May at the Textile Museum

May at the Textile Museum (From the TM Calender)
Rug & Textile Appreciation Morning: "Nomadic and Workshop Weavings from Fars Province in Iran" by Tom Cook Saturday, May 3rd 10:30 am. The audience is invited to bring clean, well-vacuumed examples related to the title of the program. Seating is limited, so please arrive early. FREE; no reservations required. Cook is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Textile Museum and is widely respected for his RTAM presentations.

Also May 31 "Have You Got the Blues? Blue Dyes in Textiles" Jeffrey Krauss and R. John Howe. (Jeff is well known for his collection of Japanese textiles especially Kasuri and R. John for his eclectic taste in Oriental rugs spanning from Turkey to Central Asia.)

Ursula McCracken memorial - 2:00 to 4:00pm, May 10th at the Textile Museum

Related topics: Oriental Rug Cleaning Austin

Ursula McCracken memorial - 2:00 to 4:00pm, May 10th at The Textile Museum

MCCRACKEN, URSULA NAYLOR ELAND

Published: April 2, 2008

McCRACKEN--Ursula Naylor Eland, 66, died at home in Baltimore, March 17. A Wellesley College graduate (BA 1963, cum laude, Wellesley Scholar), held two MAs from Johns Hopkins University. A career in arts and education: Albright Knox Gallery; Walters Art Museum and College of Notre Dame in Baltimore. For 18 years she was Director of the Textile Museum in Washington DC where she brought the Museum up to current standards in every area from collections management to financial management while diversifying the exhibitions and educational programs, and building local, national and international audiences and membership. She increased the endowment seven-fold to over $17 million. Survived by her husband, Edward; siblings: Timothy Eland of New York City, Jane Donahue of Wellesley, MA and Faith Shepard of New Canaan, CT. Family and friends will hold a gathering of remembrance from 2:00 to 4:00pm, May 10th at The Textile Museum in Washington. Ursula requested contributions to the American Pain Foundation, Suite 710, 201 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21201 or the Textile Society of America, P.O. Box 193, Middletown, DE 19709.

Swan and Walker at the Textile Museum

Swan and Walker at the Textile Museum I made it to the Textile Museum RTAM to hear Wendel Swan and Daniel Walker. Wendel was brilliant. I was really impressed by the creative approach Wendel took to a Karapinar carpet fragment. Dan Walker did a nice job of talking about his collection of classical era fragments. The audience seemed notably surprised when Dan showed a copy of the "Goddess in Anatolia" and used it to relate to some of his fragments. Dan handled it well and made some good points. Walker talked a bit about small silk Kashan rugs and related them to a piece in his collection. His concept of a later silk Kashan rug with Jufti knotting was adventurous but he carried it off well. Both Wendel and I asked questions pointing to a Khorasan attribution for the fragments but Walker stood his ground. Dan and I tend to disagree on many of the attributions of classical carpets but it was easy to see the strong academic qualities that made Dan Walker so attractive to the TM when they drafted him. I think he is best thing to happen to the Textile Museum in years. Obviously the TM is lucky to have such a brilliant and dedicated director. Some of the pieces in the show were Harold Keshishian's but I will talk about them later.

Five Very Special Fragments at the TM

Five Very Special Fragments
After the RTAM at the Textile Museum Harold Keshishian and I ducked out quickly and I drove Harold to another engagement in Upper Northwest. As we drove Harold told me about the five pieces that he had in the program. These rugs were very special for a very unusual reason. All of them were presents to Harold from major dealers and collectors. It used to be a custom for top collectors and dealers to give gifts of important rugs and fragments to up and coming collectors and dealers. Fragments were especially prized by all the big collectors, guys like Joe McMullan, Hagop Kevorkian, Ralph Yohe, and Russ Pickering prized them. In fact the two big Indo-Persian fragments on the right were presents from Ralph Yohe, The square Indo-Persian fragment above and too the right of the other two was a gift of Magda Shapiro a top London dealer. (I was especially interested in this one since it had that orange that Ellis used as a marker for Herat.) The two smaller Mughal fragments were a present from Harry Bolsen who ran J.H. Dildarian, Inc. for 80 year old a mainstay of the Madison Avenue rug trade.
Harold is like family to me and I learn so much when we get together. The five fragments are great pieces but they mean a lot more when I know the story behind them.

RTAMs at the Textile Museum and Howe's blog

Just today I was speaking with Cynthia Kosciuczyk who is the manager of 4th Avenue Rug Gallery in San Diego. Cynthia was telling me what a fan she is of the Textile Museum . I had to ask her if she reads John Howe's blog and she was not aware of it. John is a humble guy who puts in countless hours of selfless work to help a wider audience to get more out of the Textile Museum programs. It is well worth visiting John's site. Take a look at John's 18th and 19th Century Anatolian Carpets: Keshishian and Seidman. It is a useful and artistic article. John added a small note, "Harold has said to me, recently, that the extent and excellence of Michael Seidman’s preparation for this session is not adequately recognized in what we have said above and this comment is an effort to correct that." What is the value of a Seidman and Keshishian presentation? No record, no transcripts, no video, virtually no record at all without John. I have documented a few and John is off to a good start documenting more and that is good. Still for the handful available on-line there are more than 30 years of RTAMS lost and gone for ever. 30 years of guys like Keshishian, Seidman, Wendel Swan, John Wertime, Steve Price, Zimmerman, Charlie Ellis, Ulrich Schurmann, and so many other. Still the Textile Museum is a wonderful place and Bruce Baganz and the rest of the board are great guys doing so much with very little. Maybe a good first step if you really value the Textile Museum is to Join, Renew, or just Write them a Check.

Here are some odds and ends from my site: Long time Trustee John Sommer on Kyrgyz felt at the TM

HK's "Rug Morning" The Introduction

HK's "Rug Morning" The Persian Collection

HK's "Rug Morning" Explosion of Red

HK's "Rug Morning" The Mediterranean Collection

HK's "Rug Morning" Parting Shots

Ursula McCracken Obituary Baltimore Sun

Ursula McCracken: [ Age 66 ] The 18-Year Director of the Textile Museum in Washington Enhanced Her Education and Resume...
The Baltimore Sun, Maryland

Mar. 21--Ursula N. McCracken, former director of the Textile Museum in Washington who earlier had been director of development at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, died Monday of brain cancer at her West University Parkway home. She was 66.

Ursula Naylor Eland was born in New York City, and raised in England and Stamford, Conn. She earned a bachelor's degree in the history of art from Wellesley College in 1963 and received two master's degrees from Johns Hopkins University.

Mrs. McCracken received a master's degree in the history of ideas in 1984 and, two years later, a master's in administrative sciences, or nonprofit management.

She was working at the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., when she met her future husband, Edward P. McCracken. After their 1965 wedding, they moved to Baltimore and joined the staff of what was then the Walters Art Gallery.

In 1977, Mrs. McCracken was named director of development for the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, a position she held until 1986, when she was named director of the Textile Museum in Northwest Washington.

"'Steadfast' and 'determined' are two words I'd use to describe her. She was a powerful force," said Carol M. Bier, president of the Textile Society of America who is also a lecturer in humanities at San Francisco State University.

"She came to the museum not with a lot of experience in textile history but had a wide range of experience in nonprofit management. That's why the board appointed her," Ms. Bier, a former Textile Museum staff member, said yesterday.

"Edwin Zimmerman, past president of the museum's board, said when the trustees were searching for a new director, he was told, 'Ursula McCracken could run an army,'" Ms. Bier said.

"She was equitable in sharing authority and responsibilities. Decisions were not made unilaterally and were reached only after deliberate discussion," she said.

"Ursula certainly worked with consistency and determination to professionalize the museum in all its operations, and to provide for the professional development of her staff," Ms. Bier said.

Other accomplishments during Mrs. McCracken's tenure included increasing the museum's endowment from $2 million to $17 million, retiring its debt and doubling its operating budget from $1.2 million to $2.7 million.

She oversaw several critically acclaimed exhibitions, including Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran in 1986; and Costume and Identity in Highland Ecuador in 1999.

Her professional memberships included the Association of Art Museum Directors.

After stepping down as museum director in 2004, Mrs. McCracken was director of major gifts for the American Pain Foundation in Baltimore.

She was an avid reader and world traveler.

Plans for a memorial service were incomplete yesterday.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. McCracken is survived by a brother, Timothy B.B. Eland of New York City; and two sisters, Jane B. Donahue of Wellesley, Mass., and Faith Shepard of , Conn.

Ursula McCracken Obituary Baltimore Sun

Ursula McCracken: [ Age 66 ] The 18-Year Director of the Textile Museum in Washington Enhanced Her Education and Resume...
The Baltimore Sun, Maryland

Mar. 21--Ursula N. McCracken, former director of the Textile Museum in Washington who earlier had been director of development at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, died Monday of brain cancer at her West University Parkway home. She was 66.

Ursula Naylor Eland was born in New York City, and raised in England and Stamford, Conn. She earned a bachelor's degree in the history of art from Wellesley College in 1963 and received two master's degrees from Johns Hopkins University.

Mrs. McCracken received a master's degree in the history of ideas in 1984 and, two years later, a master's in administrative sciences, or nonprofit management.

She was working at the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., when she met her future husband, Edward P. McCracken. After their 1965 wedding, they moved to Baltimore and joined the staff of what was then the Walters Art Gallery.

In 1977, Mrs. McCracken was named director of development for the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, a position she held until 1986, when she was named director of the Textile Museum in Northwest Washington.

"'Steadfast' and 'determined' are two words I'd use to describe her. She was a powerful force," said Carol M. Bier, president of the Textile Society of America who is also a lecturer in humanities at San Francisco State University.

"She came to the museum not with a lot of experience in textile history but had a wide range of experience in nonprofit management. That's why the board appointed her," Ms. Bier, a former Textile Museum staff member, said yesterday.

"Edwin Zimmerman, past president of the museum's board, said when the trustees were searching for a new director, he was told, 'Ursula McCracken could run an army,'" Ms. Bier said.

"She was equitable in sharing authority and responsibilities. Decisions were not made unilaterally and were reached only after deliberate discussion," she said.

"Ursula certainly worked with consistency and determination to professionalize the museum in all its operations, and to provide for the professional development of her staff," Ms. Bier said.

Other accomplishments during Mrs. McCracken's tenure included increasing the museum's endowment from $2 million to $17 million, retiring its debt and doubling its operating budget from $1.2 million to $2.7 million.

She oversaw several critically acclaimed exhibitions, including Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran in 1986; and Costume and Identity in Highland Ecuador in 1999.

Her professional memberships included the Association of Art Museum Directors.

After stepping down as museum director in 2004, Mrs. McCracken was director of major gifts for the American Pain Foundation in Baltimore.

She was an avid reader and world traveler.

Plans for a memorial service were incomplete yesterday.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. McCracken is survived by a brother, Timothy B.B. Eland of New York City; and two sisters, Jane B. Donahue of Wellesley, Mass., and Faith Shepard of , Conn.

US citizens get acquainted with Turkmen ornament art

US citizens get acquainted with Turkmen ornament art

An exhibition dedicated to Turkmen and other Central Asian ornaments used in decoration of traditional national dwellings opened in the Textile Museum of Washington on March 30, the Ashgabat correspondent of Turkmenistan.ru reports quoting the State News Service (TDH). The Turkmen exhibits dominate the exhibition. That is why it occupies a separate room. The other room features Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak ornaments.

The exhibition inauguration was preceded by a reception on behalf of the Textile Museum of Washington and the Embassy of Turkmenistan in the U.S. Some 400 people, including government officials, a number of universities, famous art critics, diplomats and big businessmen attended the ceremony. The Textile Museum board chairman, Bruce Baganaz, Turkmenistan's Ambassador to the US Mered Orazov and museum director Daniel Walker spoke at the inauguration ceremony.

The exhibition will be open until August 19. Booklets dedicated to the exhibition will be published soon.

Textile Museum Display

It is time to treat Native Americans with dignity and respect
Yours truly,
Barry O'Connell