CHT Tour Continues

We are continuing on our tour of College Station/Bryan, Texas exhibits while attending Contemporary Handweavers of Texas conference.  This was the most interesting exhibit--how do you combine flowers with weaving elements?  That was the project directed to the students in this class.

Our first view of the floral design building was this giant wall weaving that was created by Brazos Valley Weavers in 1983 when the building first opened.  There was a request for a weaving that would give the space 'life'.  It took several years of designing and implementing the hanging.

Here is a close-up of the warp and weft.  This was quite the accomplishment for the weaving guild.

Now, take a tour of the facility to see how the students incorporated weaving elements into their floral design work.

Members of the Brazos Valley Weavers added their special weaving touches to the displays as well.

This design used a shopping bag from a boutique as part of their element.

Woven Shibori

Chicken wire or mesh graph was used frequently in several of the design pieces, giving a perfect grid for weaving.

The students were allowed to use one special piece from the permanent collection of art.

From the Benz Design building we journeyed to the Bush Presidential Library where we greeted with a special tour of the third floor, which houses all 3-D art pieces that have been given as gifts to the president and first lady while they are in office.
We were shown 11 textile pieces from the collection:  Needlepoint artwork which was a depiction of a carnival scene (given by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on their meeting in March, 1992)

2.  100% silk tel kimono with golf/white flowers stitched on the back; given as a domestic (American citizen) gift
3.  Cotton Mola dress given to Barbara Bush from Guillermo Endara, President of Republic of Panama. 
4.  Fendi Shawl, fur trimmed with punched fabric design, given by Livia Andreotti, wife of the Prime Minister of Italy: valued at $3,000 in 1990
5.  Green Sari wrap with golf and silver threaded designs embellished with colored gemstones: given on 11-21-1990 from Jawhara Ibrahim Al-Abrihim, wife of Kind of Saudi Arabia (appraised value was $2,000 in 1990)
6.  Chinese silk brocade, given by Madame Yude Wang, wife of the Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of China.
7.  Traditional Russian Black wool shawl "Pavlovski shawl" is 5'x5' and given in 1990 as birthday present by Soviet Ambassador to the U.S.
8.  Two pieces of brocade fabric from Queen Sirikit of Kingdom of Thailand.
9.  This one was classified as 'tapestry' but we all decided, after an up close and personal viewing, that it was needlepoint.  It was given by Chinese government in 1997.

We felt that this large hanging was needlepoint.  It is hard to see from the photo but up close, it certainly looks like needlepoint although the information on the piece says it came from the Shanghai Red Star Weaving Factory.
10.  Woven wall hanging given by Amata Kabua, President of Republic of Marshall Islands.
11.  Hand Knit Purse was one of the many gifts given during their tour of  Kuwait in 1993.

All these were given as gifts to the President and First Lady, but these are gifts to the people of United States .  The President and First Lady are not allowed to keep any gift that is valued over $250 and if they wish to keep the gift they must pay for it.