A Little Culture

I have a treat in store for you, if you haven't already been to see it. At the Cannon Art Gallery right next door to the Dove Library in Carlsbad, is a wonderful exhibit, but only if you have a knowledgable guide to take you through it. We were lucky to have Quintin as our guide/teacher for the morning. He made the exhibit come to life, and if you don't have someone with knowledge of the area and the culture, you'll just be looking at some beautiful embroidery, batik, and silver jewelry. Lorna arranged the tour for our group, and everyone came away with a new appreciation for the handiwork of this ethnic minority in China. The exhibit is called "Vanishing Traditions," because so many of the crafts of isolated cultures are dying out. Bea Roberts, a woman who lives in Del Mar, started traveling to China years ago, and collecting textiles, garments, batik hangings, and silver jewelery from a groups of ethnic minorities in China, the Dong and the Miao, in the southwestern province of Guangxi. The Miao are a minority of 9.6million in China. They live in a mountainous region of China, and are subsistence farmers. The land has rich soil and minerals, and they produce a variety of agricultural crops. They have no written history. They history is told orally, or through song, or through their clothes. The Miao have few possessions, so the colorful clothes that they wear for festivals tell a story. The entire exhibit was donated by Bea Roberts, who has collected textiles from various regions in southwest China over many years. Embroidered dresses and jackets usually tell a story. For example, there are several symbols that appear in many of their designs. The sun, a symbol for life, is almost always present, as is the dragon, a symbol for vigor and fertility, and the butterfly, the symbol for rebirth. The colorful garments are all dyed using plants and insects to create color. Some garmets may be made by several girls or women, as they work together (like a quilting bee) to create the garments. Girls as young as four begin to learn this craft. The embroidery work is intricate and must be very tedious to produce. The Miao also produce beautiful batik panels. Recently the traditional infrastructure has begun to change the fabic of this society. Today, few textiles and adornments are produced in the villages, and many of these traditions are vanishing or gone. Most examples now exist only in museums and cultural venues. Progress. Young men and women from these isolated cultures now have the opportunity to move to the big city, to get an education, to become more worldly. Certainly this is a good thing for them, but the traditional culture and customs of a unique society is rapidly vanishing. That is too bad. I encourage you to stop by the Cannon Art Gallery before June 2, but I would call and make sure that someone will be there to tell you about the exhibit. You'll find it much more meaningful. And it's free!