The Thai Textile Society received the following press release that might of interest to its members and subscribers.
Contact Adam Silver, Executive Director, Asian Cultural Center of Vermont, acc.vt@verizon.net, (802) 257-7898, ext. 1
Bank of Thailand and Asian Cultural Center of Vermont (ACCVT) present: BHUTANESE TEXTILES: WEAVING FROM THE HEART, an exhibition at the Bank of Thailand Museum, Chiang Mai, November 10 2008 through February 10 2009. This exhibition originated in Brattleboro, USA at the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont in summer 2007 and is now traveling to Southeast Asia for 2008-09.
* This exhibition is an intercultural collaboration between Thailand and the U.S.A. that focuses on the culture and textiles of Bhutan, celebrating the first exhibition of Bhutanese textiles in Thailand, the countries coming together through good will, the arts, and culture.
* The arts and culture as economic engine: The exhibition subtitle, 'Weaving from the Heart,' refers to the sublime place that weaving has in the life, culture and economy of the Bhutanese. The exquisite textile arts function as economic engine and linchpin of cultural identity for this mountainous land as shown in the Bhutanese national dress and the depth to which the weaving industry influences the Bhutanese economy. This exhibition is a great opportunity for increased international visibility and recognition for the state of Vermont.
* Timeliness of the exhibition: This year marks the 175th Anniversary of U.S.-Thai relations and friendship, Thailand the stopover for President Bush on his way to the Olympics. This past summer, Bhutan was center stage in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian’s Folk Life Festival. Furthermore, the exhibition in Chiang Mai follows just days after the historic coronation of the new king of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who has been overseeing the democratizing of the country.
* About the exhibition venue: Since 2000, the Bank of Thailand, the government organization that controls monetary policy in Thailand, has established a museum of textiles and currency in the historic city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to promote knowledge of ancient Thai currency and textiles to the general public, as well as generating greater public awareness of the national heritage.
* The Bommer Collection: The rare and brilliant weaving and ornaments have been gathered by Brattleboro textile collectors Jay and Rungnapa Bommer who collaborated with ACCVT in 2007 to create the original exhibition in West Brattleboro, Vermont. This 2008-09 Chiang Mai exhibition has expanded to 154 pieces featuring the Bhutanese national dress including full apparel with accessories for women and men. There will also be rare ceremonial tunics, and utilitarian objects of the Bhutanese on display.
* Torie Olson’s photography: The textile exhibition is complemented by the fine art photography of Torie Olson, featuring a compelling series of recent portraits of the Bhutanese people in their exquisite garments. Olson's fifty large format, color images also focus on Bhutan's dramatic architecture, lively markets, masked dancers, textile artisans, monastic communities, and the Bhutanese landscape.
* Peabody-Essex Museum’s video on Bhutan: The Chiang Mai exhibition will also feature showings of “From the Land of the Thunder Dragon; Textile Arts of Bhutan” a one hour video produced by and with the permission of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA.
* Diana Bander presents on Bhutan: During opening festivities for the exhibition at Bank of Thailand in Chiang Mai on November 10, ACCVT Board Member Diana O. Bander, Ed.D. will deliver a presentation, “Travelling From My Heart: A Journey Through The Kingdom of Bhutan.” Based on her travels in Bhutan in 2006 and interviews with Bhutanese people, Dr. Bander will illustrate the rare, exquisite and unique beauty of Bhutan, its people, culture, festivals and enduring Buddhist traditions. Her presentation will offer first-hand experiences of the charm and magic of the traditional Himalayan culture of the Kingdom of Bhutan.
* Thai presenters: There will be two presentations on the art of Bhutanese weaving. The presenters are Vithi Phanichpahant, Director of Lanna Study Center, Narasuan University, Payao, and former Deputy Dean of Faculty of Fine Arts, and Head of the Thai Art Department, for Chiang Mai University, and Smitthi Siribhadra, Lecturer of the Faculty of Archaeology, of Silpakorn University, Bangkok.
* Adam Silver conveying Vermont greetings: ACCVT Executive Director Adam Silver will be conveying greetings and well wishes from Vermont-based elected officials, government agencies and university leadership. He will also describe the work being done by ACCVT and the overall promise of intercultural communication and understanding for today’s world.
* About Bhutan: The size of Switzerland, or Vermont and New Hampshire together, Bhutan is nestled between Tibet/China and India. With its high snowy peaks and deep lush valleys, Bhutan has been in a long, self-imposed geographic isolation. Only recently has this culturally rich nation begun to open itself up to the outside world and has the outside world begun to understand the intricacies of its exquisite weavings. The exhibition gives a comprehensive viewing of the national dress of Bhutanese men and women. The producers of these rarely seen textiles have mesmerized museum curators and weavers with their techniques not found elsewhere in the world.
* How the collaboration for this exhibition came to be: Jay and Rungnapa Bommer met Adam Silver and Xi Cai at a West Brattleboro neighborhood meeting, discovered they were neighbors, both having biracial, bilingual families uniting Asia and the United States, and both involved in the arts and cultures of Asia. After the Cultural Center was incorporated in 2006, Jay and Rungnapa, together with the ACCVT, created the exhibition of Bhutanese weaving at the Cultural Center. Jay and Rungnapa, working on behalf of the ACCVT, established a relationship with the Bank of Thailand Museum. During the year following the Brattleboro exhibition, plans were developed between the Museum and ACCVT, with the Bommers, both speaking Thai language and knowledgeable in Thai custom and etiquette, being instrumental in the success of the arrangements. Collaborating with the Bommers, Putney resident Torie Olson shares both exhibition venues of Brattleboro and Chiang Mai with her fine art photography of the Bhutanese in their national dress, images that splendidly complement the exquisite textile displays. Brookline resident and ACCVT Board Member Diana O. Bander, Ed.D., will be joining Executive Director Adam Silver in making presentations at the exhibition opening in Chiang Mai.
More about the Vermonters who have been instrumental in bringing this exhibition into being:
* About the Bommers: Brattleboro resident Jay Bommer is the owner of Tribal Spirit, a business dedicated for the last 19 years to antique costumes and catering mostly to museum permanent collections. Tribal Spirit has put on three museum quality textile exhibitions and has done talks and lectures on the related subjects over the years. Having traveled extensively in Asia during the past two decades, including field research in Burma, Jay Bommer has co-written seminal research in the article, “Notes from the Field: On the Trail of Khumi, Khami and Mro Textiles,” published in Textile Museum Journal 1999-2000. As a textile collector, Jay Bommer was drawn to Bhutanese textiles on his first trip to Asia. He became intrigued with the complexity and techniques used to weave these garments as well as their originating country. Over the past 19 years and much research he has been able to put together a comprehensive collection of Bhutanese textiles.
* Rungnapa Bommer is a Thai native, born and raised in the farming village of San Patong, in Chiang Mai Province. After running the family farm during her teen and early adult years she trained as a seamstress and began working in Chiang Mai developing clothing lines for an international market. Later she began a wholesale business with an Australian hardware company in East Timor as well as a retail business. In 2003 she met her husband, Jay Bommer, and later moved to Brattleboro USA. Using her seamstress skills she is training herself how to preserve and mount antique textiles using international standards.
* About Torie Olson: A Contributing Editor at Wild Fibers Magazine, Torie Olson traveled to Bhutan in 2007 to photograph and research the kingdom's rich weaving tradition and age-old herding system. In addition to publication, photographs from her Bhutan Series have been shown in the United States in two solo exhibitions: The Sacred Festivals of Bhutan and Markets, Mountains & Monks. Olson has also published numerous articles on the textile and fiber farming traditions of China, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Morocco, and the United States, and exhibited photographs from these areas in many solo and collaborative shows, with proceeds benefiting folk artists and other marginalized people in Asia and the Americas. As photojournalist and volunteer development consultant, Olson's focus is on documenting, promoting, and preserving the world’s traditional arts and rituals before they're lost to globalization, imitation, and repression.
* About Diana O. Bander: ACCVT Board Member Dr. Bander is President and CEO of a management consulting firm with expertise in strategic planning, operations analysis, information technology, business process analysis and organizational change. Her clients are global corporations whose markets include manufacturing, high technology, telecommunications and financial services. She has traveled extensively throughout Asia, including India and Bhutan, lived in Japan and worked in Japan for a major Japanese trading company. Diana earned her doctorate from Harvard University in Administration, Planning and Policy.
* About Adam Silver: Co-founder and Executive Director of Asian Cultural Center of Vermont, Adam Silver is a trustee with the Arts Council of Windham County and the Windham World Affairs Council and on the programming committee of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center. He was a Watson Fellow in India, Nepal and China surveying ancient-yet-current sustainable industries related to temple architecture and crafts. His training and experience have been in arts administration and art history, educational administration and evaluation, interagency public relations, and business management. He has Vermont Ambassador Certification from the state Department of Tourism & Marketing and has been curator and business manager for a number of exhibitions in southeastern Vermont.
* Corresponding with the Bank of Thailand, Adam Silver wrote to Senior Director Khun Prangitip Busayasiri; Director Khun Prasopsuk Puangsakorn, Assistant Director Khun Amorn Kungwal, and Head Curator Khun Jirawan Givila. Since his letter, dated December 5, was on the King of Thailand’s birthday, the opening remarks of the letter were according to Thai etiquette, thus: “Greetings from Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. All happiness to you on this marvelous occasion of His Majesty's 80th Birthday and 60th year of reign. His Majesty has been so dedicated to the Thai people and the country. With his sincerity, compassion and caring over the many years, His Majesty has been a shining example of how leaders should be. May the good fortune, prosperity, peace and happiness of Thailand and its people long continue!” King Bhumibol Adulyadej Rama IX is much beloved by the Thai people and is the world’s longest currently reigning monarch.
* About the Asian Cultural Center of Vermont (ACCVT): Incorporated in Fall 2006, ACCVT is a nonprofit organization dedicated to support and encourage cross-cultural understanding and mutual appreciation of different cultures and their arts, a vision of connecting people through the arts and cultures of Asia. To this end, ACCVT produces programs, exhibitions, forums, workshops, festivals, classes and an online information center with a website, www.asianculturalcentervt.org. ACCVT is one of very few institutions whose scope is the entire Asian continent. In the first two years of operation, ACCVT has so far produced programs on Afghanistan, Bhutan, Eurasian cultures of the Caucasus, China, India, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Tibetan cultures of the Indian subcontinent, and Turkic republics such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
In future years, it is hoped that other cultures of Asia will be represented in programs by ACCVT. The base of operations and many of the Cultural Center's presentations are held in West Brattleboro, Vermont, USA.