Kyrgyz Textiles: Introducing the John L. Sommer Collection

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“Kyrgyz Divider Screen (ashkana chiy),” mid 20th century

(courtesy of John L. Sommer Collection, 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 reed screens—textiles that are deeply rooted in Kyrgyz nomadic traditions. While the technique of turning reeds or grasses into textiles is practiced widely, the Kyrgyz are masters at embellishing their screens, wrapping each reed with precise patterns that are revealed only after being woven together.

These remarkable, typically ephemeral textiles were used for a variety of purposes—from small covers, containers, and suspended shelves to large-scale walls and screens. The largest examples were wrapped around the lattice frames of Kyrgyz yurts(circular domed tents).  Slightly shorter versions were used to screen off areas within the yurt.  Reed screens share a rich repertoire of patterns, colours, and motifs with other Kyrgyz textiles, particularly carpets, felts, and embroidery.

These textiles were virtually unknown in the West until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Sommer, a medical doctor, was a passionate collector of textiles, especially the textiles of Kyrgyzstan.  He visited the country eight times from 1992 and wrote two books about his experiences and encounters: The Kyrgyz and their Reed Screens (1996) and Klavdiya Antipina, Ethnographer of the Kyrgyz (2002, with Bibira Akmoldoeva). Dr Sommers and his wife, Dr Donna Sommers, joined The Nickle Arts Museum for the opening of Reeds and Wool in 2009.