Research Projects
Garments of Devotion and Valor: Textiles and the Tabard – A Cross-Cultural Study
A three part investigation into the role of textiles, tabards, and sideless garments in shaping narratives of devotion, identity, and valor. Spanning from Byzantium through the 17th century, this project explores the intersections of trade, religion, and personal heraldry across empires, republics, and faiths. The tabard is centered as a portable canvas of meaning—carrying stories across time, empires, and landscapes.
• Part 1 – Fall 2024: Empires in Dialogue
Examines the flow of textile techniques and garments across Byzantine, Venetian, Ragusan, and Ottoman landscapes, with attention to cultural and religious exchanges embedded in fabric and form. Field research conducted in Croatia, Turkey, and Italy.
• Part 2 – Spring 2025: The Tabard and Sideless Garments
Focuses on personal heraldry and the color of place, investigating how garments express lineage, allegiance, and spiritual identity across the Adriatic and Aegean regions.
• Part 3 – Ongoing: Tabards of Place (Exhibition Dates 2026 TBD)
Textile-based artworks—garments, collages, assemblages, and multimedia works—created in response to landscape, material culture, and place. These wearable storytelling garments fuse traditional embellishment techniques with contemporary costume design. Custom printed textiles based on my own photography of regions visited and researched during sabbatical.
Stitched Stories: Observations on Dress, Art, and Cultural Narrative
A blog documenting sabbatical research, artworks, and scholarly observations.
🔗 https://www.valerieramshur.com/blog
Threaded Paths: Global Stories in Thread (Spring 2025–Ongoing) - Exhibition Dates TBD
A global, community-driven textile installation inviting participants to contribute hand-stitched narratives of ancestral movement, displacement, and everyday journeys. This growing archive explores textiles as democratic storytelling tools and highlights the continuity of traditional handwork in contemporary practice.
Wandering Minds, Staged Discoveries: Exploring Indirect and Direct Research in Dramaturgy, Design, and Library Instruction
Publishing Summer 2025 in Performing Arts Resources, Theatre Library Association
This monograph examines distinct methodologies in dramatic arts research, emphasizing partnerships with librarians and libraries. It advocates for adaptive, nuanced approaches to dramaturgical research in creative fields.
In collaboration with:
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Christopher Cartmill, Head of Dramaturgy, MGSA/Rutgers
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Bret McCandless, Head Performing Arts Librarian, Mabel Smith Douglas Library, MGSA/Rutgers
Antiracism and the Arts in Eighteenth-Century London: The Life and World of Ignatius Sancho (2023–2026) In Progress
A contributing study of 18th-century London through Ignatius Sancho (ca. 1729–1780), exploring the intersections of dress, class, race, and occupation. Examines Sancho’s life and clothing in the context of broader social dynamics and artistic representation.
Created with support from the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice at Rutgers–New Brunswick, this collective effort brings together faculty, graduate students, and scholars from Rutgers and beyond. 🔗 http://sancho.rutgers.edu
A Toast to the Cocktail Dress
Linen Strong and Soft Exhibition
A collaboration between the School of Theatre Fashion Archive and the Center for Virtual/Material Studies at Penn State. This contribution traces the cultural and historical narratives of cocktail dress design. 🔗 https://exhibitions.psu.edu/s/linen/page/cocktail-dresses