The Art History 2025 Museum Object class presents Woven Together: Funerary Textiles from the Ancient Andean Coast. This exhibition opens Thursday, April 3, in the WJB Gallery and features textile objects from Florida State University’s John and Mary Carter Collection of Pre-Columbian Peruvian Textiles.
Curated and installed by undergraduate students in Dr. Brendan Weaver’s Museum Object course (ARH3854), Woven Together showcases twenty pieces from a variety of ancient Andean cultures today located in coastal Peru. The Carter Collection was donated to the university in 1944 and has rarely been publicly displayed.
Vibrant colors and lively images of animals, plants, and anthropomorphic beings, alongside geometric motifs, embellish the textiles of Woven Together. For six millennia, the peoples of the South American Andes and Pacific Coast have cultivated a rich and diverse tradition in textile arts. Woven Together exhibits pieces from groups such as the Wari, Nasca, and Paracas cultures, dating from 800 BCE to around the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 CE. Weaving remains integral to life in this region, and the exhibition offers an opportunity to view Andean textiles produced between the ninth century BCE and the early sixteenth century CE.
Peru’s arid Pacific coast supported the preservation of cotton and camelid fiber textiles; the pieces of Woven Together were originally part of funerary bundles wrapped around the mummified deceased. Adorned with cosmologically potent motifs, these textiles accompanied the dead as they became animated ancestors of living communities.
Join us on April 3 for an opening reception in the WJB Gallery from 4:30-6:30, immediately following the Museum & Cultural Heritage Studies Forum. The WJB Gallery is located on the second floor of the William Johnston Building. Woven Together runs through August 5, 2025, and is free and open to the public.
The 2025 Museum Object class:
Emily Abreu-Guevara, Bella Alamo, Zoe Albrigo, Elise Andersen, Andrea Ballard, Sadie Craddock, Julia DeBardeleben, Pauline Frendreiss, Kerilyn Gavagni, Willow Hackett, Charlene Helton, Samantha Lesser, Mairen Manning, Chanti Max, Frances Price-Herndi, Eve Rozier, Ryden Trimble, Carissa Tse, and Sarah Warren.
