Asante War Shirt, from the Roy Collection of West African Textiles,
Richard F. Brush Art Gallery

A List
10/19/09

West African Textiles On Exhibition At SLU Gallery

CANTON - A collection of textiles from West Africa, a gift from alumni, will be on exhibition in the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery at St. Lawrence University from October 28 through December 16. The gallery will also host a number of events in conjunction with the exhibition, "From Weave to Web: West African Textiles from the collection of Christopher D. Roy and Nora Leonard Roy."

St. Lawrence Class of 1970 graduate Christopher D. Roy is professor of art history and the Elizabeth M. Stanley Faculty Fellow of African Art at the University of Iowa. In 2007, he and his wife, Nora Leonard Roy, who graduated from St. Lawrence in 1969, donated to the University 67 textiles they collected while conducting research in Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Nigeria.

Their gift became the impetus for a related project to create an online digital collection of the textiles for teaching and research, the first of its kind from the gallery's permanent collection. In 2008, Stanzi McGlynn, a senior from Montoursville, PA, worked as a summer research fellow to help organize the database and prepare high-resolution digital image files. She also studied specific topics including kente cloth patterns from Ghana; Bògòlanfini mud cloth; Yoruba tie-dye indigo fabric; and symbols used in adinkra cloth. The exhibition includes a selection of the textiles, as well as multimedia digital projections that document the process of creating a Web-based resource. In addition, an exhibition checklist is available.

Africans weave elaborate and beautiful textiles of cotton, wool, silk, raffia and man-made fibers, in spite of the import of cheap cloth from China, the United States and elsewhere. Often, these are used for special occasions such as funerals, initiations, marriages and coming-of-age celebrations, and cannot be replaced by machine-made imitations. The result is that textile arts thrive in many parts of Africa, while other art forms have almost disappeared. Both men and women weave.

Events, all open to the public free of charge, to be held in conjunction with the exhibition include:
- A discussion of the project by McGlynn on Wednesday, October 28, at 4:30 p.m. in the gallery
- A lecture by Christopher Roy, "Warp and Weft: The Intersection of Art and Technology in African Textiles," on Thursday, October 29, at 7 p.m. in the formal lounge of Dean-Eaton Residence Hall
- A discussion with Celia Nyamweru, associate professor of anthropology and coordinator of the African studies program, on Tuesday, November 17, at 6 p.m. in the gallery

The exhibition and newly created digital collection were supported with funds from the Barnes Endowment and the Newell Center for Arts Technology.

For information or to arrange individual or group tours, contact the gallery at 315-229-5174.

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