I recently became interested in the Minoan civilization. They were so far advanced from any other culture at the time and it took a while for others to catch up to it. It was a matriarchal society, priestesses were in charge, and women held equal rank. It also was a very artistic society with beautiful mural paintings on the walls of their homes and their woven textiles were popular trade items. What is not to like about these people? I mean, they were prosperous, successful merchants and tradespeople that encouraged the pursuit of artistic endeavors. That's what I call advanced! Unfortunately they were destroyed by the eruption of a volcano, and it is amazing to think if not for that how else their development would have progressed and changed future civilizations.
While doing my research I found that the academic world is paying more and more attention to textiles used in ancient civilizations as they connect to all the other aspects of their way of life. They have come to realize that textiles are very relevant to scholarly study and comprise an important component to their cultural overview.
Textile and fiber art is so important for us to take seriously as indicators of materials preferred and purposed during our time. Even though we do not normally use embroidery and beading to adorn our clothes now, they are still very important ways of artistic expression today to adorn our walls, soft furnishings, and three dimensional sculptures. The variety of materials we have available make this time in history one of great innovation in textile design and execution. It is exciting to think about the evidence we will leave for future archeologists and anthropologists to discern what we loved to work with and why.
No comments:
Post a Comment