Organized by the Stephen F. Austin State University Galleries, this exhibition consisted of about 40 decorated wooden distaffs, or spinning implements, from Russia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, France, Germany, Albania, Greece, Serbia and Bosnia and dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Distaffs were eventually phased out by the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent availability of ready-made fabric. Originally simple sticks, distaffs evolved into highly decorated objects with intense cultural significance, more important for their meanings than for their function.

Curators

Hillary Brown, director of communications, and Todd Rivers, head preparator

Sponsors

The Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art