Call for Applications
The Center for Renaissance Studies at the Newberry invites applications for an intensive four-day, hands-on workshop for specialists in the field of prints and drawings interested in textiles, and specialists in textiles interested in print media. This workshop is generously supported by the Getty Foundation through The Paper Project Initiative.
Objectives and Program
Printing images and texts on luxurious fabrics instead of paper once took portraits, devotional images, and other artworks to the next level, brokering powerful relationships and memorializing important events on resplendent broadsides and serviceable handkerchiefs alike. However, whether fancy or functional, these imprints and their modern-day equivalents remain overlooked in a variety of special-collection settings. This international workshop hosted by the Newberry Library and other Chicago institutions will feature new research bridging the gap between art history, textiles, and printmaking.
The Newberry will gather an international group of sixteen curators, conservators, and scholars for this workshop to examine the history, care, and display of printed textiles, Jacquard-woven images, and other fabrics with figural images in libraries and museum print-rooms. The workshop will break new, interdisciplinary ground by focusing on early modern printed textiles created with the same techniques as paper prints. Throughout the event, participants will interact directly with fabric prints at the Newberry and other Chicago-area collecting institutions, helping to improve understanding of local collections while advancing discussion of challenges facing collections around the world. Aaron M. Hyman (Johns Hopkins University) and Sylvia Houghteling (Bryn Mawr College) will present an evening keynote discussion on new directions in the study of printing on fabric worldwide, including a look at the Newberry's recent acquisition of a rare survival: an ornate and sizable broadside printed on silk by Manuela Cerezo in Puebla Mexico in 1746.
The workshop has four main goals: 1. to raise awareness of early modern printings on fabric that use the same techniques as printings on paper; 2. to bring diverse examples of early modern fabric prints into dialogue with one another; 3. to foreground the unique conservation challenges facing such objects and galvanize strategies for safer handling and display across participating institutions; and 4. to encourage new research, exhibitions, and other public humanities projects that will foreground these materials for broad audiences.
Participants in the workshop will benefit from access to printed textiles in Chicago area collections, sustained conversations with experts in a variety of disciplines, and the opportunity to think deeply and collaboratively about challenges facing fabric prints held in collections around the world. Lodging, most meals, and travel will be covered for all non-Chicago residents. The workshop will also inform a potential future exhibition at the Newberry that members of the project team are involved in developing. By gathering a wide range of participants at different career stages, we hope to build a core group of collaborators who will help shape the project and potentially contribute to an exhibition catalog, envisioned for 2026 or later.
Eligibility
This project is aimed at curators, conservators, and academics with interest and experience in both prints and textiles at any stage of their careers, especially those with relevant materials at their own institutions. Participants new to the Paper Project are particularly encouraged to apply.
Application Instructions
Applications to participate in the workshop consist of a cover letter and a CV, and must be submitted to renaissance@newberry.org via email before May 1, 2024, 11:59 pm CST. Participants will be notified by June 1, 2024.
Questions about the program can be directed to renaissance@newberry.org