Curator for the Mactaggart Art Collection (Alberta, CA)

By Heather Vaughan, June 30th, 2008 at 3:00 pm (Jobs, Uncategorized)

Curator, The Mactaggart Art Collection

Museums and Collections Services

The University of Alberta is seeking a Curator for the Mactaggart Art Collection, a world-renowned Asian Art collection. The University of Alberta is one of the largest collecting institutions in Canada with more than 20 million objects and specimens that comprise the University of Alberta Museums. The Mactaggart Art Collection is one of the newest additions to our 100 year history of collecting which is connected to the University’s research, teaching, discovery learning and access programs.

The Mactaggart Art Collection consists of works of art and textiles from a range of countries, time periods and traditions. More than 600 textiles, costumes and related artifacts date from the Song (960-1279), Ming (1314-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties. The art collection is comprised of hanging scrolls, hand scrolls, albums and engravings with great strength in Qing court paintings. This collection situates the University of Alberta Art Collection within the same company as only a handful of other museums in the world with similar collections. For more information, please refer to http://www.museums.mactaggart.ualberta.ca/.

Reporting to the Executive Director, Museums and Collections Services, an innovative academic support unit, the Curator of The Mactaggart Art Collection is accountable for the overall research, development, management and program implementation of The Mactaggart Art Collection within the context of the University of Alberta Museums system. Major areas of responsibility include: collection development, curatorial research for new acquisitions, research on the existing collections for purposes of identification and content development for exhibitions and publications, contributing to collection policy development, contributing to the proper management and care of the collection, ensuring physical and intellectual access to the collection, providing educational and academic lectures, and assisting with fund and resource development related to the collection.

The Curator of the Mactaggart Art Collection must be an experienced scholar with a PhD in Art History or a relevant discipline. Successful candidates must have an international reputation in the curatorial field of Asian Art History. Ability to read and translate traditional Chinese script is mandatory. He/she will have a proven research and publication track record and must demonstrate passion for developing a museum collection within an international discovery learning environment.

The University of Alberta is located in Edmonton, the cosmopolitan capital of the province of Alberta. Recognized nationally and internationally for educational and research preeminence, the University serves more than 36,000 students.

This is a five year term trust-funded position with the possibility of renewal.

Applications may be forwarded to:

** Please reference Competition No. A10013702 when forwarding applications. **

http://www.careers.ualberta.ca/Academic/CompetitionDetails.aspx?key=2310

Until Next Time,

Heather

www.fashionhistorian.net

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Research Assistant Position (temp) in Richmond, VA

By Heather Vaughan, June 27th, 2008 at 11:37 am (Jobs, Uncategorized)

The Valentine Richmond History Center, an AAM accredited institution located in Richmond’s Historic Court End neighborhood, seeks to fill the following position:

Position Title: Research Assistant
Number of Positions: 1
Tenure: Temporary, part time position, July 2008 – June 2009 (subject to renewal)
Hours: 27.5 hours per week, Monday through Friday (Core required hours: 11:30am-4:30pm, Tuesday through Friday)
Salary: $10.00 per hour, no benefits

General Responsibilities: The Research Assistant is responsible for providing a range of reference and research services at the Valentine Richmond History Center. This position provides these services by: performing searches of and setting appointments in the History Center collections that include the Archives, General Collection and Costume & Textiles Collection; managing sales of photographic reprints and maintaining statistics on usage, photography orders and permission fees; participating in the evaluation and development of the Archives’ access tools; performing other duties as required. These duties are carried out 11:30am-4:30pm Tuesday through Friday. The Research Assistant is also responsible for inventory, cataloguing, data entry and scanning of two-dimensional objects in the archives collection. These duties are carried out based on mutually agreed upon schedule with supervisor. All work is conducted in accordance with the History Center’s official Collections Management Policy, adhering to the code of ethics advised by the American Association of Museums.

Qualifications: Candidate must be organized and detail-oriented with excellent customer service and interpersonal skills. The Research Assistant preferably holds a BA in history, art history or museum studies with some experience in library or archival reference work. The Research Assistant must have good knowledge of Richmond and Virginia history. Proficiency with word processing, spreadsheets and databases is important. Familiarity with basic archival principles and digitization standards is preferred.

Full job description can be found at: http://www.richmondhistorycenter.com/jobs.asp

Deadline: July 11, 2008

To apply please mail, fax or email cover letter, resume, and three references to:

Director of Archives and Photographic Services
Valentine Richmond History Center
1015 E. Clay Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Fax: (804) 643-3510
Email: mhughes@richmondhistorycenter.com

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Conferences and grants

By Monica Sklar, June 26th, 2008 at 12:21 pm (Conferences and Calls for Papers, Uncategorized)

Below are a few conferences to submit to and/or attend and some related grants to apply for: 

Material & Visual Cultures of Dress in European Courts (1300-1815) which will be June 4-6, 2009 in Versailles. Click here for more details.

The Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design in North Carolina has a few grants available for various projects. Click here for more details. They are also having a conference January 7-10, 2009 called Inspired Design: Entrepreneurial & Jaquard Textiles.

There is a conference in Florence, Italy called Costume Colloquium: A Tribute to Janet Arnold which will take place November 6-9, 2008. In related news, there is a grant named for Janet Arnold which you can apply for. Click here for more details.

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Travel Note

By Monica Sklar, June 26th, 2008 at 10:13 am (Uncategorized)

Hi All,

I’m away on vacation for two weeks at home in Metro Detroit so my posting might be limited during that time. Don’t think we’ve reduced any of our efforts on WT, I’m just buzzing around my hometown and computer time is very limited. I do have a bunch of great conferences to let you know about, journal articles I read in the car ride from MPLS I’d like to tell you about, and current affairs to report on, as soon as I can find more time. Please check back soon. Plus, I’ll take photos at some Detroit events I’m going to so you can check out Motor City fashion which has a take on style all its own. Talk with ya soon….-Monica

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WT featured on Coutorture!

By Heather Vaughan, June 25th, 2008 at 11:21 am (Uncategorized)

Coutorture is featuring WT’s post on the UC Davis Sustainable Fashion Exhibit as a “Must Read.” We’re so pleased they have been picking up on what we’ve been doing. Check out Coutorture for exclusive fashion shoots, news, and the most comprehensive blogroll of fashion and dress sites. Thanx Coutorture!

-Heather

www.fashionhistorian.net

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“Fashion Conscious” Exhibition at UC Davis

By Heather Vaughan, June 25th, 2008 at 5:00 am (Exhibitions, Uncategorized)

(me with the ‘zero waste’ polyester dress by Mark Liu)

Over the weekend I was privileged to be on a private group tour of the current exhibit “Fashion Conscious” in the design department of UC Davis (curated by SusanTaberAvila, UC Davis design professor, and Julia Schwartz, author and designer). I learned a tremendous amount about the impact fashion production has on the environment, what businesses are trying to do to counter this problem and the pitfalls of the ‘greenwashing’ of the economy. One key thing that came out of this tour (for me at least) was to be aware of companies that don’t disclose their production techniques (i.e. Bamboo fabric – which may not be as sustainable or responsible as we might think). Below are a few photographs from our tour. The exhibition design for this show was incredible, and incorporated sustainable practices (non-toxic paint, organic cotton t-shirts for didactic panels, etc). For more information you can check out the blog for the exhibition at Sustainable Fashion.

Until Next Time,

Heather

www.fashionhistorian.net

Pia Fischer Dress made of pre-consumer waste zippers and labels (art-to-wear)

Ingeo dress (a corn based fabric) by Elisa Jimenez (of Project Runway)

Viridis Luxe sweater coat, hemp and cashmere.

Cork (yes, cork) jacket by DDC Lab.

Alchemy Goods Urban Bag of recycled bike inner tubes

Delano Collection coat, organic wool and Terra Plana boots

Wall of ‘touchable’ sustainable fabric samples

Didactic panels explaining the production process for two sustainable fabrics.

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Tattoos in the Workplace

By Monica Sklar, June 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am (Academic Research & Related, Uncategorized)

Well as some of you know I am actively working on multiple projects regarding punk and subcultural appearance, one of which is my dissertation on punk appearance in the workplace. Recently I was interviewed by a journalist named Michelle Goodman putting together an article for cnn.com about tattoos in the workplace. Unfortunately my commentary got cut (oh well) but, I thought I’d pass along the article for you to check out.

The article references the fun site Inked Inc that I’ve liked for a while, featuring well done photography of people in their dress for employment and in dress that showcases their tattoos. The above picture is from that site.

If you want to read something academic, one thing you can check out is the special topics issue of the journal Body and Society from 1999 which was all about body modification.

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Self Cleaning Textiles

By Monica Sklar, June 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pm (Uncategorized)

Karp emailed me about a new version of self-cleaning textiles which could be more environmentally friendly than previous versions through the use of nanotechnology. Supposedly they can repel coffee, honey, wine and everything else that is a contant pain. Check out this link to treehugger for commentary on the varied stain fighters and some movies showing evidence of the textiles in action.

When I studied consumer interest in smart textiles as my master’s thesis I did find that ease-of-care was one of the highest ranking things people wanted out of innovations in apparel. You can check out a 2004 abstract of a talk I did on the subject at ITAA‘s website on their literature database. Just type in my name-Monica Sklar. It’s a PDF so I couldn’t really link succesfully without making you download it.

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Global Market Research Call for Papers

By Monica Sklar, June 19th, 2008 at 11:42 am (Conferences and Calls for Papers, Uncategorized)

International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) and Korean Academy of Marketing Science (KAMS) will hold a joint symposium in conjunction with the 2008 ITAA Annual Conference in Schaumburg, Illinois, Nov. 5-8. The theme is Global Trends in Fashion Marketing Research, and they are looking for papers to be submitted by July 15 (soon!).

Submission Guidelines: 1) Prepare a cover page with the title of paper and name and contact information (address, phone number, email) for all authors. 2) Prepare an abstract in English for review (2 pages, single spaced, in Word.doc format). Include the title (single spaced, maximum 30 words) but no identifying information about author(s) or professional affiliation(s).Tables and other graphics should be incorporated within the body of the abstract in the appropriate place(s).

Submit your paper via regular mail, fax, or email to:
Authors from USA:
Prof. Leslie Davis Burns
President of ITAA/Professor and Chair, Design and Human Environment, 224 Milam Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-5101 USA, Tel: +1-541-737-0983, Fax: +1-541-737-0993, Leslie.Burns@oregonstate.edu

Authors from other regions except USA:
Prof. Eunju Ko
President of KAMS/Professor of Fashion Marketing, Dept. of Clothing and Textiles, College of Human Ecology, Yonsei University, 134 Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea, Tel : +82-2-2123-3109, Fax : +82-2-312-8554, ejko@yonsei.ac.kr

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June Book Reviews Part II.

By Heather Vaughan, June 19th, 2008 at 5:00 am (Book Reviews, Uncategorized)

The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II by Luis Alvarez (Hardcover – Jun 2, 2008)

Based on his dissertation, The Power of the Zoot by Luis Alvarez is already garnering positive reviews and references within the academic community. The online magazine, The Morning News notes that the book:

“Diligently charts a culture’s exemplar, the zoot suit, and connects it to modern fashion and music . . . . It is a compelling window into the U.S. in the war years as seen from a much different point of view.”

The book examines Zoot suit culture in all aspects, (around the 1920s through the 1940s) including examinations of pop music, fashion, dance, speech patterns, gender, race, and youth culture. Full Disclosure: I work for UC Press, the publisher of Power of the Zoot.

Fashion as Photograph: Viewing and Reviewing Images of Fashion Edited by Eugenie Shinkle (Paperback – Jun 10, 2008)

Released just last week, this offers a selection of essays which look at the importance of fashion photography in popular culture, a topic not often covered from a theoretical standpoint. Edited by Eugénie Shinkle, a professor at the University of Westminster in London), she is also a photographer and lectures on photographic theory. Contributors from the UK, North America, Australia and Europe examine both the production and consumption of fashion photography within the context of key contemporary issues. (A full table of contents with contributors and chapter titles is available here).

For more fashion focused books (academic and museum related), visit The Good Reads Fashion Historian Resource Group.

Until next time,

Heather

www.fashionhistorian.net

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