NOW WHAT?

It wasn’t ten minutes after the successful completion of my MFA thesis defense at OCADUthat I had professors and advisors asking me, “Now what?”. I could feel my eyes go wide and my jaw drop as I didn’t expect this from my academic and artistic peers. This is the type of question you get from the worried parents or the post-secondary naysayers who don’t believe that an arts degree will get you anywhere. I answered, ” Sleep, eat, edit and sleep some more”.

Still in the editing stage and frantically looking to offset the debt I have incurred over the last two years, the focus I had for my research over the last two years has quickly dissipated in order to make ends meet, disseminate my work and start an arms length list of projects that were never realized during school. Re-organizing my office, studio and closets has also become a major task as I try to make room for the work created for my thesis exhibition. These tasks are often undermined by the urgency to update my personal website and other online media to reflect the transformation of my practice and update qualifications so that I can contact all those who might hire or exhibit a recent MFAgraduate.

All in all, it feels as though the last two years were really play, and it is now time that I need to get to work putting all of that learning and research to work outside of institutional walls.

One blog down, and many more to go.

Seville, Malaga, ooh I want to take you to Cordoba, Granada, come on pretty mama ...

So what do the Beach Boys have to do with the early textile trade? Absolutely nothing other than they have been around for a long time and whether you love them or not, they continue to have global affect.

One of the cities which ended up having a great affect on global trade in the late 1400's was the "Andalusian city of Seville, located fifty-four miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. [...] The hub of the Spanish empire for much of the early modern era." (1) But even before that, Seville was surrounded by a flourishing rural textile trade which would help to supplement income for seasonal farmers, with women often taking the lead in the spinning, weaving and construction of woolen cloth to be sold to independent merchants or citizens of nearby towns. At times this meant that families would need to travel great distances to bring their goods to markets or risk trusting others to sell their wares for them. These independent enterprises were most beneficial when the farmers could sheer their own sheep, but at other times rural textile workers would either need to purchase raw materials or receive raw fibres from independent merchants to be transformed into saleable goods. These dealings often left the workers venerable to being exploited by merchants, who were known to adjust the scales in their favour when weighing cloth or simply not paying the true value of the goods sold or for labour exercised. (2) Exploitation being just one more shadow that continues to haunt underdeveloped countries and unlegislated rural textile industry today.

"In 1503, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragón established the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) in Seville and thereby launched the ascent of this provincial capital. [...] The local population was amplified by droves of foreign traders, sailors, and slaves" (1) between 1530 and 1560, with the area's vast supply of pine trees providing excellent resources for the ship building industry. I'm thinking they might have needed some fabric for sails, but I haven't found this mentioned anywhere as of yet. Anyways, the constant influx of goods, textiles and other wares made the city extremely venerable to the delivery of diseases such as the plague, at times requiring bans to be placed on the arrival of woven cotton, linen and woolen goods. (3)

Today, beyond issues of finding parking and polite food service, Seville is a wonderfully modern city speckled with the rich history of its past. Of course sporting the magnificent Cathedral of Saint Mary, "the third largest church in Europe", Seville also knows how to design parks, with even modern builds echoing the extravagance and elegance of the Renaissance. For example, the symmetrical and yet ornate architectural details and ceramic work balancing between Moorish and Renaissance design of Plaza de España; a square "built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929", could almost trick you into believing that you were in Venice during the height of the Renaissance. (4)

One of my other favourite things to visit in Seville was the Díaz Velázquez collections of embroidery and lace on display in the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions. Featuring a broad selection of 16th to 19th lace from their 6000 piece collection, there was a wonderful array of black and white lace artifacts created by bobbin lace, needle lace, applique, embroidery and machine processes, filling three rooms. Although these textiles weren't created during the early renaissance, the works created by hand reminded me of how women were once valued craftspersons during the early textile industries, often creating the highest of calibre of work from their very own homes. I couldn't help but take pictures of most of the display cases to honour the women that have skillfully worked in the shadows throughout the ages.

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It was also in Seville that I began to wonder, what came first, the architectural designs, tile work or the textiles. As I had suspected, texts that I have been coming across state that textiles, being traded from as far as China and crossing cultural boundaries from Arab regions of Africa, served as fabric blueprints for different parts of the world to mimic. Light weight and easily transportable, textiles carried with them patterns, processes and belief systems through their iconography, which not only served to influence tile patterns, designs and architectural adornment, but also cultural practices. (5) This also makes sense rather than the other way around, as travel was still very much a risky business and limited to those conducting trade or at war. We will get to the shadows of war in relation to the textile industry later.

Malaga, once called Malaqa, was the closest city to where we were staying while I did the majority of my research in Spain. Choosing it as a central location from which to visit Granada, Seville and Cordoba, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how important Malaga was to Spain's early textile trade. Under Cordoban rule and serving as the primary trade port for the major textile centres of the Andalusian region, the once Moorish economic centre was one of the last cities conquered by Christian forces. With regards to the importance of textiles in the region, as early as 600 BC, when the Phoenicians occupied Malaca; note another spelling, the region was already producing "purple dye made from shellfish, which was very valuable, and used by the elites in the different courts along the Mediterranean." After years of Moorish rule starting in 712 AD, the 14th century saw Malaga emerge as a major centre of commerce for the silk industry, other woven textiles and leather goods. (6)

The photo above captures the view from the top of Castillo de Gibralfaro, the highest of two Moorish fortresses that provided an excellent view and defense from attacks from sea or land. While some say it was longer, it is told that it took a "three-month siege" led "by the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, which ended only when hunger forced the Malagueños to surrender." (7) After walking up to the top, my guess is the soldiers just waited it out below! Apparently, "the Catholic Kings were very angry" that they saw so much resistance in Malaga, that "the Moors of the city were sold as slaves and their property divided among the Christians." I have not been able to find research to speak to how these people were enslaved, but it wouldn't be surprising if they were enslaved within the very textile and other craft industries that they had worked so hard to develop during their 775 years of occupation. (7) Unfortunately, slavery continues as a major shadow woven within the lobal textile industry today.

Additionally, "in 1492, the Catholic Kings expelled the Jews from Spain. Many of the Jews went to Genoa, Venice, and Istanbul." As they had been allowed to participate within the trades while in Spain, "commerce suffered when they were expelled." (7) Their migration to parts of what is now Italy and Turkey, would further the cross-cultural exchange of ideas, imagery and techniques between more central Europe, once very much isolated on the Iberian Peninsula.

Visiting Córdoba, "an early textile manufacturing center, where as many as 13,000 looms were active at one time,"(8) seemed surreal. Known for producing silk as early as 10th century CE, "up until the early 1200's Córdoba enjoyed a booming economy thanks to its skilled artisans and agricultural infrastructure." (9) Other than an amazing variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs and spices being grown in the area, there were also "cash crops such as cotton, flax and silk."(9) The wealth of the area led to the continued expansion of the Cordoba Mosque and despite its Catholic transformation, the Mosque-Cathedral still remains a true testament to the multi-cultural history of Spain and an earlier Iberian Peninsula renaissance prior to the Italian Renaissance infiltrating through the Christian campaign.

As I walked through the Cordoba's Cathedral - Mosque, I began to imagine 25,000 prayer rugs laid out on the floor and wondered if these would have been made in some of the local textile workshops. I also noted the exquisite mosaic and sculptural detailing around a horseshoe arch that has been compared to "embossed embroidery"(9) and couldn't help but sense it at as a quiet space despite its monumentality and injections of Gothic, Renaissance or Mannerist drama. In the passage below I was amazed at how this architectural anomaly has been described as a woven fabric.

[...] it is a kind of architectural abstraction in which the columns seem to repeat themselves infinitely, [...] an extraordinary metaphor for infinity underlined by a constant interplay of light and shadow. [...] There is no story that will direct our thoughts. What we have are geometrical patterns woven out of the pillars [...] thereby liberating the mind and freeing it for prayer and meditation. (9)

So, if the Cathedral-Mosque of Cordoba could be described as a quiet and yet exquisitely woven Muslim prayer rug, Granada's Cathedral and Carthusian Monastery must be considered the gold silk embroidered brocades of the Renaissance's Catholic Kings and Queens. Beyond decorative and laden with gold, Granada's places of worship were filled with light and rich with icons. There were times when the sculptural accents looked like 3d lace, they were so delicate and ornate. What I found most shocking was how the Carthusian monastery seemed to be the most outlandish of all the architecture we saw despite them being an "austere" order that "upheld strict vows of silence and fasting [...] lived in confined cells and dedicated their time to prayer, study, and manual labour [...] their places of worship were extraordinarily elaborate and extravagant." (10)

What I have discovered about Granada is that beyond being a fertile region able to produce its own silk, it was also a major exporter of merino wool and silk, making local merchants extremely wealthy. However, the major exportation of raw materials resulted in fine quality goods being produced elsewhere and being shipped back into Spain at competitive prices and therefore drastically affecting the local economy and leading to the depreciation of domestic skilled labour. (11) Hmmmm......

As usual, my research continues to have affect on my own practice. They say that excess perpetuates excess and it would seem so, in that with each new site I visit, I have managed to increase the weight of material excess that I carry with me. Between entry tickets, brochures, maps, didactic sheets, information booklets, receipts and other documenting paper paraphernalia, my purse and backpack get heavier and heavier, reminding me that paper too is a fibre, often still made from the pulp of cotton and linen. Reviewing the contents of these accumulated papers brought to light how much still remains within the shadows of the minimal texts provided or how many of the documents remain in the shadows due to the language in which they are printed or even as a result of their translations. To others, the printed materials would also exist in the shadows as the context in which they were collected would remain absent. I also began to think about how much of this material would be filtered or re-examined through only the perspective from which I was collecting them or even how the texts work to shadow a broader or varying perspectives about the texts written within them. Simply in forgetting why I had originally visited some of the sites also pushed the printed materials into darkness. Additionally, I began to think about the monumental amount of materials that are distributed each year from just one site and the number of tourist sites in each country. These piles of paper gradually accumulating atop, between and beneath my personal belongings will work to fill another vitrine within my exhibition and continue the metaphor of surface, regardless of fibre / material, as land.

(1) http://www.encyclopedia.com/places/spain-portugal-italy-greece-and-balkans/spanish-and-portuguese-political-geography/seville

(2) Vassberg, David, E. The Village and the Outside World in the Golden Age of Castile. Cambridge University Press, 1996, Pgs 50-51

(3) Bowers, Kristy Wilson. Plague and Public Health in Early Modern Seville. University Rochester Press, 2013. pg 59

(4) http://www.andalucia.com/cities/seville/plazadeespana.htm

(5) Robinson, C. & Pinet, S., Courting the Alhambra: Cross Disciplinary approaches to the Hall of Justice Ceilings, Brill Publishing, Netherlands, 2008, pg 352

(6) http://www.andalucia.com/cities/malaga/gibralfaro.htm

(7) https://www.tripadvisor.ca/ShowTopic-g187438-i333-k2927846-History_of_Malaga-Malaga_Costa_del_Sol_Province_of_Malaga_Andalucia.html

(8) http://www.islamicspain.tv/Arts-and-Science/The-Culture-of-Al-Andalus/Textiles.htm

(9) http://www.spainthenandnow.com/spanish-history/cordoba-historical-overview/default_41.aspx

(10) http://www.andalucia.com/cities/granada/lacartuja.htm

(11) Kamen, H., Golden Age of Spain. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA, 2005

Holy Toledo: An archive of cultures and textiles.

Once the political capital and part of the Castilian textile industry, Toledo “liked to think of itself as a second Rome." Built on seven hills, "the city served as the sea to the court until the decision of Philip II in 1561 to make Madrid his capital.“(1) Prior to this tumultuous decision to move the royal court, Toledo, the largest city, was located “at the center of the Iberian Peninsula [...], a natural stopping-off point for travelers and merchandise, [...] and dominated the economy for much of the sixteenth century". (2) Multi-denominational until the late 1400's, Arab, Jewish and Christian groups all peacefully resided in this great hilltop city in “relative tranquility”. This led to the exchange of ideas, transferring of knowledge, translation of texts and replication of patterns and techniques applied to much of the textile industry – to the point where discerning if a textile was to be deemed Spanish or of Islamic origin still contributes to great debate today.

Surrounded by the Tagus River, a waterway which led to the important port of Lisbon and emptied out into the Atlantic Ocean, the river was an important natural resource for the cleaning, dying, and transport of raw fibres and finished fabrics. The river helped to produce “fertile valleys” for agricultural pursuits.(3) When referring to their important role within the silk economy, the land was used to plant mulberry trees to grow and sustain the silk worms needed for their industrious enterprise. "The Toledo silk textile industry, [...] in the fourth quarter of the fifteenth century until the mid-seventeenth century, [...] together with other minor industries, gave the city the character of immense hive beating to the rhythm of the thousands of looms scattered throughout its narrow streets."(4)

The city's "important merchant community, which derived its wealth from the sale and export of local manufactured textiles and raw fibres, especially fine silks” saw a weakening of the economy in the late 1500’s. Not only did the region suffer from harvest failure and the emigration of the noble families to Madrid, which led to the loss of their spending power local, but Spain was also starting to see “competition from cheaper foreign textiles.” Sound familiar? This and high taxation levels being used to help Spain continue to wage its wars and build fortified castles and walls were some of the major contributors to the area's economic decline.

While only there for a very short time, I visited the Santa Iglesia Cathedral of Toledo as well as the churches corresponding Textile Museum. Located high up on a hill, it was easy to see why the area had great agricultural success. Green fields appeared to surround the city as far as the eye could see. The Cathedral, refitted in the gothic style starting in 1227, is "situated over the foundations of the Visigoth Cathedral built in the sixth century, which had been used as a Mosque. " Measuring "120 m long by 60 m wide and containing 5 naves supported by 88 pillars and 72 vaults"(7) the cathedral itself seemed more grand than any church I had seen in Florence, however I might feel otherwise once I return to take in the Duomo for a second time.

What I don't recall seeing in Florence were tapestries as large as those I was able to witness in the Museo de Textiles Y Orfebreria. Perhaps I wasn't looking for them this time last year. This brings me to a point about shadows. Each of us unwittingly shadows that which we encounter, not just physical, but also because of the lack of knowledge or perceptions we bring to the interpretation or even engagement with a work. I often find myself immediately neglecting or even dismissing works based on my personal preferences or agendas. Then there are those occasions where I find myself trying to find my perspective within a work in which it was not intended. I am not sure which shadows are more detrimental or if it is just important that they are acknowledged. Anyways, back to those Toledo tapestries. So like an ignoramus, I assumed what I was looking at were rugs, but in fact the majority of the large woven scenes served as large religious or mythical pictorial panels that would help insulate the stone walls of architecture at the times.

Also within this museum there is a selection of what would seem like papal garb. Woven ornately with gold, I had a hard time imagining how one would go about preaching austerity and the importance of giving to the church while outfitted in such an outlandish layering of fabric. Interesting was how the excess embodied within the dominance of Catholicism in Spain during the Renaissance continued to manifest itself during the weekend's Easter festivities as numerous parades in the streets were blocked with the local residents transporting highly decorated figurations of Mary adorned in extravagant textiles and an abundance of flowers.

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With regards to my pending thesis exhibition, after taking in all of the excess woven into liturgical robes and architectural embellishments, I began to take stock of the amount of materials I was disposing of while traveling; materials that are ultimately designed to be disposable and often acquired consequently from the purchase of other items we want. Whether it was a Kleenex or packaging from an individually wrapped tea bag, I began to try and crumple up these items so as to reduce the shadow they would cast below them once thrown away. Some materials were more malleable than others, but plastic items quickly unfolded once my hand was opened. Using a little sketchbook, I began to trace each item for the shadow beneath them, labelling them with their function, material, brand and any other identifying information that would provide context or offer meaning to the recorded shadows. Information that will probably begin to become more formulated as the days and archive progress.

(1) Spain and its World 1500- 1700, Selected Essays, J.H. Elliott, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1989, pg 269 (2) Toledo." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. . Retrieved April 27, 2017 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/toledo

(3) http://www.spainexchange.com/spain/the-tagus-river-in-toledo-spain/

(4) http://en.unesco.org/silkroad/countries-alongside-silk-road-routes/spain

(5) Toledo." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. . Retrieved April 27, 2017 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/toledo

(6) http://www.catedralprimada.es/historia/