FORM, FUNCTON AND THE FORGOTTEN PAST:
PARALLELS BETWEEN TAI AND BHUTANESE TEXTILES
Speaker: Diana K. Myers

While the textile links among cultures of Southeast Asia have been well documented in recent years, this paper explores similarities that extend to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Discussion touches on weaving techniques, articles of everyday and ceremonial dress, social traditions, and the exuberant motifs that animate Bhutanese fabrics. The kingdom’s rich textile heritage offers evidence that Bhutan has been a meeting place of cultural influences from regions to the southeast as well as Tibet.

Introducing
DIANA K. MYERS

Diana K. Myers is an international development expert and a specialist in Himalayan textiles. She has supported the Textile Museum in Thimphu, Bhutan, as special advisor to Her Majesty the Queen of Bhutan since the museum’s inception in 1999. She served as guest curator for the award-winning international loan exhibition “From the Land of the Thunder Dragon: Textile Arts of Bhutan,” organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in 1994-1996. A decade earlier, she helped bring Tibetan rugs to the attention of the West as guest curator for “Temple, Household, Horseback: Rugs of the Tibetan Plateau,” exhibited at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Myers has done field research in and published extensively on the Himalayas since 1978. She has also led numerous educational trips to the region for organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Textile Museum. She began her relationship with the extraordinary people of the world’s highest mountains as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal from 1978 to 1980. Since then, Ms. Myers has worked in senior management positions for organizations such as Save the Children, and she continues to consult in the international development field.