Textile Museum Press Room

The Textile Museum will hold its 32nd annual Celebration of Textiles on Saturday, June 5, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and Sunday, June 6, 1-5 p.m. This free festival for all ages, held rain or shine, invites visitors to explore the textile arts and cultures of the world through hands-on activities and artist demonstrations in the museum’s gardens, historic buildings and current exhibitions.

Program highlights for this year’s Celebration of Textiles festival include:

• Live musical performances by acoustic roots duo Herb & Hanson (Sat., 2-4 p.m. and Sunday, 3-5 p.m.) who have performed at the Kennedy Center and Strathmore Hall, among other Mid-Atlantic venues
• Hands-on activities, including block printing and bracelet making
• Spinning, weaving, knitting, embroidery and indigo dyeing demonstrations
• Delicious Indian food from Fojol Bros. of Merlindia (available for purchase)
• Drawings for gift certificates to Teaism, Restaurant Nora, Kramerbooks and other Dupont Circle area businesses
• Live sheep-shearing demonstrations

Please note: Activities and demonstrations vary on Saturday and Sunday. For full program details, visit www.textilemuseum.org. ALL ACTIVITIES ARE FREE.

Celebrating Local Students’ Art

On Saturday from 12:30-1 p.m. a ceremony will be held recognizing the students participating in this year’s Museum-School Partnership: a 1^st grade class from Lafayette Elementary School; a 3^rd grade class from Horace Mann Elementary School; and a 3^rd-5^th mixed grade level class from Matthew G. Emery Educational Center. Through this annual program, the museum educates Washington, D.C. students about textiles and the cultures that produce them, and works with students in the creation and display of their own textile artwork. Their creations will be unveiled on June 5 and will remain on view at The Textile Museum through the month.

Current Exhibitions

Visitors can explore the colorful and whimsical textile designs of three groundbreaking women in the exhibit Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain, on view May 15-September 12, 2010. Also on view is the complementary exhibit The Art of Living: Textile Furnishings from the Permanent Collection, featuring furnishing fabrics from cultures around the world.

History of Celebration of Textiles

The Celebration of Textiles festival started with the goal of inviting people to come in casually and learn about the techniques and cultures represented in the museum’s exhibitions, drawing in new audiences and offering an opportunity for people of all ages to explore the wonder and variety of textile art. While The Textile Museum now provides a variety of opportunities for children to learn about textiles year-round through school programs and the hands-on Activity Gallery of The Textile Learning Center, the spirit of Celebration of Textiles has remained constant. It aims to build a greater appreciation of the textile arts through intergenerational activities that can be enjoyed by children, parents, grandparents and friends alike.

Celebration of Textiles is funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The festival is part of the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium’s Museum Walk Weekend. For more information about Walk Weekend, visit www.dkmuseums.com.

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