Earth and Sky: Carpet Cultures of Asia

Opening Reception: February 6, 2025, 5:00 – 8:00pm

Earth and Sky: Carpet Cultures of Asia examines hand-woven textiles—particularly carpets—from across Asia, foregrounding the perspectives of weavers, their families and communities. It explores how ‘carpet cultures’ are shaped by shared experiences of weaving, carpet use, trade, and creative imagining. Carpets are revered across Asia but particularly in Iran and the Iranian diaspora. Immigrants frequently mention how carpets evoke some of their earliest memories of home—tactile, acoustic, and emotive memories. Earth and Sky seeks to tease out these subtle, evocative connections, deepening understanding of carpets, their makers, and the cultures that foster them.

Earth and Sky assembles some of the largest and oldest carpets in Nickle Galleries’ collection—many having never been exhibited. Among these are a series of rare 17th and 18th C carpets from the Caucasus and Northwest Persia, several vagireh (rug samplers), a recently conserved two-sided Kurdish carpet from Eastern Anatolia, as well as two reed screens—one from either end of Asia. The exhibition explores carpets and performance, making and knowing, and carpets in everyday life.

Curated by Michele Hardy from the collections of Nickle Galleries.

Tours and events:

Curator’s Tour of Earth and Sky: Carpet Cultures of Asia. Meet at the entrance to Nickle Galleries.

February 28, 11:00am – 12:00pm

March 25, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00pm

April 11, 2015, 11:00am – 12:00pm

Nickle at Noon:  Nickle Galleries Carpets and Textiles – Greatest Hits!

Public talk with Michele Hardy: March 13, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00pm