also whet the appetite of students so that they will come back to the museum for a follow-up, she said.

    Seferovich said that funding will help determine whether the museum will make an educational kit for the textiles exhibition.

    The yearly attendance in 1996 was about 3,500, but the number of visitors is increasing, and in 1997 there were close to 4,100 visitors, Seferovich said.

    The exhibit now on display at the museum explores the American Indian groups in Utah, the Uintah Ute Tribe and the Fremont. These displays include artifacts, such as beaded clothing and weapons, that help explain the tribes’ way of life and culture, according to a flier by the Museum of Peoples and Cultures.

    The exhibit about the American Indian tribes in Utah will end May 29. The museum will then be closed until the textiles exhibit opens.

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email