This event has already occurred. But the good news is that you can watch a recording of it on our YouTube channel HERE!

Join the Chinese American Museum DC (Recorded on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, 4:00-5:00 pm ET (1-2 pm PT))for an up-close look at Embroidery and Design: The Art of Chinese Opera Costumes.

Chinese opera costumes boast bold ornament and auspicious design. Color and embroidery intertwine to evoke instantly recognized characters - A highly ornate pink backdrop costume brandishing a full plumed peacock evokes the character of a skilled warrior. Dr. April Liu, author of Divine Threads: The Visual and Material Culture of Cantonese Opera and Lee Talbot, East Asian textile history specialist will join the conversation to give highlighted detail on opera costume textiles, their history, design, and unparalleled artisanship.

This event provides an up-close look at the private collection of opera costumes now on display at the museum’s special exhibit Golden Threads: Chinese Opera in America.

We are grateful to AARP Maryland for their generous sponsorship of this program.

Dr. April Liu is an independent curator and cultural programmer based in Vancouver and Lima. She has organized numerous festivals, exhibitions, and cultural initiatives across North America, Asia, and South America. Liu served as the Curator of Public Programs and Engagement at the UBC Museum of Anthropology. She also served as an expert consultant for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage section (Asia). A specialist in Asian art history, Liu recently authored Divine Threads: The Visual and Material Culture of Cantonese Opera (2019).

Lee Talbot is Curator at The George Washington University Museum, The Textile Museum. He specializes in East Asian textile history and is also a lecturer with GW’s Art History Program.

Most recently, Talbot curated the exhibition Vanishing Traditions: Textiles and Treasures from Southwest China. He was also co-curator of exhibitions including Bingata! Only in Okinawa; Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora; China: Through the Lens of John Thomson (1868–1872); and Unraveling Identity: Our Textiles, Our Stories. His publications include exhibition catalogues, articles, and the chapters on Chinese and Korean decorative arts in History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400–2000.

Talbot was previously curator at the Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum in Seoul, Korea. He serves on the board of Textile Society of America and the editorial board of Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture.