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Hello list, I am preparing a library instruction session for a small number of students in the course Introduction to Visual Arts taught here at Holy Cross. Up to 10 students will volunteer to pursue this "community based learning" (CBL) assignment instead of the traditional assignment where they'd pick an object during a museum field trip to research and write on. These CBL students will work with 5 women from the Refugee Artisans of Worcester group (http://www.refugee-artisans.org/), interview the women, learn why they left their home countries, learn about their art/craft, and initially write a short description and background on the person and the work to accompany the work when it is presented for sale at a Parents' Weekend booth. Later in the semester more in depth research is expected and a longer paper will be handed in on the same topic as the final project. The women are from/fled to and make: Bhutan/Nepal Cornhusk crafts (listed as cornhusk pira, which I can't even find a definition for) Bhutan/Nepal floor loom fiber weaving Rwanda/Burundi basket weaving Iraq/Syria seamstress work and embellishments Liberia (no other information at this time) seamstress work So far this is the only information I have about the women and their crafts and it will be up to the students, in the interviews with the women, to find out more about the work they do. Here is my predicament, however. While I have been able to locate encyclopedic entry point resources for the students to investigate the historical reasons why these women may have left their home countries, I have had limited luck finding introductory information on these types of crafts that are made. Some LC subject terms I've found are: textile design, textile fabrics, textile crafts, handicraft, basket making, weaving, weaving techniques, woven fabrics; qualified or not by a country, nationality, continent, or world region. Very few relevant items are found in WorldCat, and even less are reasonably accessible (a few exist as single copies in Europe, for instance). Does anyone have ANY leads??? I am close to telling the professor that the project is more limited than she envisioned and that students may not be able to conduct as in depth research as she had hoped. And remember, this is an intro class too. Thank you in advance, Janis ------------------------------------------ Janis L. DesMarais, MA, MS Visual Resources Coordinator College of the Holy Cross 1 College Street, Box LIB Worcester, MA 01610 office: O'Kane 498 (508) 793 - 2453 [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/membership/join-arlisna Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~