Highlights Tours
Free docent-led tours of the galleries are offered Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m.
All Programs by Date
August
Film: "Tears in the Fabric"
After the Rana Plaza tragedy, documentary filmmakers Hannan Majid and Richard York of Rainbow Collective return to Bangladesh to make their second film on the plight of garment workers.
Curator Tour: "Fast Fashion/Slow Art"
Tour the exhibition "Fast Fashion/Slow Art" with co-curators Bibiana Obler and Phyllis Rosenzweig.
Gallery Talk: Mali Tent Weavings
Bryna Freyer, former curator at Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art, gives an up-close look at a Mali tent weaving from The Textile Museum collections.
Member Program: "Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt" Curator Tour
Discover the richly decorated world of early medieval palaces, villas, and sacred spaces in the eastern Mediterranean on an exhibition tour with co-curators Sumru Belger Krody and Elizabeth Dospel Williams.
September
Consultations: Ask a Curator, Ask a Conservator
Learn more about your own textiles from museum curators and conservators.
Lecture: Felt Making Now and Then
Join Renate Maile-Moskowitz—fiber artist, lecturer, and consultant—for a talk on the history and evolution of felt to its applications today.
Member Program: "Woven Interiors: Furnishing Early Medieval Egypt" Curator Tour
Discover the richly decorated world of early medieval palaces, villas, and sacred spaces in the eastern Mediterranean on an exhibition tour with co-curators Sumru Belger Krody and Elizabeth Dospel Williams.
Special Hours: Arthur D. Jenkins Library
Take advantage of Saturday hours at the library to conduct research or browse hard-to-find print and visual resources on global textiles and traditional dress.
Lecture: Spies in the Civil War
Join Vince Houghton, historian and curator at the International Spy Museum, to uncover the hidden world of spies during the Civil War.
Author Talk and Book Signing: "True Colors: World Masters of Natural Dyes and Pigments"
Join author, color forecaster, and artisan activist Keith Recker for a vivid walk through the spectrum of botanical color and an invitation to look at our own habits through the eyes of natural dyers and makers of pigment.
Gallery Talk: Textile Preparation for Woven Interiors
Associate Conservator Cathleen Zaret will share some of the methods, materials, and decision-making processes employed in preparing archaeological textiles for display in "Woven Interiors."
Film: "The Man in the White Suit"
Join us for a screening of this 1951 film about a chemist who creates the perfect white suit—which turns out to be very bad for business.
Student Presentations: Art, Sustainability, and Activism
Join us at the Corcoran as graduate students present their semester-long research projects on topics concerning the production and distribution of textiles and clothing.
Celebration of Textiles: Comfort at Home
The museum celebrates its 40th annual free community festival with a unique look at carpets, curtains, cushions, and other textiles for the home.
Book Talk: "Heroes of the Underground Railroad Around D.C."
Anthropologist and author Jenny Masur tells the stories of unsung heroes of the Underground Railroad from her new book.
Film Shorts: "Unravel" and "Occupation: Mill Worker"
"Unravel" follows the western world’s least-wanted clothes on a journey across northern India. Occupation: Mill Worker documents the events of February, 1992, when workers forcibly occupied the factories of Mumbai’s New Great Eastern Mill after a four-year lock-out.
Curator Tour: "Fast Fashion/Slow Art"
Tour the exhibition "Fast Fashion/Slow Art" with co-curators Bibiana Obler and Phyllis Rosenzweig.
Lecture/Show and Tell: Artful African and Asian Garments
Collector Steve Price gives an overview on why clothing exists and its cultural role, followed by a presentation of garments from Africa and Central, mainland Southeast, and East Asia.
Lecture: Rosetta Tharpe: Black Queer Icon
Gayle Wald, author and chair of GW's Department of American Studies, discusses black queer icon Rosetta Tharpe.
Workshop: Beaded Gloves
Embellish a pair of gloves with beads and other decorations, inspired by Jon Eric Riis's contemporary artwork "Hands of the Oracle"
Workshop: Motifs, Migrations, and Misappropriations
Join artist and activist Frau Fiber (Carol Francis Long) in this hands-on workshop that reimagines a Syrian tunic from the Textile Museum collections using discarded t-shirts, remnants of our consumer culture.
Member Program: "Ornament: Fragments of Byzantine Fashion" Curator Tour
This exhibition at Dumbarton Oaks Museum brings together complete tunics, parts of garments, and contemporary replicas of ancient dress to evoke the fashions of this now lost world Elizabeth Dospel Williams
Conference: Unveiling Fashion: Textiles, Design, and the New Circular Economy
Join in a collaboration with the D.C. Sustainable Fashion Collective and GW’s Office of Sustainability to understand the relationship between the consumer and the fashion industry and learn about the environmental impact of the fashion industry.
Trunk Show: McKernan Scarves
Located just off the wild Atlantic Way in County Clare, Irelend, McKernan Woolen Mills creates beautiful handwoven scarves that blend quality, functionality, tradition, and skill.
Lecture: Abraham Lincoln in Words and Music
Claire Jerry, lead curator of political history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, reveals the nuances of Lincoln’s speeches and his use of language.
Book Talk: "Larry Felder Candidate"
Join former Washington Post columnist Bob Levey for a talk about his new novel about a big-time newspaper and contemporary Washington-area politics.
October
POSTPONED: Performance and Sing Along: Songs of the Civil War
This program has been postponed to Saturday, October 5, 2019, at 2 p.m.
Film: "Maquilapolis"
This documentary is a collaboration among filmmakers Sergio de la Torre and Vicky Funari, factory workers, and community organizations that depicts globalization through the eyes of the women who live on the frontlines.
Lecture: DC Murals: Spectacle and Story
Discover the stories of many of the public murals that decorate our streets.
Lecture: Fort Reno Community after the Civil War
Delve into the Fort Reno community after the Civil War.
Book Talk: The Property of the Nation: George Washington's Tomb, Mount Vernon, and the Memory of the First President
Learn how the memory of George Washington was a deliberately constructed image, shaped and reshaped over time. Matthew R.
November
Lecture: Contraband Hospital and the African Americans Who Served There
Hear the story of one hospital in Washington, D.C. that treated black soldiers and civilians and explore the stories of African American nurses and surgeons who served there.
Film: "RiverBlue"
This feature-length documentary chronicles paddler and conservationist Mark Angelo's journey to uncover and document the extensive pollution impacts of the global fashion industry.
Panel Discussion: Masculinity in the Civil War
Explore the celebrated and shamed aspects of masculinity during the mid-19th century with two acclaimed scholars and authors on the topic.
George Hewitt Myers Award
On Thursday evening, November 21, the museum will honor Dr. Thomas P. Campbell with the George Hewitt Myers Award for lifetime achievement in the textile arts.
Lecture: History of the U.S. Marine Corps Band
Join U.S. Marine Corps musician and librarian Charles Paul for a unique history of “The President’s Own,” America’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization.
December
Student Presentations: George Washington and His World
GW students will share their findings after a semester of in-depth research about George Washington at Mount Vernon.
701 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202-994-5200
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