CAMDEN —Tuzkeez means "wall hanging" in Kazakh. There will be an exhibit of handmade tuzkeez in the Picker Room of the Camden Public Library during the month of September, thanks to the generosity of collector Judith Varney Burch.

The particular tuzkeez in the exhibit are made by the Kazakh women nomads of western Mongolia. The tuzkeez honor a birth, marriage, or special event. It is customary in the Kazakh tradition for a newly married couple to be gifted a new ger or "yurt" decorated with the traditional chain stitch embroidery such as these tuzkeez.

The border of the tuzkeez are made on a treadle sewing machine. The inside pattern is sewn by hand using a chain stitch. Each family is very proud of the craftsmanship and design of the tuzkeez in their homes. Some of the tuzkeez are dated and inscribed in Kazakh; often, the center piece from a tuzkeez will be removed and passed down to make a new tuzkeez.

The bottoms of the tuzkeez are usually unfinished. It is customary for the tuzkeez to line the walls of their homes — gers in the warmer months and cabins in the winter months. The tuzkeez are usually placed behind beds or other furniture, hiding the bottoms. Most tuzkeez are non-representational art, keeping with the dictates of the Koran, although, during communist times, they would often use stylized flowers and stars in their patterns. The Kazakhs are known for their use of dazzling patterns and vivid color.

It takes more than 100 hours to produce each tuzkeez. The size of each piece is about 3'7″ x 8'2″. Most women will only make three to five in a lifetime. It is very difficult on their eyes. The making of tuzkeez is a dying art form; the younger women are not interested in learning how to make tuzkeez, and the older women are slowly passing on. The tuzkeez that remain are becoming more and more rare. The rate they are able to be produced is a very small fraction of the rate they are being exported.

The tuzkeez in the exhibit all come from the collection of Judith Varney Burch. Judith serves as a research collaborator for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and recently opened Arctic Inuit Art, an art gallery and learning space for the community to explore the Arctic. The gallery is located in Charlottesville, Virginia and is open to the public by appointment. Additionally, Burch curates exhibitions and lectures around the world.

In addition to the gallery, work with the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, and her international touring educational collections, she has also created the non-profit Arctic Culture Forum in Charlottesville, which she runs with the help of multiple UVA anthropology student interns.

She says, "It is the relationships forged through the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History that have been the mainstay of my traveling exhibitions over the past decade and hopefully into the future. My passion is sharing Inuit art and culture. Combining that with my love for travel has been a gift that keeps giving. My Inuit textile collection, 'Culture on Cloth: Baker Lake Wall Hangings' has traveled the world; I recently opened the exhibit in Patagonia, Argentina!"