Professor Wendy Weiss begins Fulbright Fellowship in India

03 Feb 2009    

Professor Wendy Weiss arrived in Vadodara, Gujarat, India on January 15 and until May 11 will be a Fulbright scholar doing research on Patola ikat techniques at the University of Baroda. Wendy sent this update recently, with some photos taken in the Textiles and Clothing department there:

" Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda's classes run Monday through Saturday. Faculty are present 9 - 5 each of those days. in the morning I walk to the main library to study Alfred Bühler and Eberhard Fischer's 1979 two-volume set Patola of Gujarat for two to three hours, gleaning what I can of the tremendously complicated process I am here to study. This thorough text represents years of work, and even it laments the difficulty of fully documenting this laborious and painstaking process of double ikat, in which warp and weft threads are resist-dyed to produce the distinctive Patola style. In part this challenge is a result of the tendency toward secrecy seen in many of the traditional crafts practices. Sadly, the number of master artisans of this particular craft has diminished in number to only three or four."

Apparel Design classroom in the Department of Textiles & Clothing, University of Baroda

Wendy continues: "In the afternoon I spend time in the textiles and clothing department, which is housed in the college known as the Faculty of Family and Community Sciences. Both the college and department are set up very much like our own, with a similar curriculum. Last Wednesday I gave a talk introducing our department programs and faculty, after which several colleagues here requested that I share curriculum ideas with them in more detail. On Saturday, January 31 I began a seminar on repeat design in digital form. The computer lab here is equipped for the students to work.

Next week I will travel to Ahmedabad with my colleague, Dr. Anajali Karolia, and one of her graduate students to visit the Calico Museum of Textiles and the town of Gandhinagar, where a graduate program facilitates a training program for warp ikat."

Students of the College of Family and Community Sciences organized an ambitious weekend event called Crescendo, with seminars and informational booths for the general public of Baroda, to raise awareness and promote the programs of the College.

Two of Wendy Weiss's colleagues at the University of Baroda, Ph.D. student Rajni (left), who has served as Wendy's guide for her initial introduction to the city and the campus, and Dr. Anajali Karolia, Wendy's faculty mentor for her program of work, admiring student displays at the Crescendo event.