Kurt Munkacsi

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Coffee House Club

Nominees for the Board of Directors

New Members for the Board of Directors
We have two board members who have completed their full terms on the board this year: Corinne Berezuk and George Bradley, the Club is extremely grateful to them for their years of service and of course looks forward to their continuing active participation as club members.
As members for the Class of 2022, the nominees are as follows: Sheila Fruman and Paul Kane

Sheila Fruman

When she travelled overland from the former Yugoslavia to India in 1969/70, Sheila Fruman developed a keen interest in the carpets and textiles she saw along the way. Her later career (2001-2015) with the DC-based National Democratic Institute and the UNDP, supporting democratization in post-conflict and developing countries, took her back to the Balkans, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Living and working in these countries provided opportunities to roam the markets, meet the dealers and learn about the cultures that produce them. Stints in Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, Ghana and the DRC (2015-2017) expanded her exposure and interest to include the indigenous textiles of Africa.

Prior to her international career, she had a twenty-five career in politics in her native Canada, as Communication Director for the Premier of British Columbia, among other senior government positions.

She has been a member of the Hajji Baba Club since 2012 when she moved to New York. She continues to pursue her interest in carpets and textiles through ICOC events, textile study trips (India, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia),classes at the Victoria and Albert Museum and independent travel. She has a Masters Degree in Communication and is the published author of articles in Foreign Policy, the Institute of Peace and Hali. She is currently working on a book about the Dealers and Dreamers of the 1970s who forged a new “silk road” to the west.

Paul Kane

Paul Kane began working in textile conservation in 1980. Since 2015, he has served as Principal of Tina Kane Textile Conservation, involved in all phases of conservation and restoration, including installations, wet cleaning, and on-site repair. He has a studio in Warwick, NY. With his late wife, Tina (Conservator, Metropolitan Museum of Art), he collected kilims, traveling with the rug dealer Marion Miller in Turkey, and advised the Maharini of Jaipur on their collection of Mughal carpets at the Royal Palace. His interests extend to all flat woven textiles. See: https://textileconservator.pairsite.com/

Paul is a member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), Textile Society of America (TSA), Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials (AICCM) and the Hajji Baba Club of New York

In addition to his work in textile conservation, Paul also holds a PhD from Yale University and works at Vassar College as a Professor of English and Environmental Studies. He has published a dozen books and numerous articles, and has received several awards, including Guggenheim and NEH Fellowships. See: Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kane_(poet)