Human Ecology celebration includes exhibitions focusing on clothing, art

By Susan Lang

Four clothing, textile and art exhibits are coinciding with the centennial celebration for Cornell's College of Human Ecology this coming weekend, March 30-31.

Charlotte Jirousek, professor of textiles and apparel, shows part of the "Common Threads: Dress, Identity and Art in the Twentieth Century" exhibit in the Johnson Museum. Jirousek curated the exhibit, which will be on display through June 17. Charles Harrington/University Photography

One exhibit, which focuses on fashions of the 20th century and their interactions with art, is paired with a show of contemporary works of art in which clothing and dress are the subject matter; both are in the university's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. The third exhibit, featuring children's clothing, is in the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection Gallery (on the third floor of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall). All three exhibits coincide with the centennial celebration this week but will remain up until June 17.

"Common Threads: Dress, Identity and Art in the Twentieth Century" is curated by Charlotte Jirousek, associate professor of textiles and apparel and the curator of the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection. "This show focuses on how dress has reflected social and cultural changes over the course of the past century and how fashion has been influenced by the world of art," said Jirousek.

She has included selections from the collections of the Johnson Art Museum to show how changes in fashion and art interacted and reflected transformations in gender roles and social identity throughout the 20th century. Jirousek will give a gallery talk on the exhibit from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at the Johnson Museum.

The second exhibition, "Uncommon Threads: Contemporary Artists and Clothing," curated by Sean Ulmer, the Johnson Museum of Art's curator for paintings and sculpture, is an invitational exhibition of contemporary artists who incorporate clothing in their conception and/or construction of works of art.

"Clothing and its reference to the absent body have been a topic of increasing artistic interest over the last quarter century," said Ulmer. "In the past decade, however, it has seen new and innovative dimensions. This exhibition will present approximately 40 objects dating from the 1990s and will give a general overview of the ideas that surfaced during this decade." Ulmer will give a gallery talk on the exhibit from 4 to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at the Johnson Museum. A reception for both Johnson Museum exhibits is at 5 p.m. (See related story.)

The third exhibition is "Little Threads: Children's Costume in the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection." This exhibition, which is in located at the east end of the third floor of MVR Hall, traces the relationship of children's dress to our culture's expectations for children's lives, from infancy through the various passages and activities of childhood. The exhibition, conceived and designed by Susan Greene, a visiting fellow in the Department of Textiles and Apparel, was a learning opportunity for students in the course, Human Development 241, History of Childhood, who participated in an interdepartmental research project based on, and incorporated into, the exhibition.

A fourth exhibit is "American Dresses 1780-1900: Identification and Significance of 148 Extant Dresses." This photograph exhibit is on display in 114 MVR Hall at the east end of the old wing of the building.