primitive | Caring For Textiles

Caring For Textiles finds the delicate balance between original work and restoration

In 1977, filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf released the documentary Possum Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. It’s a treasure and a treat; take a few minutes and watch it. In it, you’ll see the fantastic, obsessive, tenderly-animated, and articulated creations that Calvin Black made and his wife Ruby Black dressed and accessorized. You’ll understand quickly why Caring For Textiles was thrilled and honored to have the chance to preserve and restore several of those works of art.

Our colleague, Leah Bright, wrote about our project, and we are pleased to share it with you here.

Julia and Kaitlyn re-dressing Gladys. Photo by Leah Bright

Gladys’s blouse during treatment. Photo by Caring for Textiles.

The Possum Trot Midget Doll Theatre, ca. 1950-1972. Wood, wood paneling, laminated Masonite, nails, bolts, paint, electrical components, and carved and painted wooden dolls, via The Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art. Image courtesy of flashbak.com

This was a wondrous conservation project that took us deep into folk art, visionary art, intuitive art, The Fantasy Doll Show, and the world of Calvin and Ruby Black. And, as a bonus, we also traveled through desert life in the 1950s and ’60s.

Most of our conservation treatments require us to leave holes and damage as-is—badges of wear and tear and history, bearing witness to the passage of time. In this project, however, we shaped our treatment to honor the original vision and aim for the beauty of Calvin Black’s vision. To be sure, we honored the trajectory of time from conception through neglect and exposed rough times to the present day. We ensured that these works of art authentically show their wear, yet made them whole, stabilized, enlivened, and aesthetically beautiful.

We think Calvin and Ruby would be singing along.

Read the blog about our restoration at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The museum itself is open daily, 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m at 8th and G Streets, NW Washington, DC 20004.