Lecture & Exhibition: "Religious Textiles of Southeast Asia" with Rebecca Hall, Curator, 1 p.m. Saturday, October 15, 2018 Usc -Pacific Asia Museum, 46 n. Los Robles Ave. Pasadena, Ca 91101 (Limited Free Parking adjacent to the Museum.) In Southeast Asia, textiles are often made by women for the purpose of donation to the local monastery; the textiles are then displayed in monastery buildings or on their grounds. The donations bring the women merit, which is important for Buddhist practice. These displays also give the women a chance to show off their weaving skills and have their work appreciated by others. This talk by exhibition curator Rebecca Hall will concentrate on Buddhist textiles in mainland Southeast Asia, with specific attention paid to the countries of Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, in conjunction with the just-opened exhibition, “Ceremonies and Celebrations: Textile Treasures from the usc Pacific Asia Museum Collection”. The focus will be on Buddhist banners, their form, and meaning, but will include other kinds of textiles made and donated at monasteries. The motifs and scenes woven into the textiles are related to Buddhist beliefs and popular stories and help provide insight into the beliefs of laity across the region. Rebecca Hall received her PhD in Southeast Asian Art History from ucla, and she has spent several years living and researching in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Her interest in Southeast Asia developed from her research on Lao textiles for her Master’s thesis while a graduate student studying historic costume and textiles at the University of Rhode Island. Before that, Rebecca was a fiber artist, having learned all the secrets of weaving and dyeing while a student at Kansas City Art Institute. In recent years, Rebecca has studied funeral arts and paintings on cloth in Southeast Asia, but her love of textiles is always present. She has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University, Santa Monica College, and Pasadena City College and was a curatorial fellow at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, md and is currently the Assistant Curator at the usc Pacific Asia Museum. Admission: This is a public program; Admission to the Museum includes this program ($10/$7 Seniors.) For free admission to Lecture & Museum for Tma / Sc members, please respond to this email by Wednesday, Sept. 12 at info@tmasc.org.