MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kurie Fitzgerald: [email protected], 202-994-6461
Maralee Csellar: [email protected], 202-994-7564
EVENT:
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum will host its annual “Celebration of Textiles” festival to immerse visitors of all ages in the world of textiles. The event features art and dress-up activities, live demonstrations by local guilds—including spinning, lace-making and sheep-shearing—international dance and music performances and self-guided tours of textiles on display in the museum.
WHEN:
Sunday, June 14, 2015; 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
WHERE:
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
701 21st St., NW
Washington, D.C.
Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro (Orange, Blue and Silver lines)
COST:
This event is free and open to the public.
BACKGROUND:
In 1978, The Textile Museum hosted a celebration of textile arts in its gardens to commemorate International Museum Day. That event served as the catalyst for “Celebration of Textiles,” a lively day of fiber art activities and fun for the entire family. The festival started with the goal of inviting people to drop in and learn about the techniques and cultures represented in the museum’s exhibitions, drawing in new audiences and offering an opportunity for people of all ages to explore the wonder and variety of textile art. Now in its 36th year, “Celebration of Textiles” recognizes the importance of textiles, including how they are made and used in cultures around the world. This year’s celebration will take place in GW’s University Yard. The event is funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum
The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum opened on March 21, with three exhibitions: Unraveling Identity: Our Textiles, Our Stories, The Textile Museum’s largest exhibition to date, as well as Seat of Empire: Planning Washington, 1790–1801 and The Civil War and the Making of Modern Washington, two shows curated from the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection. The museum offers educational programs, including free family art activities on Saturday afternoons. Visit the online calendar for details.
The custom-built museum displays The Textile Museum’s globally recognized collections of nearly 20,000 textiles and related objects, and pieces owned by the university, including the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection of nearly 1,000 artifacts documenting the history of Washington, D.C.
-GW-