LEWISTON – Seven textiles from former Auburn resident Susan Bowditch’s collection are on exhibit at Lewiston-Auburn College. The kente cloths from Ghana represent those worn by both men and women, some contemporary and some older, and a rich variety of patterns, colors and textures.
Bowditch developed a love for fabric at an early age, beginning a lifetime of collecting textiles as cultural artifacts.
“By the time I lived in Ghana, I was a serious textile collector. And Ghana was ideal for learning about and acquiring interesting textiles,” she says.
Susan and her husband, Nate Bowditch, lived in Ghana from 1990 until 1997. While there, she designed and coordinated programs for college students studying abroad and other cross-cultural projects with the American Embassy and Peace Corps. She later worked at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., as the program development manager for the African/African American Gallery.
Portable looms
Weaving has been done for centuries on portable looms all over West Africa. Narrow strips of 3 to 5 inches wide are woven relatively quickly and develop into long rolls. The loom holds the extended warp, which is stretched out in front of it for several yards. The end of it is wrapped around a stone used both to weight it and keep it taut.
The end result is a long kente strip that can be cut horizontally to the desired length. Strips of equal length are then sewed together side to side. It is the dynamic of these interfacing strips that make for the exciting vitality of kente cloths, according to a spokeswoman for the college’s gallery.
There are many ethnic groups in Ghana, but the textiles of the Asante and the Ewe stand out. During the peak of the Asante Empire, roughly 1700 to the late 1800s, textiles assumed high importance. Most Asante cultural forms have symbolic meaning, often based on proverbs. In kente cloth the warp, design blocks, colors and the whole cloth had meanings with particular designs traditionally reserved for the king (asantehene).
The wearing of certain styles could indicate royalty, gender, marital or economic status. The regular repetition of strong colors and patterns – particularly in silk, now rayon – reinforced the power and solidity of the Asante Kingdom. The Ewe kente styles were unique in that they were created to sell, and their designs and color combinations appear random and spontaneous. It is that quality of “free spirit” that accounts for their appeal, according to the spokeswoman.
Woven by the men
Bowditch, who has studied the historical significance of the textiles, said, “Men are the traditional weavers among both the Asante and the Ewe. They are also the ones who sew the strips together to make the whole cloth. This may not have always been true. One story has it that women were the first weavers but that men eventually wrested that task away when the status and significance of kente textiles grew in cultural importance. Today, in some quarters young girls are being trained to weave, but it may be awhile before it is widely accepted.”
Men’s cloths are typically large, as large as 6 by 12 feet for a chief. They are almost always worn draped over the left arm and wrapped under the right arm, toga style. Women’s cloths are about a third that size. In the past, a woman might have worn three identical cloths at one time. One could be used to cover the hips and legs, one to cover the breasts and torso, and the third to be used as a shawl or to cover a baby strapped to the mother’s back.
The exhibition, in the Hall Gallery, continues through Oct. 23 at the college, 51 Westminster St. Concurrent with “Kente Cloths from Ghana” is “The Inspired Hand II,” an exhibition of work by members of the Maine Crafts Association.
The gallery is free of charge. Hours are Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, people can call 753-6500.
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