The George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum has appointed Marie-Eve Celio as academic coordinator for the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center. In this role, Dr. Celio will develop scholarly programming, build academic collaborations and facilitate research related to the museum’s prominent study collection of global textiles. The collection and the new endowed position were part of a $18.4 million gift from the Cotsen 1985 Trust to GW.
Dr. Celio had worked as a scholar with the museum’s curatorial team since April 2018. She also served as a guest lecturer of art history at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland and was a scientific collaborator and curator at Museum Rietberg in Zurich. She spent eight years in India, where she consulted on projects for UNESCO. She holds a doctorate in art history from the Sorbonne in Paris and a master’s degree from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland.
“Marie-Eve brings distinguished scholarly credentials to our museum, as well as teaching experience, an international world view and a rich knowledge of the textile arts,” John Wetenhall, the director of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum said. “She also understands the impact that university museums can have on student learning, faculty research and global scholarship. She embodies the academic excellence that is the core of our commitment to Margit Sperling Cotsen and the Cotsen 1985 Trust for their generous gift.”
The museum plans to open the Cotsen Textile Traces Study Center, which will house the collection assembled by the late Lloyd Cotsen, in April 2020. The collection consists of more than 4,000 fragments of textiles created around the world from antiquity to the present day. Dr. Celio will engage scholars, faculty, students and artists with these cultural materials through research support and digital initiatives. She also will organize lectures and workshops that activate the collection for scholarly inquiry and dialogue.
“I am honored to receive this prestigious appointment and to help the museum as it broadens its dedication to the research and textile scholarship,” Dr. Celio said.
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