Across Time and Space: The Silk Road and the Silk City

October 26-27, 2022

This two-day international symposium at William Paterson University will place the “Silk City” of Paterson, New Jersey on the global Silk Road, and will strive to establish an ongoing cultural, artistic, and scholarly exchange with cities and regions historically shaped by the silk trade. The first day will include keynote speeches, a batik artist demonstration, and opening receptions for the exhibitions A Durable Thread: The Silk Road from China to America and Textile Arts from Guizhou, China. Silk experts from the disciplines of art history, the history of design, material culture, and local history will present papers and lead a field trip to Paterson on the second day of the symposium, tracing the movement of silk through China, Central Asia, Europe, and eventually the northeastern United States.