Art & Exchange: African Textiles in the Global Marketplace

The Capstone exhibition is a unique and unparalleled experience for undergraduates in Art History at Miami University. Students in the Fall 2024 course obtained real-world experience curating an original exhibition drawing from RCCAM’s collection of African textiles. Through a seminar format class led by Dr. Fenton, the students engaged in many readings and discussions about the rich history of textiles primarily in West and Central Africa. They distilled their learning and applied it to formulating the topic of African textiles and the role of local and global marketplaces through the contexts of trade, fashion, performance, and politics.

This process gave students the opportunity to analyze the relationship between African textiles and the marketplace, and to learn about curation through hands-on experience. Students were charged with selecting the exhibition theme from a general concept of African textiles proposed by Dr. Fenton. Over a four month period, students chose and researched objects, wrote object labels and text panels, and conceived of the organizational flow and visual presentation of the exhibition.

Art & Exchange is the first exhibition the Art Museum has presented since 1984 that has explored African textiles in the collection with such depth. The museum’s collection of African textiles exists thanks to a number of generous donors, including Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Berry, Ralph ('65) and Barbara Drake ('68) Bresler, Bertha Emerson, Walter I. Farmer, Cynthia Kelley, Frances McClure, and founding donor Orpha Webster.