The New Season of SPARK: From Grand Tapestries to the Armor of Game of Thrones

«The Met's conversation series, SPARK, aims to explore vital cultural issues through the lens of the Museum—its collection, spaces, and incredible curators. Over the course of the series' inaugural season last year, we had some amazing and unexpected conversations, and I'm eager to hear what happens when our new season begins on December 1.»

To prepare for each upcoming SPARK talk, I love speaking with Met curators about the artists they admire before I find fascinating people for the curators to speak with onstage. When I recently met with Elizabeth Cleland, curator of the stunning exhibition Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry, she was full of stories about this unique sixteenth-century artist. Lizzie described him as an artist who pushed the boundaries of this art form—an entrepreneur from before the word was in common usage, one who developed new partnerships to sell his creations to all the heads of state across Europe.

Detail of soldiers, Saint Paul Seized at the Temple of Jerusalem tapestry in a set of The Story of Saint Paul. Designed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, ca. 1529–30. Probably woven under the direction of Jan van der Vyst (Flemish), before 1546. Wool and silk; 13 ft. 10 1/8 in. x 26 ft. 6 1/8 in. (422 x 808 cm). KBC Bank Collection, Leuven. Photograph by Bruce White

As she spoke, I thought of my friend Seth Godin, whose rallying cry to not wait for others to choose you and your work—but, rather, to do it yourself and raise a ruckus in the process—seemed to describe exactly what Coecke had done over four hundred years ago. It is the convergence of ideas such as these that will make it such a treat to hear Seth and Lizzie discuss art and entrepreneurship in both the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries on the December 1 talk, Ideas That Spread.

Left: Filippo Negroli (Italian, ca. 1510–1579). Burgonet, dated 1543. Italian, Milan. Steel, gold. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.1720)

When I met with Pierre Terjanian, the Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Curator in Charge of the Department of Arms and Armor, in his calm blue office at the Met, I was captivated by a huge portrait of a young man behind his desk. The figure, in full armor, looked down at me with supreme confidence. It was an expression very familiar to anyone who's watched the popular HBO series Game of Thrones, as it is seen often on the face of Joffrey Lannister—the boy who becomes king. I'm thrilled that Michele Clapton, the designer who creates Joffrey's armor and all of the costumes seen in Game of Thrones, will be on the stage with Pierre and me to talk about creating armor for all the show's battles, both on the field and in the castle chambers.

That conversation, Dressed to Kill, on December 2 in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, will also include artist Miya Ando, who draws on her experience growing up in a family of Buddhist priests and sword makers to create paintings and sculptures out of steel, aluminum, and copper. I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Miya in her studio, where she was creating the kimono seen below out of anodized aluminum. Her story is fascinating, and in this excerpt from our conversation found below, you'll get a taste of what she'll bring to this SPARK talk.

Miya Ando. Formal (Black) Kimono. Hand-dyed anodized aluminum; 72 x 48 in. Sundaram Tagore Gallery

To purchase tickets to the SPARK Series or any other Met Museum Presents event, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets; call 212-570-3949; or stop by the Great Hall Box Office, open Monday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m.

Related Link
Grand Design Exhibition Blog—Grand Design: Ideas That Spread