VIRTUAL – Wool and Grass: Kyrgyz Textiles in the Collections of Nickle Galleries

In 2009 Nickle Galleries (then The Nickle Arts Museum) hosted Reeds and Wool: Patterned Screens of Central Asia, a travelling exhibition organized by the Kaufman Museum at Bethel College in Kansas, USA. The exhibition featured rare examples of Kyrgyz textiles collected by Dr. John Sommers and donated to the Kaufman for the purposes of an international tour. With the tour completed, the collection— together with Sommer’s notes and photographs—were recently donated to the University of Calgary’s Nickle Galleries. The John L. Sommer Collection significantly expands Nickle Galleries’ holdings of Central Asian textiles. In addition to important examples of felt textiles and carpets, it introduces a series of chiy, or reed screens— textiles that are deeply rooted in Kyrgyz nomadic traditions.

Wool and Grass is based on the 2024 exhibition, Kyrgyz Textiles: Introducing the John L. Sommer Collection, curated by Michele Hardy, PhD.