We visited the Cooper Hewitt Museum back in December. This is the Smithsonian Museum of Design. They had just re-opened after a major renovation which increased their gallery space. The Cooper Hewitt has an extensive collection of textiles, ranging from ancient Egyptian wool and linen tapestries, to twenty-first century synthetics. There were some beautiful pieces on display, but that wasn't what impressed me the most. On the top floor was an exhibit of tools through the centuries, starting with stone age spear points, all the way up to space suits and i-pods. But this was the tool that impressed me the most:
This ball of thread is about the size of a softball. It is a Klikitat (Southern British Columbia) Time Ball, that was created in the early 20th century. According to the museum label, "when ready for marriage, a young woman started her time ball, a fiber diary that employed knots to record events. Glass beads, shells, and cloth fragments marked special occasions. As a woman aged, her time ball accumulated the history of her family and extended community. It was so essential to her identity that she was buried with it."
Imagine being able to hold your whole adult life in your hand.
If you like this, then you'll probably like "Beads of Courage" - an art in medicine programme to help seriously or chronically ill children face and cope with their treatments. For each procedure they get a beautiful coloured bead... www.beadsofcourage.org.
ReplyDeleteWe have something similar here, though it's relegated to our childhood. Did you ever have a charm bracelet? I did. Mine had things like dance shoes because of ballet, a horse because of riding lessons, etc. I can't remember now all it had. I've lost it somewhere/when. Wish I had it to pass on to my daughter.
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