Cotsen Textile Traces Talk: Spirit Creatures from Paracas to Miao
Cat Ashley Fairchild Perloff presents the research behind her micro exhibition “Spirit Creatures from Paracas to Miao.” Featuring a fragment from the Paracas-Necropolis tradition of the ancient Andes (c. 100 BCE) and another from the Miao minority culture of China (20th century), the display examines how both textile traditions convey energy and movement. Perloff also explores how, across continents and centuries, embroidered motifs have functioned as a form of "writing with thread," preserving ritual knowledge, social relationships and historical memory in a visual language legible within their communities.
About Cat Ashley Fairchild Perloff
Cat Perloff holds a M.A. from GW in museum studies (2026) and a B.A. in comparative literature and French from Kenyon College (2020), where her senior thesis won the Richard F. Hettlinger Award. From 2024 through 2026, Perloff held research, programming and archival assistant roles at The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum’s Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center and Arthur D. Jenkins Library, conducting research, preparing interpretive materials, updating database records and processing archival collections. Her planned doctoral work traces how modernist artists like Sonia Delaunay and Raoul Dufy moved textiles from stage costume into couture and commercial production.
About Micro Exhibitions
Visit the museum’s lower-level galleries to see a rotating selection of artworks from the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Collection. Inspired by contemporary culture and world events, these micro exhibitions showcase ongoing research by GW students, faculty and special guests.
About the Center
The Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center is home to one of the world’s most significant textile study collections. Assembled by the late Lloyd Cotsen, it consists of nearly 4,000 fragments of textiles created around the globe and dating from antiquity to the present, as well as some 100 sample books. Scholars, faculty, students and artists are invited to schedule a research visit, and the entire collection is accessible online. The center also presents rotating gallery displays and public programs inspired by the collection. Learn more about the center
How to Participate
This program will be in a hybrid format. You can join us in person at the museum or watch the livestream online. Please register in advance and choose how you would like to participate. We will email virtual attendees a link and instructions for joining via Zoom. When you register, you can also request to receive a reminder email one day before the program with the link included.
Additional Information
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gwu [dot] edu (MuseumEd[at]gwu[dot]edu) if you have questions about photography or recordings at this program.