When Textile Society of America members converge on Honolulu for their 11th biennial symposium next week, they will find themselves immersed not only in textiles, but in the many cultures of Hawai'i. A city-wide program of exhibits called "Textiles as Cultural Expressions" will offer insight. For both symposium attendees and Island people, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

A volunteer committee of 27 textile and arts enthusiasts has pulled together 29 exhibits city-wide, each exhibit offering a message about our culture. Honolulu has broken all records for participation, with attendees representing 32 states and 19 foreign countries.

Carol Bier, president of the Textile Society of America, said the organization includes professors, museum curators and conservators, educators and fiber artists.

The symposium coordinators, Tom Klobe and Reiko Brandon, hope to dispel the myth of Honolulu as simply sand and surf.

"We want Hawai'i to be known for its great cultural resources," Klobe explained.

Fiber arts traditions are engrained in Hawai'i's ancient, modern and contemporary cultures. These exhibits offer a rare opportunity to learn more about our cultural heritage through viewing objects worn and utilized daily by Island people, from immigrant plantation worker to honored ali'i.

"We're doing this so that local people will learn the importance of textiles in our culture," Klobe said. "Textiles tell us about ourselves. There are codes in the way we dress. We use textiles as a way of signifying special events in our lives: weddings, baptisms, graduation, funerals."

For the 29 participating museums and galleries, the symposium offers an opportunity for national and international recognition. "This is all a collaboration to make something great happen in Honolulu," Klobe said with obvious pride. "Together we can make something happen that's bigger than any individual institution or organization."

Textile collections offer a unique challenge to curators. Unlike ceramics or sculpture, for example, they cannot be exposed to light for any length of time because they easily disintegrate. That's why so many textile collections reside in vaults and are seldom seen by the public.

In the next few weeks, however, a wide variety of collections can be seen, from carpets of 17th-century Mughal India (East-West Center Gallery) to a smoking jacket made by Queen Emma for Kamehameha IV (Queen Emma Summer Palace).

Kapa, batik, kimono, Victorian gowns, Korean pojagi (wrapping cloths), Hawaiian lauhala, Tongan ngatu, Samoan siapo, Marshall Island kili bags and Hawaiian kapa moe are among treasures from the past that will be shown throughout the city.

In addition, many of the Islands' most talented textile artists will show creations in local galleries.

Modern textile arts extend beyond clothing. Handmade papers, sculptures created from fibers and intricately dyed and manipulated pieces often take textiles into the realm of fine art.

Working on the symposium has been a full-time job for Klobe and Brandon, both of whom are retired. But they wouldn't have it any other way. "We decided there was no point in doing it unless it will be talked about by TSA members for 10 years. It had to be superlative," Klobe said.