I am available for ongoing in-depth classes geared for college level or adult education students. Here are some examples:
“I Want to Change the World”: Design Solutions to 21st Century Problems
Examine developments in the design field that focus on creating cradle-to-cradle solutions to contemporary cultural and environmental problems (e.g., overwhelming waste, toxicity, inequities from globalization), and see how 21st century designers are emerging as visionaries for the future. Learn how cross disciplinary “design thinking” is effecting “massive change” in the way people do things, from making buildings and interior furnishings to generating and transporting light, conceiving of and manufacturing clothing, to cleaning water. The class gives participants a sense of hope, understanding and inspiration.
World Textiles and Their Meanings
Selected studies of textile traditions, focusing on cultural meaning, creative ingenuity, and interactions with materials and environment. Sample units: Pre-Columbian textiles; Hmong/Miao embroidery and batik; Kuna molas; medieval European tapestry and embroider; Indian prints and shawls; American Indian ribbonwork; Indonesian ikat; African prints.
World Dress
Selected studies of dress traditions from around the world, focusing on the dynamics of dress and its multivalent communications. Considers the nature of tradition and change, cross-cultural interaction. Sample units: European folk dress; Guatemalan traje; Bolivan chola dress; Hmong/Miao and Southeast Asian hilltribe dress; American Indian powwow regalia; history and controversies over Muslim hijab; 21st century globalization of denim.
History of Fashion
A survey of developments in fashionable dress from about 1400-present. Focuses on meanings of dress—especially the all-important markers of status before the industrial revolution-- as well as form. Some discussion of contemporary designers, but primarily provides an overview from which to understand those individuals and their work.
Why Things Matter, and Learning from Objects
A serious look at why we care about things, the roles they play in our lives, and how we can extract cultural understanding from a “reading” of objects. Sample units: collecting, relics, and souvenirs; the Populuxe (1950s) era; foodways; deathways.
“I Want to Change the World”: Design Solutions to 21st Century Problems
Examine developments in the design field that focus on creating cradle-to-cradle solutions to contemporary cultural and environmental problems (e.g., overwhelming waste, toxicity, inequities from globalization), and see how 21st century designers are emerging as visionaries for the future. Learn how cross disciplinary “design thinking” is effecting “massive change” in the way people do things, from making buildings and interior furnishings to generating and transporting light, conceiving of and manufacturing clothing, to cleaning water. The class gives participants a sense of hope, understanding and inspiration.
World Textiles and Their Meanings
Selected studies of textile traditions, focusing on cultural meaning, creative ingenuity, and interactions with materials and environment. Sample units: Pre-Columbian textiles; Hmong/Miao embroidery and batik; Kuna molas; medieval European tapestry and embroider; Indian prints and shawls; American Indian ribbonwork; Indonesian ikat; African prints.
World Dress
Selected studies of dress traditions from around the world, focusing on the dynamics of dress and its multivalent communications. Considers the nature of tradition and change, cross-cultural interaction. Sample units: European folk dress; Guatemalan traje; Bolivan chola dress; Hmong/Miao and Southeast Asian hilltribe dress; American Indian powwow regalia; history and controversies over Muslim hijab; 21st century globalization of denim.
History of Fashion
A survey of developments in fashionable dress from about 1400-present. Focuses on meanings of dress—especially the all-important markers of status before the industrial revolution-- as well as form. Some discussion of contemporary designers, but primarily provides an overview from which to understand those individuals and their work.
Why Things Matter, and Learning from Objects
A serious look at why we care about things, the roles they play in our lives, and how we can extract cultural understanding from a “reading” of objects. Sample units: collecting, relics, and souvenirs; the Populuxe (1950s) era; foodways; deathways.
