The Toba Batak sub-ethnic group in Indonesia is known for their weaving of the traditional textile ulos. At the same time that they uphold ancient Batak traditions of textile weaving, the Toba Batak people are at the nexus of a growing textile industry on national and international scales. As Western interests further influence Indonesia's economy, Indonesian concerns about the production of ulos become more and more urgent to address. The concern that ulos will be replaced by modern, Western styles of clothing and production gives rise to a more pressing fear that weaving traditions will fade from cultural awareness entirely.

In my presentation, I share the uniquely Indonesian strategies utilized by the Toba Batak people to conserve their cultural knowledge and traditional weaving practices. These strategies keep in mind the shifting trends in the textile industry in order to keep ulos relevant, yet are still respectful of Batak tradition. Primary methods of my research include interviews with traditional weavers, with weavers who supervised modern machine looms, the local non-weaving Toba Batak population, Batak culture experts, and Batak culture conservationists. Secondary research includes the work of Sandra Niessen, who has conducted large scale studies on Batak ulos and culture, and news sources such as The Jakarta Post.

Between 1527 and 1587, three major pattern books were published in Venice: Giovanni Antonio Tagliente’s (c. 1465-1527) embroidery pattern book, Matthio Pagano’s (1515-1588) cutwork lace pattern book, and Federico de Vinciolo’s (active in Paris c. 1587-99) needlework lace pattern book. These three books represent the first of their respective types, and the beginning of a growing social attention toward lacemaking and its use as textile ornament. Each book provides patterns for different types of needlework: embroidery as applied decoration to fabric, cutwork (punto tagliato) as an evolution of embroidery, which involved cutting away the foundation fabric and filling it in with design, and finally, needlework lace (punto in aria), as freely formed design without a fabric foundation. The Venetian attention to dress and outward physical expression necessitated the use of increasing amounts of ornament—prompting the evolution of needlework into punto in aria designs which the city became famous for. Relevant through its additive aesthetic, public demand and commercial opportunities, lace became an essential export for the city of Venice and many women participated in its production, whether within their private homes, in workshops, or in convents. This essay will explore Venetian negotiations with myth and materiality through lacework as an ascendant medium, examining sixteenth-century pattern books and conduct literature as sources of tension and syncretism between written codification and social practice.

Inherently, a work titled Pornocrates exudes scandal, intrigue, and allure. Created in 1878 by Felicien Rops, the gouache and pencil piece was displayed at the Les XX exhibition of 1886. Felicien Rops was a wealthy Belgian-born artist who collaborated alongside the likes of Claude Monet, Odilon Redon, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Rops’s works articulated more diabolical motifs and grotesque sexual imagery than both his Impressionist and Symbolist contemporaries. As a result, his artworks are far less circulated and research surrounding Rops is scarce. This does not mean he was the only artist creating taboo media, however. Decadent art which depicted debauchery, excess, and sin was fairly present, especially in France. Rops collaborated with many playwrights, authors, and poets at the end of the 19th century, and was surprisingly popular among wealthy socialites of Paris and Brussels. Rops participated in many coalitions of artists across Europe, but the Les XX society is arguably one of the most significant. Artists, authors, and musicians exhibited their works and celebrated individualized aesthetics rather than a unified, nationalistic style. The group rejected a specific political or regional identity, which contributed to the notion of Belgium as a center for the Avant Garde. Rops’s display of Pornocrates elicited shock and commotion among the artists for its uncensored, sexual critique of high society men and women. This project aims to synthesize some of the scholarship surrounding the display of Pornocrates and serves to further highlight the significance of Decadent art in the Fin de Siècle period.

 Carpets are keystones in the study of Middle Eastern and Islamic arts. In Eastern display practices, carpets are experienced alongside other culturally specific objects in a rich contextual web of artifacts. Moreover, Eastern cultural sites display carpets on the floor. Yet, when these objects are brought into Western museums, they are hung on barren walls. This presentation draws on global scholarship of Islamic aesthetics to discuss Western practices of exhibiting Islamic carpets. When these textiles are displayed on Western walls rather than on floors, cross-cultural politics come into play and museum norms become suspect. In this presentation, I compare the carpet halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to several other carpet installations. The MET’s carpet display, with its vaulted ceilings and accompanying historical text, are a valuable case study in standard museum display techniques. Admittedly, these strategies provide important historical information and supplementary content, but extensive wall text in the museum discourages engagement. Unlike the MET, some institutions utilize period rooms to display their Islamic carpets. An interconnected web of related relics more effectively sparks wonder and facilitates intuitive understanding of other cultures. In this presentation, I argue that Islamic arts deserve to be displayed in a way that simultaneously provides cultural context and promotes cross-cultural understanding. Through comparison of the shows, I demonstrate that museums need immersive, haptic installations that fully transport the viewer and value physical and experiential engagement over mere textual explanations. Carpets must be thoughtfully installed if they are to enable a meaningful degree of knowledge and understanding. Islamic arts are distinctly underrepresented in current art history scholarship, collegiate-level instruction, and institutional exhibitions. In order to produce successful exhibitions of Islamic arts, curators and academics must examine historical failings and pursue innovative display techniques. This presentation attempts to expand that process of critical examination.

This essay is a research project dedicated to the performative viewer in the museum experience. While every public space has an expectation of behavior, spaces set aside to showcase art provide a unique platform and opportunity for the art to attract attention. In viewing these artworks that are presented in a space designed to highlight them, the viewer or audience then performs the ritual that is unique to places of reverence and internal contemplation. Using psychoanalytical and anthropological methodologies along with direct observational data, this essay defines both what a ritual is and how the ritual applies to the participant viewer experience in art museums or art galleries. Pulling from the writings of Carol Duncan, Victor Turner, Helen Rees Leahy, and others; this is an attempt to relate the environment of dedicated art spaces to the environment and settings of the religious temple, and how the actions of the visiting participants mirror each other. In observing Knowledge Bennett’s mixed media triptych, “Comes in Three”, on view in the Western Gallery, and the audience it attracts, the resulting behavior of the participant viewer is recorded and used as empirical data for research. Results of my observations showed that my initial expectation for the amount of participant viewers was higher than what I witnessed, proving that further research and observation is required.
 

Employing three performances, Carolee Schneemann’s Up to and Including Her Limits, Regina Jose Galindo’s Blind Spot, and Marina Abramovic’s Role Exchange, I look at the politics of female nudity in the gallery. Historically, women's bodies have only entered the space via media such as painting or sculpture. These women artists not only bring their bodies into the gallery but explore crucial art related issues. For example, Schneemann looks at the issue of mark making but ironically demonstrates limitations placed on the body. Suspending herself from the ceiling, she transforms her body into a material object that creates art. Performing for a blind audience, Galindo brings not so much the nude female body into the gallery but highlights the sensuousness of touch. Perhaps most explosive is Abramovic, who switches places with a prostitute, bringing not only sexuality but sex itself. Through my research, I will present a comparative analysis to describe how each work disrupts the notion of the female body as an intrusion in museum spaces. Each artist uses their body to defy the physical limitations of the museum, allowing for a reclamation of the museum space, while simultaneously resisting a history that holds masculine desire synonymous with the female body.

As a result of European colonialism, many objects were taken from the people of Africa. Using two case studies, I have explored the cultural significance of returning objects that were stolen or otherwise taken under questionable circumstances from West Africa during the rise of colonialism. One, an ivory mask of Queen Mother Idia, was taken from the Kingdom of Benin during the British Punitive expedition of 1897. The other one, a sculpture of a man- shark dedicated to King Gbehanizn of Dahomey, was taken by the French under suspicious circumstances. Exploring the cultural and monetary value of these items to the people that made them, as well as to the people that stole them and the value to the people that currently possess the items is something that will be discussed in this paper. I will also include any diplomatic relations that have occurred in reference to the works, citing sources from both sides of the current state of the field on the matter. After evaluating the value of these object to the people involved as well as in their removal from their original African contexts and current diplomatic proceedings, I argue that the return of these items is very important to the cultural heritage, identity and history of Africa and its people and thus should be taken seriously by all parties involved. 

The recent rise of environmentalism encourages more people to learn about the science of climate change, which also extends very specifically to artists and journalists-- myself included. In the past two years at Western Washington University, I have worked with The Planet, an environmental magazine, as well as Klipsun, another Western publication, photographing images around ecological issues. I have also published articles on this topic for The Western Front newspaper. Firsthand, I have experienced the importance of art for the environmental movement, and that has led me to research artists at the forefront of these exciting developments. For example, Isabella Kirkland and Brandon Ballengee stand out with their drive to inform the public on human-induced climate change. For this project, I will analyze Kirkland’s Descendant (from her “Taxa Series”), a painting commemorating animals and plants whose populations are rapidly declining or assumed extinct. Kirkland is also a practicing scientist who extensively researches the subjects of her paintings, before presenting her anatomically-sized works. Concerned with themes regarding the Anthropocene, she creates odes to those biological life forms lost due to climate change. I will also discuss Ballengee’s The Frameworks of Absence, where he collected historical images and carefully cut-out extinct animals from those representations. According to Ballengee, this work is meant to represent the continual decline of biodiversity. Kirkland and Ballengee show their concern for the natural world through their creations. They share the intention to emotionally affect the viewer. In this paper, I am presenting my research on Kirkland and Ballengee’s methods: how they contribute to the growth of environmentalism and how their scientific methods produce startling works of art that compel the viewer to engage with climate change.

Since the Renaissance, patrons have always held influence on the running of museums and exhibition choices. Increasingly, donors define museums standards, practices, and polices. In many cases, they even define their architectural designs. In this research, I examine all aspects of philanthropic activities, bringing in current debates and controversies associated with Museum finance. In particular, I look at trustees and board members who use their art world cachet to further their business investments and bolster their charismatic personas. In this examination, I consider the funding structure of museums and look at national scandals, such as former vice-chairman Warren B. Kanders at the Whitney in New York. Recently, the vice-chairman was asked to step down after it was reported to the public that Kander’s Company manufactured the tear gas that was used against migrants at the Mexican border. Though protest escalated to the extent of posting personal information on social media, only after artists withdrew their work did Kanders finally step down. I compare this with my own personal experience at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner. Obviously, solutions needed to amend this systemic problem, such as better vetting of donors, will requires a major cultural shift that potentially threatens future contributions coming forward. Nonetheless, in this research I highlight how the current system increasingly undermines the public's faith in our cultural institutions. Without any safeguards the current system will most likely lead to further corruption and abuse. Can we afford to have donors associated with public museums and, if not, can art museums continue to exist?