Inside the MFAH Posts tagged #textiles

Carpet Connoisseurship: How to Look Closely at the “Wagner Garden Carpet” October 29, 2018

A guide to looking closely at the rarely displayed Wagner Garden Carpet, a 17th-century Perisan carpet as beautiful as any painting.

Conservators Keep “Colors of the Oasis” Vibrant April 27, 2017

Without experts like conservators, the vivid textiles of “Colors of the Oasis” would be lost. I chat with textile conservator Esther Méthé about ensuring that the exhibition’s ikats well cared-for.

In-Gallery Extras for “Colors of the Oasis”: Getting Our Hands Dirty So You Don’t Have To! March 16, 2017

When I first began researching the ikat textiles of the exhibition Colors of the Oasis: Central Asian Ikats, I had no idea it would lead to being up to my elbows (literally) in crushed insects. For the past few months, I’ve been trying out the techniques and processes that were used to create the exhibition’s textiles and vivid colors, including the wide range of flowers, roots, insects, and …