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Welcome to mhcameo, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum blog. Here we post about unique happenings, including behind-the-scenes looks at our exhibitions, close examinations of objects from the collection, and art-related chats with alumnae, faculty, and students. Sign-up below for blog alerts and take a regular peek at mhcameo!
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![Jennifer Villa ’21, "Upon my back" series overview (2021). Fabric on blazers. 26 x18 in. The backs of 3 decorated blazers hung side by side.](https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/sites/default/files/styles/image_large/public/jen_villa_21_1_1600w.jpg?itok=pvRc4tcM)
Jennifer Villa '21 describes the artistic influences that shaped her senior project, Upon my Back, and the process of its creation.
![Michelle Grabner and Tricia Y. Paik Michelle Grabner and Tricia Y. Paik](https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/sites/default/files/styles/image_large/public/event_2017fa_lecture_sep14_10053-hpr.jpg?itok=u3oPr8nn)
Video recording
![Maker Unknown (Yomat Turkmen), Asmalyk, 19th century Maker Unknown (Yomat Turkmen), Asmalyk, 19th century](https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/sites/default/files/styles/image_large/public/mh_2017_15_v1_01-lpr_0.jpg?itok=G8YzqA_F)
In this Objects of Our Affection post, Associate Curator of Education Kendra Weisbin weaves together the history of a beautiful 19th-century textile—a 2017 gift to MHCAM—and her own cultivation as a specialist and enthusiast of Islamic carpets.
![Jacqueline Finnegan prepares weavings for an exhibition](https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/sites/default/files/styles/image_large/public/Jackie3X_0.jpg?itok=b5Q3Zap3)
Museum Preparator Jacqueline Finnegan reflects on the labor-intensive process of preparing textiles for exhibition. Thanks to her meticulous use of needle, thread, and Velcro®, the textiles in the current exhibition, Dancers of the Nightway: Ceremonial Themes in Navajo Weaving, seem to hover off the wall.
![Unknown artist (Navajo), Weaving with Yei figures, ca. 1935-40](https://artmuseum.mtholyoke.edu/sites/default/files/styles/image_large/public/mh_sk_k_104_v1_01-lpr_crop_0.jpg?itok=8Ft92xcm)
Relatively little is known about individual early 20th-century Navajo weavers and the creative and economic choices they made with their work. While the maker of MHCAM’s weaving with Yei figures remains unidentified, Lynda Teller Pete, a fifth-generation weaver from the Newcomb and Two Grey Hills areas of the Navajo Nation, shares her perspective on its origins, and the Navajo weaving tradition.