Representations of entomology and agricultural rituals; looking at a return to systems of time and labor - strange commodities that act as template in the realm of todays digital Postmodern Platforms.
readingsilk@gmail.com
Organizations
Glenstone Foundation
George Mason University
Bethesda Green
Alice Feguson Foundation
Shenven Foundation
Pyramid Atlantic
Casey Trees
Anacostia Art Center
Smith Center for Healing
Publications
Catalogues
Video
3de Ghetto Biennial, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dec 10,2013
http://art-agenda.com/shows/the-3rd-ghetto-biennale-2013/
Eric Hope, Wings Weavers and Worms, East City Paper: July 15, 2013
Michael O’Sullivan, “Sculpture Now 2012 Review”, Washington Post, Access date: July 6, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/exhibits/sculpture-now-2012,1233927.html
Katri Haas, The Class Blog of AVT 395-1(Blog), George Mason University, Access Date: May 10, 2012
http://www.writingfordesigners.com/?p=9092
Mike Guiliano, “Montpelier's 'Inside/Out' exhibit mixes playful art and actual Silkworms”, Baltimore Sun, Access date: July 12, 2011
Laura Parsons, Spin Doctors: Artists thread the Line, The Hook, Access Date: August 8,2011
www.readthehook.com/category/tags/elsabe-dixon
Peter Winant, Sculpture 1275, WSG Newsletter, Access Date: 1211#1 Winter
http://www.washingtonsculptors.org/newsletters/2011_Winter_Newsletter.pdf
Alexandria News, Hundreds of Spinning Silk Worms and Spun Silk Forms, Access Date: June 21, 2010
Awards and Grants
Silk disk (12' x 12') spun by 10 silkworms over a period of one week. Each worm spun for three days and three nights.
Grants/Awards
2017 NEA Curatorial Grant (McLean Project for the Arts) Exhibition: NATURE AS PROTOTYPE
2016 Multidiciplinary Provost Grant (George Mason University)
2013 Lumen8 Grant
2010 Chenven Foundation
2003 Creative Craft Council, Best in Show, 24th Biennial
2002 DC Commision for the Arts and Humanities (Sculpture)
2000 Margaret Conant Grant ( Fiber Installation and Silk Studies)
Materials Used
Mulberry Trees
Morus, a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, comprises 10–16 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries growing wild and under cultivation in many world regions.
Mulberries are swift-growing when young, but soon become slow-growing and rarely exceed 10–15 m (33–49 ft) tall. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, often lobed, more often lobed on juvenile shoots than on mature trees, and serrated on the margin.
The mulberry fruit is a multiple fruit, 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) long. Immature fruits are white, green, or pale yellow. In most species, the fruits turn pink and then red while ripening, then dark purple or black, and have a sweet flavor when fully ripe. The fruits of the white-fruited cultivar are white when ripe; the fruit in this cultivar is also sweet but has a very mild flavor compared with the darker variety.
Silkworm - The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of the domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori (Latin). It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves (monophagous). It is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and does not occur naturally in the wild. Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been underway for at least 5,000 years in China, from where it spread to Korea and Japan, and later to India and the West.
Sericulture Organizations
International Sericulture Commission - “to encourage and promote the development and improvement from the technical, scientific and economic points of view, of all the activities dealing with sericulture in general (including moriculture, egg production, sericulture and raw silk reeling).”
Social Science Research Network - Women Entrepreneurs in Sericulture: Their Participation & Problems Faced ( Dr. R. Anitha and Kanimozhi Viswanathan)
CSR&TI- Central sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysore, India is the premier tropical sericulture research institute of Asia
(SES) is permanent research branch in structure of National Centre of Agricultural Sciences – Sofia
The Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) as a line agency of the Department of Science and Technology supports the local textile and allied industries
The Sericultural Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences was founded in Zhenjiang City in 1951
The Oxford Silk Group led by Prof. Fritz Vollrath studies the biology of silks, specifically spider silks.
The Black, Caspian Seas and Central Asia Silk Association (BACSA) was established after the “International Workshop on Revival and Promotion of Sericultural Industries and Small Enterprise Development in the Black, Caspian Seas and Central Asia Region”
The Black, Caspian Seas and Central Asia Silk Association (BACSA) was established after the “International Workshop on Revival and Promotion of Sericultural Industries and Small Enterprise Development in the Black, Caspian Seas and Central Asia Region
United Caribbean This website has an exclusive page on sericulture.
The Silkroad Foundation is a non-profit organization, established in 1996, to promote the study and preservation of cultures and art on Inner Asia and the Silk Road. The site is a treasure house of information.
Pricilla Lowry Silks Priscilla Lowry is a Medievalist & Silk Historian, author, lecturer and designer
Wormspit.com is an immensely useful site giving general information on silkworms, silkmoths and silk owned and maintained by Michael Cook
TED TALKS of NOTE
Fiorenzo Omenetto https://www.ted.com/talks/fiorenzo_omenetto_silk_the_ancient_material_of_the_future