Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Join us for a special edition of the annual McCoy Jones lecture, featuring Talia Spielholz, assistant curator of costume and textiles. In connection with The McCoy Jones Collection: Textiles from Central Asia and the Middle East exhibition, this presentation explores the history and contemporary resonance of the McCoy Jones collection at the de Young.
Talia Spielholz is assistant curator of costume and textile arts in the Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Department of Textile Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She holds an MA in costume studies from New York University and a BFA in jewelry and metalsmithing from Rhode Island School of Design. In her role at FAMSF, she contributes to research on the collection, exhibitions, and acquisitions. Recently, her duties have included researching the history and significance of the McCoy Jones carpet and textile collection.
A transformative gift from H. McCoy Jones (1897–1987) and Caroline Jones (1917–2006) in 1988, the McCoy Jones Collection includes over 1,000 costume and textile objects from around the globe, with more than 600 carpets and textiles from across Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. This gift turned the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco into one of the country’s greatest repositories of carpets and textiles from these areas of the world. Learn more.
About the exhibition
famsf.org/exhibitions/mccoy-jones-textiles-central-asia-middle-east
Featuring rugs and embroideries from the McCoy Jones Collection, this exhibition highlights the work of different tribes and cultural groups from across Central Asia and the Middle East. Drawn from one of the largest collections of Central Asian and Middle Eastern nomadic textiles in the United States, the works on view range from furnishings and wedding embroideries from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to a contemporary textile sculpture. In the sculpture, by Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed (b. 1982), a traditional carpet design gradually melts into a pool of colors and outlines. The exhibition tells the story of the McCoy Jones Collection while celebrating the diversity of artistic practices and cultures within Central Asia and the Middle East.
Join us for a special edition of the annual McCoy Jones lecture, featuring Talia Spielholz, assistant curator of costume and textiles. In connection with The McCoy Jones Collection: Textiles from Central Asia and the Middle East exhibition, this presentation explores the history and contemporary resonance of the McCoy Jones collection at the de Young.
Talia Spielholz is assistant curator of costume and textile arts in the Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Department of Textile Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She holds an MA in costume studies from New York University and a BFA in jewelry and metalsmithing from Rhode Island School of Design. In her role at FAMSF, she contributes to research on the collection, exhibitions, and acquisitions. Recently, her duties have included researching the history and significance of the McCoy Jones carpet and textile collection.
A transformative gift from H. McCoy Jones (1897–1987) and Caroline Jones (1917–2006) in 1988, the McCoy Jones Collection includes over 1,000 costume and textile objects from around the globe, with more than 600 carpets and textiles from across Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. This gift turned the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco into one of the country’s greatest repositories of carpets and textiles from these areas of the world. Learn more.
About the exhibition
famsf.org/exhibitions/mccoy-jones-textiles-central-asia-middle-east
Featuring rugs and embroideries from the McCoy Jones Collection, this exhibition highlights the work of different tribes and cultural groups from across Central Asia and the Middle East. Drawn from one of the largest collections of Central Asian and Middle Eastern nomadic textiles in the United States, the works on view range from furnishings and wedding embroideries from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to a contemporary textile sculpture. In the sculpture, by Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed (b. 1982), a traditional carpet design gradually melts into a pool of colors and outlines. The exhibition tells the story of the McCoy Jones Collection while celebrating the diversity of artistic practices and cultures within Central Asia and the Middle East.
