Victoria Z Rivers is Professor Emerita in Design at the University of California Davis. Some of Victoria's honors include receiving a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship, a Fulbright/Indo-American Fellowship for research in India, a US Artist Abroad through the US Department of State and former board member of the Textile Society of America. As an artist, researcher and scholar, she has been chosen to deliver prestigious memorial lectures, keynote addresses and presentations of her research and artwork nationally and internationally. Solo and group art shows include venues in Japan, Switzerland, New Zealand, Ghana, Swaziland, China, and the Cook Islands, as well as throughout the USA. She authored a book called The Shining Cloth: Dress and Adornment that Glitter, published in London and New York, and wrote numerous articles on world textiles and dress and several lead chapters in an encyclopedia on world dress and textiles. She also authored a chapter in the book, The Sacred Textiles of India. As an extension of Victoria’s research and love for textiles and traditional dress, she began making jewelry with antique amulets, whose histories and mysteries continue to fascinate her. Jewelry traditionally completed a woman’s dress and incorporated the same meanings as the clothing’s embroidered or woven motifs. Amulets functioned similarly to ward off the evil eye. Most tribal jewelry, including Berber (Amazigh) adornment is considered extremely protective for the white light reflected by the silver, as well as by the motifs and shapes of the talismans. Many pieces were gifts from a woman’s family and became part of her dowry, so the jewels also conveyed family love, identity within a certain group or community, and represented a degree of financial security due to the value of the metal. From Morocco and Southeast Asia, Victoria seeks pieces imbued with a patina of age and wear - a soulful quality. Then she works with these treasured elements to create modern jewelry that embodies deep meaning. |
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A BRIEF RESUME Victoria Z. Rivers
Professor Emerita, Design Department 1980 to 2010 University of California, Davis now residing in Sedona, Arizona, USA PROFESSIONAL PROFILE Artist, researcher, and educator whose interdisciplinary practice bridges textile arts, cultural anthropology, and material innovation. Internationally exhibited and published with a focus on global textile traditions and symbolic systems. HONORS AND AWARDS • Indo-American Fellowship, Fulbright and Council for International Exchange of Scholars (1990–91) • National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship (1984–85) • Ruth Ketterer Harris Memorial Lecturer (2000) • Board Member, Textile Society of America (2000–2004) • *The Shining Cloth: Dress and Adornemnt that Glitter* named Outstanding Academic Title (2001)• American Artist Abroad, U.S. Department of State (2003) • Chair, R.L. Shep Book Award Committee (2005–2008) • Featured Speaker, Handweavers’ Guild of America (2008) and ma ny other keynote addresses BOOK *The Shining Cloth: Dress and Adornment that Glitters* (Thames & Hudson, 1999) PUBLICATIONS • South Asian Textiles, Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion, 2004 • Importance and Symbolism of Ornamenting the Body in South & Southeast Asia, Encyclopedia of World Clothing and Dress • The Peruvian Connection, Encyclopedia of World Clothing and Dress • Culture is Served: Ikat Plates of Central Asia, Selvedge, 2006 • Southeast Asian Baskets: Ethnobotany, Agriculture and Design, 2005 • Art Under Cover: Fukusa of Japan, 2005 • Culture on a Platter: Politicization of Central Asian Ikat Patterns, 2004 • From Nature to the Unnatural: Evolving Changes in Shining Cloth, 2003 • Into the Surface: Meaning, Metaphor and Magic, 2001 • Layers of Meaning: Embellished Cloth for Body and Soul, 2001 De-coding the Divine: Kathi Embroideries of Saurashtra, 2001 • Textiles, Craft and Tourism, UNESCO Proceedings, 2000 • Emeralds on Wing: Jewel Beetles in Dress and Adornment, 2000 • Remnants of Solar Worship in Central and South Asian Embroideries, 2000 • A Maharani’s Legacy, Hali, 1999 • Culture Cut Apart? Rural Indian Embroideries and Commoditization, Marg, 1998 • Splendid Patterns: A Maharani’s Dress, Surface Design Journal, 1998EXHIBITIONS Selected Solo Exhibitions • Clayton Galleries, Tampa, FL (2008) • Southern Yangtze River University, China (2005) • Reed Whipple Gallery, Las Vegas (2005) • Rotorua Museum, New Zealand (2005) National Museum, Cook Islands (2005) • b. sakata garo, Sacramento (2004) • Santa Fe Weaving Gallery (2003–2004) • Western Nevada College (2002) • Artfibers Gallery, San Francisco (1996) Selected Group & International Exhibitions • Petronas Gallery, Malaysia (2006 • US Embassy Exhibitions, Ghana & Swaziland • Craft and Folk Art Museum, San Francisco • Solo Show, Museum of Neon Art, Los Angeles • Seibu Art Forum, Tokyo, Japan • American Gallery, Bern, Switzerland • Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento • Laguna Beach Art Museum • Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Services LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS • Keynote, Handweavers’ Guild of America (2008) • Surface Design Association Conference (2009) • World Eco Fiber Symposium, Malaysia (2003) Ars Textrina International Conferences• Lectures in India, Thailand, Laos, Australia, Korea, Ireland |