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Michigan Heritage Awards
Arts
Nomination Form (PDF)
Arts Nomination
Form (word)
Community
Leadership Nomination Form (PDF)
Community Leadership
Nomination Form (word)
^ MHA Awardees List ^
Photo by Marsha MacDowell
Photo by Marsha MacDowell
2005 awardee, Warren (Macomb County), Hmong textile traditions
Like other girls in village of Pousan in northeast Xienghouang, Laos,
Ia Moua (b. 1948) at a very early age began to learn to sew the highly
decorated and colorful cloth used in the clothing of her ethnic White
Hmong community. The paj ntaub (meaning "flower cloth")
incorporates a variety of patterns, motifs, and needlework techniques,
including appliqué, reverse appliqué, and embroidery. Mastery
of the techniques and repertoire of designs and motifs usually takes years,
and expert craftsmanship is valued within the community.
To satisfy her father, Ia studied nursing at Sansonk Hospital, Samthong.
She married Teng Yang, a Blue Hmong, and soon thereafter the war in Laos,
in which the Hmong were allied with U.S. military operations, forced the
Yang family to flee their country to Thailand. In 1976, after living at
the Ban Vinai refugee camp for one year, the International Institute in
Providence, Rhode Island sponsored the family to immigrate to Providence.
There she continued to sew and also found work as a translator at the Women
and Infant's Hospital. In 1987 she and her family moved to Detroit.
In the United States Ia Moua Yang continued to make the clothing necessary
for Hmong traditional practices. She also began selling her work to individuals
outside the Hmong community. Today increasingly fewer Hmong-Americans
continue this textile tradition. Ia Moua Yang, however is not only one
of the stalwarts in keeping this art alive, she is simply a master at
what she does. Because her work is consistently of high quality and craftsmanship,
technically well constructed, incorporates quality materials, and reflects
innovative design approaches, she has been successful in making a living
through her art. She sells her work at many different venues in Michigan,
including at the annual Great Lakes Folk Festival, and at major national
quilt shows, including those in Vermont, Chicago, and Houston. For this
non-Hmong market she is constantly developing new ways of ingeniously
incorporating Hmong designs and textile techniques into items that attract
new customers.
At the same time she remains deeply involved in family and Hmong community
life and has played leadership roles in the dissemination and continuity
of knowledge about paj ntaub and other Hmong traditions. In addition
to teaching paj ntaub to her daughters, daughter-in-law, and
grandchildren, she has taught others in her community and given workshops
to non-Hmong both within Michigan and at the textile events in Vermont
and Houston. She also has authored a "how to" handbook that
gives both technical and cultural information on paj ntaub. In
tribute to Ia Moua Yang, Carolyn Shapiro, her colleague and Michigan Heritage
Award nominator stated, "For Ia, weaving and sewing is not just making
cloth, it is creating a social fabric. Her care for her craft is the care
and nurturing of her people. It is the thread that links them to their
ancestors and to each other."(1)
(1) Carol Shapiro, Nomination letter, December 16, 2004.
See also Ia Moua Yang and Carol Shapiro, The Pa Ndau of Ia Moua Yang:
Keeping Alive the Treasure of the Hmong. Self-published, 2002.
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