Because of the processes of migration, conquest, intermarriage, and assimilation, many of the peoples that now inhabit Central and Southwest Asia are of mixed origins, often stemming from fragments of many different tribes, though they speak closely related Turkic languages. The formerly nomadic people of Kyrgyzstan were pastoralists, and lived in portable round yurts, which they could set up and take down quickly to migrate with their flocks. Primarily known for their felted, embroidered and otherwise flat-weave textiles and animal trappings, the Kyrgyz also wove piled pieces, which decorated their tents and animals. Dennis Marquand has been collecting these pieces, as well as piled pieces of other Central Asian peoples, and this talk will consist of a show & tell, focusing on piled rugs and utilitarian weavings of the yurt attributed to the Kyrgyz people. Examples will be on display to compare and contrast the symmetry and diversity of these of non-Turkmen textiles.

Dennis Marquand is a native born Southern Californian who developed an interest in Oriental rugs while in college. For the last 40 years he has been buying, selling, studying and collecting tribal rugs and trappings. Dennis has a BA from CSUN and a Masters degree from USC. He is a charter member of TMA/SC and has participated in national and international oriental carpet events as a dealer, participant and speaker. Since 1985 he has dealt in books on Oriental rugs, ethnographic textiles and the people who made them. He currently works with his son, Wesley, and together they operate RugBooks.com, the premier source of literature on the subject, and are the distributor for the International Conference on Oriental Carpets.