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Biancheria: Critical and Creative Perspectives on Italian American Women’s Domestic Needlework

A conference presented by The John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
Saturday, March 16, 2002, 10 AM-6 PM
The Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall
The Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th and 35th Streets)
Manhattan
Admission-$10

Biancheria, the collection of bed coverings, tablecloths, towels, doilies, intimate apparel, and other hand-embroidered textiles, is one of the cultural touchstones of Italian Americana.

Embroidery and lace work were basic skills of Italian working women and biancheria was a central element in a bride’s corredo (trousseau). Immigrant women brought this artistry to the United States, where they adapted and transformed it in a new social context. In time, biancheria took on additional cultural significance for Italian Americans, and as earlier practices faded those heirlooms and memories became rich sources for renewed cultural production.

Despite this rich cultural legacy, little scholarly documentation exists on the traditional art of Italian American women’s domestic needlework. This conference is a corrective to this lack of written history. The program includes both scholarly and artistic presentations addressing the themes of needlework and textiles in the lives of Italian American women.

Program
10 AM
Opening Remarks
Session I 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Historic and Ethnographic Reflections
Chair: Joseph Sciorra, Calandra Institute
Discussant: Jane Schneider, Graduate Center, CUNY
Presenters:
  • Ilana Abramovitch, Museum of Jewish Heritage:  “The Scuola d’Industrie Italiane: An Italian American Experiment in Art and Social Uplift”
  • Joan Saverino, Germantown Historical Society: “A Stitching Life: Case Study of an Immigrant Woman’s Artistic Life”
  • Teresa Cerasuola, American Italian Historical Association: “Il corredo e la biancheria: Legacy of a Seamstress”
  • Adele La Barre Starensier: “Biancheria and the Semiotics of Women’s Needlework”

12:30-2:00 PM – LUNCH on your own

Session II 2-3:30PM
Representing and Remembering
Chair: Mary Ann Trasciatti, Hofstra University
Discussant: Monica Calabritto, Hunter College
Presenters:
  • Flavia Rando, Independent Scholar: “Memory, Influence, and Trace: Needlework and Contemporary Italian American Women Visual Artists” (working title)
  • Edvige Giunta, New Jersey City University: “Embroidery, Culture, Memory: The Making of an Italian American Female Literary Tradition”
  • Louise DeSalvo, Hunter College: “Casting on, Casting Off: My Grandmother at her Knitting”

Break 3:30-3:45PM

Session III 3:45-5:00PM
Pizzi e merletti: Italian American Women Writers on Women’s Needlework and Textiles

Chair: Edvige Giunta, New Jersey City UniversityFeaturing Grace Aqualina,Phyllis Capello, Rosette Capotorto, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Loryn Lipari, Anne Marie Macari, Maria Terrone, and other writers.

 

5-5:30 PM
Performance:”sul occh’ du schap”(by the eyes of the shoes)
Written by Annie Lanzillotto
Performed by Valerie Vitale

Concluding Remarks

Ends 6PM

Kym Ragusa’s “Threads of Memory,” a video installation exploring Italian American women’s relationship to biancheria, will be showing outside the hall throughout the day.

Bring an example of biancheria and share your memories with Kym Ragusa for a future video documentary.

For further information call (212) 642-2042


Anna Guarascio Peluso, Fairmont West Virginia,1991
Photograph by Rick Lee, Courtesy of Goldenseal Magazine, West Virginia Division of Culture and History