Last updated: 4/20/2013
2320 S Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008-4088
Tuesday - Saturday
10 AM - 5 PM
Closed Mondays, Federal Holidays and December 24.
Sunday, Friday - Saturday
10 AM - 5 PM
The Textile Museum will offer a variety of special events and programs throughout the transition in 2013 and 2014. Visit the online website calendar for the most up-to-date list of events.
$8 Dollar Donations Suggested for non-members
Members: free
|
Dr. John Wetenhall
phone:
|
|
Eliza Ward
phone: 202-667-0441 x11
|
The Textile Museum is joining with the George Washington University to become a cornerstone of a new museum scheduled to open in fall 2014 on GW’s main campus in Foggy Bottom. The affiliation positions The Textile Museum to educate the next generation of textile enthusiasts and expand on its rich tradition of art, education, scholarship, and fostering cultural understanding.
Exhibitions and programs will be presented to the public in a custom-built, approximately 46,000-square-foot museum building located at G and 21st Streets NW, bearing the names of both The Textile Museum and the George Washington University Museum. The new museum will include gallery space for The Textile Museum, the Arthur D. Jenkins Library for the Textile Arts, and The Textile Museum Shop. In addition to the downtown location, GW is constructing a collections and conservation resource center on its Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Loudoun County, Virginia, with 22,000 square feet of space for the storage, study, and care of museum's collections.
Beginning October 14, 2013, The Textile Museum will not have an exhibition on view. The Textile Museum Shop will remain open Fridays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from October 14 through December 31, 2013. The Textile Museum will offer a variety of special events and programs throughout the transition in 2013 and 2014. Visit the online calendar for the most up-to-date list of events.
The museum will incorporate both a new signature building (facing 21st Street NW) and the historic Woodhull House (facing G Street NW) and is located adjacent to GW's University Yard. With 4 levels above ground (reaching 65 feet) and 2 below-ground levels, there will be roughly 4 times the amount of gallery space currently available at The TM. In addition to galleries, the museum will include a learning center, a program room, the Arthur D. Jenkins Library for Textile Arts, as well as staff office and exhibition preparation areas.
The Textile Museum expands public knowledge and appreciation—locally, nationally, and internationally—of the artistic merits and cultural importance of the world’s textiles.
In 1925 George Hewitt Myers founded The Textile Museum with a collection of 275 rugs and 60 related textiles. Myers collected actively for the Museum until his death in 1957, at which time the collection had grown to encompass the textile arts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. In Myers' time, the Museum was open by appointment only and received several hundred visitors annually. Today, The Textile Museum is one of the world's foremost specialized art museums and receives 25,000 to 35,000 visitors each year from around the world.
To learn more about the founder
Since 1925, the Museum's galleries have been located in an adjacent building purchased by George Hewitt Myers for this purpose. Large gardens behind the buildings are open to the public during Museum hours.
In 1925 George Hewitt Myers founded The Textile Museum with a collection of 275 rugs and 60 related textiles drawn from the traditions of non-Western cultures. With the establishment of The Textile Museum, Myers demonstrated his commitment to championing the appreciation of textiles as works of art.
At the time of his death in 1957, his collection numbered 500 rugs and 3,500 textiles. Since then, the Museum has broadened its' holdings to better represent the full spectrum of non-Western textile arts. Today the Museum's collections number more than 19,000 objects and span 5,000 years, dating from 3,000 B.C.E. to the present.
The Museum's educational programs encourage visitors to explore the variety and wonder of the textile arts, and to learn more about how textiles are made and why they are important. Exhibition-related programming is designed to enhance and expand upon the exhibition themes. All exhibitions feature school tours, and programs are offered for educators throughout the year.
Families & Children: Arts for Families is held one Saturday a month and invites children and parents to explore exhibition-related subjects with hands-on activities.
Adults: Adult programs include tours, lectures, workshops, films, and year-round Saturday Rug & Textile Appreciation Mornings.
Students & Educators: School tours at The Textile Museum are an excellent way for students to personally engage with art, history, social studies, and more. The museum offers a variety of programs for students in grades 1–12, including thematic tours which complement current exhibitions and include touchable items and/or hands-on activities.
Girl Scouts of America: The Textile Museum offers Brownies and Junior Girl Scouts a chance to earn points toward the Art to Wear, Colors and Shapes and Art Around the World Try-its, or the Yarn and Fabric Arts badge.
The library's nearly 20,000 volumes encompass the history of textiles, rugs and costume, as well as contemporary fiber art, textile structures and techniques, and textile conservation. The multilingual collection consists of monographs, serials, pamphlets, auction catalogs, slides and videotapes. Of note are the holding’s beautifully illustrated monographs, rare out-of-print books, and current scholarly studies on the art and cultural history of the cultures that produce these textiles.
It is the only library in the United States to index journals and periodicals in the field of textiles, a service which identifies for the researcher the most current textile scholarship.
Access:
Appointment required: No
The Textile Museum offers a variety of volunteer experiences.
Ranked as one the top 10 in the USA.
Housed in two historic buildings in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C., The Textile Museum’s beautiful gardens are a unique setting for your next special event, whether a cocktail reception, a dinner party or a wedding ceremony and reception.
Visitors enter the museum through the former home of the museum's founding family, designed in 1913 by noted classical revival architect John Russell Pope. The grand foyer, with marble floors and a view onto the recessed portico and landscaped garden beyond, provides a grand welcome for your guests. The museum's inviting gardens, lush with boxwood and wisteria arbors lining a pebbled courtyard, offer majestic views of surrounding rooftops.
As part of the benefit package for exhibition sponsors at certain levels, rental fees for the garden space are waived for one event. Please contact Eliza Ward, Development Manager at eward@textilemuseum.org or (202) 667 0441, ext. 11 for more information.
Gift Shop
Online Gift Shop
Special Event Rental
Group Tours
This information, including business hours, addresses and contact information is
provided for general reference purposes only. No representation is made or warranty is given as
to its content or the reliability thereof. User assumes all risk of use. Stories USA, Inc.
and its content suppliers assume no responsibility for any loss or delay resulting from such
use. Please call ahead to verify the dates, the location and directions.