Events for: American Textile History Museum
Past Events: American Textile History Museum
Sunday
4/10
2016
2:00 pm
Jill Carey – “Orson Lowell: Fashion and Satire”
Lasell Professor, Jill Carey will discuss how during the opening years of the 20th century, illustrative commentary filled magazine pages as a means of conveying humanity within a societal context. Humorist Orson Lowell, a noted illustrator from this period, created fashion-filled compositions that linked dress and wit within an evolving commercialized culture. Lowell’s love of watching people and their foibles in awkward situations were artfully represented in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue, and Life. As a satirist, focusing on social life in New York City, he spent limited time in the studio and instead joined a variety of prestigious organizations from which to garner inspiration for his impressive renderings. In this sense, Lowell’s depictions seamlessly disseminate style within an urban context, frequently balancing on the line between humor and controversy. Whether Orson Lowell was an innovator of trend or an avid follower of la mode, his work provides an incredible opportunity for a colloquy on fashion satire as a means of interpreting social ideals. Note: This lecture will accompany an exhibit of the same name at ATHM which will open in February 2016.
Sunday
11/8
2015
2:00 pm
Madelyn Shaw – “A Downton Abbey Fashion Primer, 1912-1925”

Sunday
10/4
2015
2:00 pm
Meg Noonan – “The Coat Route: Craft, Luxury & Obsession on the Trail of a $50,000 Coat”

Sunday
3/29
2015
2:00 pm
Diana Jaye Coluntino “Who Made our Clothes?”
Improving sustainability in fashion manufacturing, a growing movement aims to increase awareness among consumers and work towards improving manufacturing practices around the globe. Over the years the fashion industry has taken manufacturing out of the USA and into developing countries with low environmental protection standards and little to no labor laws protecting factory workers. The industry currently produces over 12 million tons of waste annually. Over 1200 lives have been lost in two tragic incidents in India and Bangladesh. Ms. Coluntino is the Founder/Creative Director of New Vestures, Lowell Ma.
Sunday
10/26
2014
2:00 pm
Patricia Johnston “Global Trade and Visual Arts in Federal New England”
A highly original collection that explores the impact of Asian and Indian Ocean trade on
the art and aesthetic sensibilities of New England port towns in the late 18th and early
19th centuries. Examining a wide variety of commodities and forms including ceramics,
textiles, architecture, and gardens, the contributors highlight New Englanders’
imperial ambitions in a wider world.
Sunday
10/5
2014
2:00 pm
Samantha Fields “A Marvel of Modern Inefficiency”
Multimedia artist Samantha Fields discusses her recent work utilizing salvage, handmade afghan yarns. By unraveling the pieces, Samantha explores the nostalgic sense of these works, which have, at times, been considered “garish” in color, but which remain important reflections of the domestic sentiment in which they were created.
Sunday
9/21
2014
2:00 pm
Rebecca Siemering “Re-Purposed and Well Suited: The Refined Clothing of the Lottery Project”

Sunday
9/7
2014
2:00 pm
Adrienne Sloane “Unraveling Political Knitting”

Sunday
11/3
2013
2:00 pm
Laren Whitley – “The 1970’s Sartorial Revolution”

Sunday
10/6
2013
2:00 pm
Susan Ward – “Marimekko’s in America”
Join independent curator and textiles, fashion, and design history researcher Susan Ward, for an exploration of the history of Marimekko in the United States, and its influence on Mid-Century modernism in America. Susan might also share a few favorite vintage pieces from her collection.
Sunday
10/23
2011
2:00 pm
Neil Miller “Banned In Boston”
American Textile History Museum Lowell Community Health Center Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center Saint Patrick's Church
The author of “Banned in Boston: The Watch and Ward Society’s Crusade Against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil” will talk about the group that banned books, closed down theaters and burlesque houses, and extended Massachusetts’s puritan heritage into the 1940’s and 50’s.