Search the collections

Where is it from?

Summary:: Piece of woven fabric, using traditional Latvian patterns from the Zemgale region with a contemporary colour scheme. Woven by Anna Apinis, circa 1990-1995 on a hand made draw loom using 11 shafts. This fabric length was an experimental piece for Anna. The loom on which this fabric was woven was made for Anna by fellow survivors of the Second World War, in Memmingen, a displaced persons camp in Germany with wood scavenged from bombed-out ruins. It was designed by Anna's husband Ervins. Anna used the loom to weave traditional Latvian designs using threads gathered by unravelling old scraps of fabric. Anna brought the loom with her to Australia and continued to weave Latvian designs on it.
Description:: Length of fabric handwoven in wool using a traditional Latvian floral pattern. Small flowers in red, yellow and white have been woven in the centre of a white grid set against a black background.

Discipline:	History
Dimensions:	1010 mm (Height), 750 mm (Length)

Tagged with:	crafts, cultural identity, cultural traditions, handcrafts, latvian communities, latvian immigration, weaving, woolwork
Themes this item is part of:	Immigration & Artistic Practice Collection, Clothing & Textiles Collection, Cultural Diversity Collection, Migration Collection, Anna Apinis, Latvian Migrant & Weaver, 1950
Primary Classification:	CULTURAL IDENTITY
Secondary Classification:	Ethnicity - Creative Practice
Tertiary Classification:	weaving
Maker:	Mrs Anna Apinis, Revesby, New South Wales, Australia, 1990-1995
Other Association (See Comments):	Zemgale, Latvia Based on a design from this region
References:	Contemporary Craft and Cultural Identity Project, by Deborah Tout- Smith and Anna Malgorzewicz for MoV and Monash University History Dept, 1992.