Pieces for "The Silk Road" exhibit are on load from the Ohio State Historic Costumes and Textiles Collection.
The Silk Road exhibit weaves together the brilliant colors and feather-light textures of silks from China, India, the Islamic world and Europe, telling the story of silk and the history of movement across empires and time. This special art exhibition of textiles, jewelry and gemstones titled “The Silk Road” is on view in the Wayne & Geraldine Kuhn Fine Arts Gallery in Morrill Hall at Ohio State Marion, January 22 - March 15.
Pieces for the exhibit are on loan from Ohio State’s Historic Costumes and Textiles Collection, the Orton Geological Museum and the Department of History. Donated by private collectors, Ohio families, the government of Uzbekistan or collected directly by Ohio State faculty and curators, the materials in the exhibit tell a wide-ranging visual story about the origins of the Silk Road and cross-cultural commerce across Afro-Eurasia.
Ohio State Marion Assistant Professor of History, Amanda Respess, knew she would be teaching a Silk Road history class spring semester and thought an exhibit of Ohio State’s collection would allow her students – and the community – to see the materials in person. Respess collaborated with Gayle Strege, the curator of Ohio State’s historic costumes and textiles collection and selected pieces that demonstrated how techniques and patterns moved across borders.
“We were very supportive of the Silk Road course that Professor Respess developed and that is at the heart of the exhibit,” said Mitch Lerner, director of the East Asian Studies Center and professor of history. “Part of our role is to help connect disparate areas of the world with communities across the United States. The Silk Road course complemented by the textiles exhibit is a prime example of how Ohio State’s Area Studies Centers can contribute to faculty coursework and projects that engage our students and the community with different regions of the world. This exhibit embodies our mission by bringing this important segment of East Asian history to central Ohio.”
Read the full story at osumarion.osu.edu.
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