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Maicome silk textiles from Laos available for purchase beginning at 4pm. Admission is $2 for Museum Members and $5 for Non-Members. Speaker and sale will be in the Mission Mill Museum Dye House. This event is co-sponsored by The Center for Asian Studies at Willamette University. Vibrant textile traditions of Laos moved into the international arts world over a decade ago. After Laos emerged from years of communism, women entrepreneurs began building on this weaving tradition, adapting it for markets in Europe, Japan, urban Thailand, and the US. Several small, women-owned companies based in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, were among the first to successfully export these intricate hand-woven silk textiles. Prof. Doolittle and her co-researcher, Prof. Moreno, have been studying these companies since 2001. Traditional techniques like supplementary weft, tapestry, and ikat enable Lao weavers to produce intricate textiles using motifs drawn from myth, nature, and everyday life. Each owner has blazed her own path as she converted this traditional craft into an international business. Each had to organize her own market research, recruit her own workers, and determine how to use elements of the Lao textile tradition. Many of their workers are one generation away from the peasantry and still support family members in their home village. Today, each company has developed its own market niche and continues to seek new markets. Prof. Doolittle ends her talk by tracing the commodity chain of Lao textiles from Asian silkworm raisers and company weavers through the boutiques, art fairs, and exhibitions that reach consumers abroad. The silk textiles of one of these companies, Maicome (www.maicome.com), will be available for purchase both before and after Prof. Doolittle’s talk.