Summary

Length of fabric made by Made Strauss (mother of Anna Apinis) in Latvia, circa 1930s. Made was raised in a small Latvian country town, in a home where weaving was practised as a regular way of life. Made married Ernests Strauss and the couple had two children, Anna and Arnolds.

Anna continued the family tradition of weaving attending the Latvian State High School for Applied Arts and often spending summer holidays in the village of Aizpute, where many of her relatives lived, seeing the looms and practising her own weaving. Made passed away on 15 February 1939, her husband Ernests and daughter Anna migrated to Australia in 1950 as displaced persons following World War Two.

Physical Description

Red and charcoal geometric pattern with varied squares and rectangles. Hemmed at both ends.

Significance

Significance: These items form part of the Apinis Latvian weaving collection, a collection of Latvian weavings, tools (including a countermarch floor loom), weaving notebooks, costume items and audio visual interviews. Its historical and cultural significance lies in the comprehensive documentation of the story through artefacts and narratives, the quality of the weavings and the rarity of particular items such as the loom created in a German displaced persons' camp after World War II and notebooks kept from the 1930s to preserve traditional Latvian weaving techniques. The collection documents the maintenance and transportation of cultural traditions.

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