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by Amanda Grace Sikarskie (Author)
Textile historian Amanda Sikarskie, Ph.D. takes the reader on a journey in the footsteps of the Dupree family, Huguenots who fled religious persecution in France and came to Spitalfields, London to work as weavers of luxurious and elaborate silk brocade. Of historical and artistic interest on their own, the fact that the Duprees of Spitalfields are the direct ancestors of Rolling Stone Keith Richards (who uncannily refers to the interchange of lead and rhythm guitar roles as "weaving") makes this family's story downright remarkable. Full color illustrations of both English and French silk brocades from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art provide a beautiful backdrop to the Duprees' story. 54 pages of text, 66 pages total.
Author Biography
Amanda Grace Sikarskie is a historian of textiles, fashion and needlework. She is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Design History at Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Previously, she taught in the Frostic School of Art and the Department of History at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sikarskie holds a Ph.D. in American studies from Michigan State University (2011) and is a Research Associate with the Michigan State University Museum's Quilt Index project, www.quiltindex.org. Her current research interests include Spitalfields and French silk, the textile traditions of India, quilt history, clothing and textiles of the 1970s, Native North American dress and textiles, genealogy as research method and the intersection of social media and textiles. Her first scholarly monograph, Textile Collections: Preservation, Access, Curation and Interpretation in a Digital Age, is forthcoming from Rowman & Littlefield.
