Encyclopedias, artworks and copyright...

"Gown of Patience"
Limited edition poster
28"H x18"

Today we joined Wikipedia. We wanted to edit the great new Palestinian costume article someone has posted - to add some more in the Reference section and especially the Collections of Palestinian costume section the original author had thoughtfully included.

We were a bit surprised at how much text had been taken from our website. That's not a problem, but the uncredited use of images from the website unfortunately WAS a problem that will need redressing. Because unfortunately one of the images was "Gown of Patience" by Suzanne Klotz and Yacoub Al-Kurd, which was most generously donated to the Archive by Ms Klotz a couple of years back. Copyright in such cases remains with the artist.

We can understand why the author / editor of the Palestinian page wished to use it. "Gown of Patience" is a large painted, beaded, and embroidered canvas inspired by the embroidered qabbeh (chest panel) of a traditional Palestinian dress. We all remember the day it arrived, in it's unexpectedly enormous roll, and how stunned we felt when it was finally unrolled....

Ms Klotz often features Palestinian themes in her art, and has arranged several exhibitions and art collaborations between Israeli and Palestinian artists. She's won lots of awards. We are seriously impressed - and jealous!

Suzanne Klotz writes:

"Art reflects the values of society and bridges the devide between the familiar and the unfamiliar. The creative process and product are invested with the power to elevate consciousness, encourage investigation of truth and assist in the advancement of a unified world society.

"I attempt to create art the engages the viewer on visual, emotional and intellectual levels and upon investigation, the content expands. The work addresses, in anironic way, contemporary attitudes towards gender roles, marriage, materialism, global, social and economic disparity, and the invisible lines that define borders"

You can see more of Ms Klotz's work on her website. Around the time of her donation, Ms Klutz mentioned that she'd like to organize a fund raising project for the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund. The PCWF do wonderful things, so our director was equally delighted. Ms Klotz produced a high quality poster of "Gown of Patience", and kindly sent some over to the Archive, so you can buy the poster here at the Archive as well as the PCWF. It's still $25US, which includes packing and shipping. All monies go to the PCWF.

We think it drives our director nuts sometimes that the poster reads "the original painting is in the permanent collection of the Palestine Costume Archive Museum". Nothing wrong with having "museum" in our title as well, is there?!

Click on the banner below if you'd like to visit the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund. They suggest lots of ways to help Palestinian children, such as buying embroideries from Hebron, or honey from Nablus ... you can even sponsor a Palestinian child.