Tuesday I went to Denver with my Mom & 2 friends to see the Chinese embroidery collection of Pat Dalton. Pat has been taking small groups of people to see & experience the beauty of the textiles & culture of ethnic China for over 30 years. I met Pat at an exhibit of ethnic Chinese textiles at the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pat’s enthusiasm and in depth knowledge of these labor intensive, amazing techniques was a joy to experience!! Pat will be leading a couple of tours this year and she says they are the last she will do- so if you are interested check it out!

I visited thinking my primary interest would be the Miao & Dong traditional embroideries:

but came away completely intrigued by the double mirror embroideries on silk- for example this woman is beautifully embroidered on almost transparent silk & then on the backside she looks exactly the same! It is magical- how do they do that!!!?My favorite though, was the back of a woman holding a hand mirror with her reflection in it and on the backside it was the front of the woman with the back side of the mirror visible- wow!!!!

Here is a red crowned crane that had some relief to it:

and it’s reflection in the mirror so you can see the backside:

This is a landscape “painting” that has been embroidered:

And beautiful figures on a Chinese screen made out of a variety of stones with painted details:

I am influenced in my own art work by the “folk” embroideries (the colors, simple shapes etc.):

and “folk” paintings.

I love these beautiful traditional crafts from around the world- it is sad that in so many places the quality is getting poorer or disappearing for economic reasons – the crafts women & men are either having to quit the tradition to get better paid jobs or changing their traditional work into items that tourists will buy- making it quicker and therefore cheaper. I hope that things will turn around, so that people all over the world gain an appreciation for these crafts- embroideries, metal work, carved wood etc. – similar to what has happened for Native Americans here in the United States. The Native American Arts & Crafts in Santa Fe are beautiful and generate a good income for the arts & crafts makers- as it should! This is one way I always justify my buying of traditional crafts when I travel- I am helping to support an economy I believe in!!