Bedouin Art, Scholarship Focus of Florida Tech Friends of Textiles Lecture Series
Gallery Tour March 21, Lecture April 11
MELBOURNE, FLA. — Curator Amber Clifford-Napoleone and social scientist Alfred Madain headline Florida Institute of Technology’s spring Friends of Textiles Lecture Series program at events March 21 and April 11 on the university’s Melbourne campus.
Clifford-Napoleone will lead a tour of the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts’ current exhibition, Traditional Arts of the Bedouin, on Tuesday, March 21. A professor of anthropology and curator at the McClure Archives and University Museum at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Mo., Clifford-Napoleone’s expertise in museum science is in textiles and textile preventative conservation, museum anthropology, and Bedouin material culture.
After a reception at 5:15 p.m., guests will join Clifford-Napoleone at 6 p.m. as she leads an exclusive tour of the exhibition.
On Tuesday, April 11, Alfred Madain will present “Symbolism of Pattern in the Culture of the Bedouin” at the Denius Student Center’s Hartley Room. The events begin with a reception at 5:15 p.m. followed by the lecture at 6 p.m.
Madain’s illustrated lecture will explore three essential aspects of Bedouin lifestyle: the Bedouin home and the role it plays in social structure; the fabrics, methods and patterns of Bedouin weaving; and Bedouin dress with a look at the significance of embroidery and pattern and their connection to identity.
Madain was born and raised in Jordan and has traveled widely throughout the Arab world. A social scientist, musician and ethnomusicologist, he teaches the subject of human geography and lectures on the lifestyle of the Bedouin, the Bedouin home, and music of the Arab and Islamic world.
He has stayed with Bedouin people on his travels and in his lecture April 11 will share detailed information on the Bedouin’s idea of honor, law, kinship, gender roles in the home, and hierarchy of social relationships.
The cost for each event is $10 per person for the general public and free for Friends of Textiles members and full-time Florida Tech students, faculty and staff with Florida Tech ID. Reservations are not required.
For more information, please visit http://textiles.fit.edu/ and click on “Upcoming Events” under the Events tab, or contact the Ruth Funk Center at 321-674-8313.
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