(almost) every Tuesday my daughter volunteers for an hour. She helps a middle school teacher in the art room, doing various projects, helping to clean up or get things set up for classes.  I get to go pick her up and visit with Miss Colleen.  Miss Colleen is not only an amazing art teacher (you’d have to be pretty amazing to teach art to middle school kids) but she is an artist in her own right, as a milliner.  What I appreciate the most about her though is her depth of knowledge. Each visit I learn something new, either a new technique, a new artist, a new art show, and so on.  She scolds me when I miss a show at the Seattle or Bellevue Art Museum.  She helps me with my own art.

Today she pointed my daughter and I to this show at the Seattle Asian Art Museum about Central Asian Ikats. 

Textiles!  I’m in.

Ikat is everywhere these days. It is showing up on all the design blogs, in fabric lines, clothing, dishes, furniture.  These purses are from here. I’m excited to see original fabrics and the garments made from them.  Thanks for the tip Miss Colleen!