I felt the frog in my throat. This was the first time I had been to Oaxaca on my own, without his dad. We had visited a few times before to see his family and I found myself flooded with memories of a time when things were sweeter between us. We had now been divorced for a couple of years and though I was grateful for the change in my life, I still felt the sadness of the loss. All while also feeling grateful for getting to bring my child here to connect with his heritage through my lens - textiles.
We flew in a few days before our textile workshop began. We met up with my best friend, and we spent a few days exploring el centro! We ate lots of delicious food including helado, of course, took in all the street art and wandered the various mercados. We also stopped in at the Museo Textile de Oaxaca to see their current textile exhibit (see eco printing photo in the photo on the far right below).
The first day of our group, textile itinerary, we ventured out to Mitla, an arachaelogical site of the Zapotec underworld where the structures still had original symbology, to get a little bit of history and inspiration for our weaving project that we'd embark on in a few days!
After a delicious lunch on the upper patio of a local restaurant just outside of the ruins, we headed to a weaving workshop space where we watched the family demonstrate their backstrap weaving, and learned about some of the symbols they use in their weavings and why they're important. The current project was heavily focused on corn, maize!
with Vida Nueva and Maestra Pastora
A big part of traditional Zapotec weavings starts with natural dyeing. Oaxaca does not have a lot of fiber livestock, so they are often importing their wool yarn and then beginning their processing at the dyeing stage. They grow and collect their dye materials and dye large batches of various colored wool yarn!
The leader of the Vida Nueva Collection, Pastora, welcomed us to an outdoor, private space for gathering where we nestled under the trees on a hot day, listening to the cicadas. She shared the moving story of how the collective was started and the process and growth over the years. The collective was initiated to mainly support single women (whether divorced, widowed, or simply still single) through their textile work.
We then went and visited the famous Árbol de Tule - a tree that is estimated to be around 1500 years old and a trunk circumference of over 130 feet, and another collective Texere which supports textile residency's.
Now, it was time to immerse ourselves in natural dyeing! Pastora put together 4 dye pots for us to dye in. Unfortunately much time has past since this trip and I can't remember all of the dyes. We definitely had an indigo, cochineal and walnut pot, but I can't remember the other - it produced a yellow dye but it wasn't marigolds... And then when we were done with one, we added lime to change the ph and therefore shifted color! She shared a thorough demonstration on the natural dyes (including using Leland as a canvas for showing how they mix dyes to create different colors such as green!) and how they're used, as well as showed samples of how the colors were incorporated into various designs.
With our weaving workshop beginning the next day and now inspired by natural color, we were encouraged to begin sketching the design for our own weaving pattern.
with Susi, Pancho y sus familia
We walked into the home of Susi and Pancho where they weave rugs for a living alongside their children. Every room was filled with weavings hanging on the wall and looms nestled into every corner. Pancho gave us a demonstration of how the loom worked, and we then wandered to select a loom and begin our project! We brought a selection of colorful yarns chosen from Pastora's collection along with our drawing. We were given guidance to get started and then off and away we went!
While the backstrap loom is the traditional style of weaving, the floor loom is a result of Spanish influence and is a large castle, stand up loom with 2 harnesses and 2 foot treadles. Open the shed, run your weft thread through, change sheds and beat. Repeat. Building your color based on your design became the most complicated part along with maintaining smooth selvages (despite the use of a temple). We created weft-faced weavings, meaning that the warp (vertical white strands attached to the loom) are completed covered by the weft (design) yarns.
We worked hard bringing our designs to life and by the end of our weaving sessions, so many particpants had beautiful completed pieces! Some to be sewn into bags and pillows, and others to be left as rugs.
I'm intently focused on the last day of weaving, realizing I may not finish my weaving on time. when I hear Leland excitedly skipping over and saying "Mommy, mommy!! I'm done I'm done!!" And these photos capture his joy of this weaving experience.
We walk through beautiful gardens and approach a half dome made with rocks and clay, and a firepit. We are encouraged to wander the gardens and pick 3 plants that speak to us. We are instructed to walk silently, with a free, open mind for our soul knows which plant it needs as medicine. As we return, we form a circle and offer our plants to the circle with a center and four quadrants - an important ritual before entering the temescal. They gave us a rope, and asked us to tie a knot for everything that comes up as a sticking point. I'm focusing on tying all my knots ... noticing them stacking up when I look over at Leland's that only has 3. I found myself with a mixture of happiness and pain. How beautiful to only have 3 knots, but the idea of MY child having any knots at all brought me sadness.
We enter the temescal, the heat already present. The fabric door falls to block the light and any new air from entereing. The fire heated rocks are doused with water, and the steam immediately penetrates your lungs and skin. The next two hours, we move through the different elements - water, air, earth and fire. Each element accompanied by a special song and ritual, and a breath of fresh air wooshes in as the fabric door is opened to bring in more smoldering rocks. Halfway through, feelings of dizziness and lethargy envelop you, the effort to deeply breathe increasing. By the last element, fire, I lay on the floor of the temescal with my feet up against the wall. My body is dripping with sweat and steam and I imagine my own knots trying to melt away. To be lying in a hot, tiny, earthen room with other women, and the indigenous leaders felt so powerful. It was time to shed those deep wounds that I was choosing to still carry.
As we each exited the temescal, the bright light of the sun was blinding, and we shouted "Estoy Vivo!" "I am alive!" Water was then poured over our heads and down our body to shock us back into our bodies. I choked on the water. It felt like I had been "born again", but with more consciousness, wisdom, and intention. And not for God, or anybody. It was for me, my soul, and my connection to the earth.
The natural boiling waters. I've been wanting to go for almost a decade! Pools of natural, travertine springs and the illusion of a cascading waterfall that is in fact a build up of minerals.
with Macrina Mateo Martinez
Las Mujeres del barro rojo is a group of women who work with and create ceramic pieces to sell out of the local red clay. Every year, the women ascend a local mountain to the site where they mine the clay. The location is not accessible by vehicle, so they must do this by foot where they carry their clay haul back down to their studio on their backs in cloth bags.
Over the course of our 9 day trip, the group developed new friendships and by the end we began to feel like family! Watching people learn, grow and appreciate new (to them) forms of creativity was such a beautiful process, in addition to seeing the interactions they each had with Leland! Another trip leaving with me a full heart!!
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It's February 8th, 2023 and my 8 year old son, Leland, and I embark on our 3rd textile trip together to Latin America. This time we are visting Guatemala - a culture still rich with Mayan tradition.
Since my divorce a little over two years ago, I've been slowly re-finding myself - my morals, my soul, and the things that truly make me happy. I have always had a strong connection to the earth and been aware of my own spiritual presence in the world, but the last few weeks in particular, I've found myself really diving into the depths of my own spiritual energy and my purpose in this lifetime.
As my feet landed upon the earth in a new place, I was ready for a textile experience, but I didn't know how truly connected I would feel to the spirituality of Mayan beliefs, as well as the variety of people we spent time with over the course of 10 days.
In a small town called Santiago Atitlan, there is a group nestled along the lake who carry forward Mayan traditions, blended with colonial influence.Their project focuses on restoring pre-colonial traditions. Here, only women weave on the backstrap loom. Although a man is physically capable of weaving on this loom, they believe that only a woman should. Not because of masculinity or patriarchy limiting a woman to this laborious form of weaving cloth. No. It is because the woman is the vessel for creation of life. One end of the loom is attached at the woman's hips, around to the cloth that she weaves, up the length and the other end attached to a tree. Specifically a tree. This creates a direct connection to Mother Earth and therefore the cosmos. Together they form life.
As I listened to the presenter share this in Spanish, and then again as it was translated by our main host to English, I felt my body surrender to a wave of overwhelming emotion. These big realizations I had made over the last few weeks on my own were being presented in front of me. Not only was I feeling validated in my discovery of purpose, but I also was experiencing profound feelings of connection to those who lived thousands of years before me.
This was near the beginning of our trip, and it paved the way for opening up to beauty on a level deeper than I could have imagined.
with Doña Lidia y sus hermanas, Zoila and Blandina
Clothing has traditionally and is still to this day used to express one's self in many forms - culture, color preference, style/trend, spiritual or religious beliefs, class, etc. Unfortunately in today's modern world, our clothing no longer represents and displays skill or family heritage; however, there are many small towns nestled in Guatemala that still wear their traditional clothing every day. The handwoven and often hand embroidered fabrics showcase images of nature like birds, mountains, and flowers.
We sat down around the courtyard of Doña Lidia's home to listen to her impressive story and watch the process of creating fabric on a backstrap loom. We then choose our looms and colors, settled in and began weaving. "Open shed, pass the tramador through, change, and beat 1, 2, 3. Repeat." In two hours, we each wove approximately 3 inches of fabric - a feeling of accomplishment and also a realization of how much time it takes for them to make their clothes. And we weren't even doing the complex, decorative brocade weaving yet!
Lunch time! We helped make home made tortillas and then sat down for a traditional Pepian meal which resembles a mole or curry - packed with spices, vegetables, meat, rice, avocado, and tortillas. Deliciosa!
As we continued to weave after lunch, we were introduced to the techniques of beginner brocade - one of the ways they add motifs to their fabric. Brocade involves a supplementary weft that floats along the face of the fabric creating a pattern - there is 1 face, 2 face and double-faced brocade. Different regions use different techniques depending upon the tradition of that town. We learned 1-face (the simplest of brocade techniques).
Jaspé, also known as ikat, is a complex form of weaving that greatly intrigues me. The design work is very mathematical, and is calculated and done at the dyeing phase.
Threads are aligned on a warping stand, and are then tied very tightly with very specific numbers and organization of ties in order to create certain patterns. The warp threads are then dyed, leaving behind the base color of the thread when the ties are removed. This is a form of resist dyeing. The threads will become either warp or weft, and depending upon which it'll be and the size of the fabric to be created determines how the ties will be made. When woven, the pattern emerges.
In the community of Santiago Atitlan, the jaspé pattern is in the warp threads for the backstrap loom and the weft threads for the floor loom. We visited the 13 Batz Collective for live demonstrations of this process, as well hearing the story behind their tradition.
with Doña Marta y su hija Dominga
We made our way across the beautiful and vast Lake Atitlán to stay at a quaint hotel nestled in the hillside on the edge of the lake. Here waiting for us was Dona Marta, her daughter Dominga with handmade, clay bowls filled with cotton bolls and beautifully made wooden, support spindles (malacates).
We sat on the upper deck of the hotel looking over the lake and began clumsily twirling our spindles. They make it look so easy... it took a minute to figure out the angle, and pressure in order to get the spindle to twirl for more than a few rotations. And then some more time to get a feel so the short staple fibers of the cotton would spin smoothly without pulling apart or ending up with big clumps.
By the end of our workshop, I found the flow of simultaneously flicking my spindle, letting it dance in the bowl and between the groove of my forefinger and thumb, and letting the twist glide up the strand of the cotton into the new section I had thinned and smoothed out. Some participants had spun wool on a drop spindle, so this process wasn't entirely new, but still was challenging. Other participants had never spun before and found themselves deeply focusing on learning each step. In the end, we all had our spindles filled at different levels and different thicknesses.
In Guatemala, wool is not the common fiber to work with. Most artisans work with cotton. One of our trip participants had brought along her drop spindle with some wool and after the workshop, showed the maestras this process - which is similar but easier! Dominga picked it up right away and was quickly satisfied with her new skill, while her mother watched also clearly satisifed and intrigued by this other fiber and other type of spindle! It was a moment of connection through fiber and thread.
Indigo & Cochineal Dyeing with Doña Francisca
Walking the streets of San Juan La Laguna is a whole experience in and of itself where one can get lost wandering among all the beauitful and colorful street art. We made our way to the casa of Dona Francisca where we learned about her process of indigo dyeing. She has developed her own vat recipes over the years and it can't be quantified in the way Westerner's prefer to learn. An indigo vat is a living being, which takes precision beyond measurements, kind of like cooking. It takes tuning into the life force that is being created. Sure, you can measure out x amount of pigment, to y amount of ingredients, but without the energetic component, working with natural indigo can lead to an unsuccessful vat.
She invites the partipants to help in the process of making the vat. Despacio. Suave. These words are softly demanded as things are mixed. Slowly. Gentle. It is not an art or task to perform with haste. Her movements and energy almost felt meditative. After everything mixed and settled, we were invited to bring our items to the vat to dye. Despacio. Suave. We played with dyeing solid, gradient, and simple shibori patterns - all feeling very satisfied and blue by the end!
The following day we put on our comfy shoes and went for a stroll slightly out of town to a small production, cochineal farm. Cochineal is more commonly grown in Mexico, and many natural dyers source their dye materials from there; however, an effort started to create their own sources. They shared the many challenges in growing their cochineal and showed us the varying stages of the process!
Historically, the color red has represented the highest of power and used to identify class. Dyeing with cochineal combined with various pH modifiers can produce varying shades of red, pink, purple and blood orange. Cochineal is a "pest" that infects the nopal (prickly pear) cactus. They breed on the cactus and when the babies hatch, they will soon also attach themselves to the cactus and carry on the circle of life. It is the females who produce the red dye and are "harvested" after they have completed their reproduction cycle. This little pest holds a very impactful story in our history and is worth learning more about!
Back to Doña Francisca's house to see the cochineal color come to life! A much simpler and less precise process than indigo, but with equally satisfying results in the form of another color!
Color is a huge part of human history. It all began with natural dyes and for thousands of years it communicated class, status and idendified regions or specific towns of orgins/residence. As color became more available through synthetic dyes, it shifted to a purpose of self expression which is how we identify with color today. San Juan La Laguna is a town rich with color!
with Doña Claribel
Guatemala is well known not just for their beautiful weavings, but also the deigns that are embroidered on their weavings. In Sumpango, Doña Claribel fed us an incredible home cooked meal followed up by an embroidery workshop in her studio space. We learned about the main symbols they use on their huipils and what they represent and got a chance to practice a handful of patterns and stitches on a tote bag that was stitched to look like a huipil!
After several days of being immersed in individual family homes learning about their particular history, stories, symbols, and craft, it was time to head to a museum to hear the overarching stories and how tradition shifted as the land and people were influenced by the Spanish. We held and inspected multiple different pieces, and Leland got to be a lovely model to showcase some of the wearables!
As I begin to summarize this trip, I can't not mention the group who attended with me. Each person was filled with passion, skill, kindness, generosity, curiosity and respect. They each took turns taking Leland under their wing and showing him something new. They supported his inspired artwork and laughed at his goofiness. I got a glimpse of what it felt like to be a part of a village of women (reminiscent of the feeling with the group during our Oaxaca workshop in April of 2022). I feel eternally grateful for the time spent with them.
There is so much I want to pack into this journaling of my experience, but I recogize it's getting lengthy! So, I'm going to share some photos and quick summaries!
Throughout the trip, we found ourselves headed to the terrace of our hotel while in Antigua. It overlooked the entire town as well as a 360 view of the mountains and volcanos (including an active one) around us! Fuego sat out in the distance about 10 miles from where we stood, and each night we went up just after sunset to watch it erupt. We also would mingle with the other people staying at the hotel - a lovely watercolor artist, Amy Bogard, and her friends; a solo traveler, Xiaoen, who lost his job and decided he'd travel the world for as long as he could; a man who played the guitar. We spent the last couple of nights singing, dancing, and making shadow figures with these folks. It was such a heartfilling experience I never want to forget.
The street art in San Juan La Laguna needs no words... Enjoy!
Of course, the trip didn't end there. On the plane our flight attendant saw me knitting and he was escastic! He disappeared and came back eager to show me the cable sweater he was working on! It was so beautiful! This trip brought deep feelings of connections to the earth, but even more connection to the people in this world who also have such a strong passion for textiles - fabric, texture, color and process.
I can't wait to return for another trip in February 2024!
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with Dana, Angela, Santusa and Leonarda of Pichinku
August 29th - September 1, 2019
SETTLING IN
After a full day of travelling from San Francisco, California to Cusco, Peru, Dominic and I stepped into an oasis of healing gardens that would be our home for the first three days of our 10 day trip.
The gardens at Willka T'ika provided a place of serenity and inspiration, where each meal was thoughtfully sourced from the vegetable garden on the property and so tastefully prepared, the room was quaint and cozy and the staff felt like family.
Once we acclimated and recovered from our travelling, our first adventure was to Chinchero - a pueblo well-known for textiles. We visited Tupay - Andean Textile Center where the founder, Maragerita, and her daughter, Mariluz, warmly welcomed us and made us at home while we watched their process of washing wool, spinning, dyeing and weaving in the courtyard of their home.
While visiting their Textile Center, a rain storm hit. Silly me was not prepared - open toed Birkenstocks, no sweaters for either of us or hats. They realized this and quickly led me to their covered porch and bundled us in beautiful, warm textiles while handing me a cup of hot tea. Dominic became fussy and they took us in as though I was part of their familia. Cold and wet, I felt grateful and warm in a way I don't feel very often.
They insisted I needed a manta (blanket) to keep warm on our walk back through town to the bus. They showed me an assortment of mantas, but I hesitated to spend a good part of my budget on a piece I wasn't instinctively drawn to just to stay warm. Mariluz sensed my hesitation, and disappeared for a moment. She then reappeared with a gorgeous, well-worn manta that I instantly felt connected to. The edges were frayed, and it smelled like dirt, fire and sweat - a homely, comforting smell. Maragerita had naturally dyed and wove it when her son was a baby. He is now a teen.
This is what I would bundle myself and Dominic in for the trek back to where we staying, and my choice of baby wearing for the duration of the trip.
September 1 - 3, 2019
NATURAL DYEING
Our stay in Urubamba at Willka T'ika came to an end, where we then headed to the first stay of our Tintes y Textiles Retreat organized by Aula Artesana. Nunu Boutique Hotel is nestled in the Sacred Valley in a town called Lamay, perfectly located for our first official workshop of natural dyeing with Pichinku Yarns.
We spent the evening around the fire, a glass of wine in hand, getting acquainted with each other. Everyone in the group comes from a creative background of some sort - some muralists, potters and photographers, and we all shared a desire for this cultural experience.
By morning, we were all eager to begin our day of natural dyeing. We wandered towards the river to forage a plant called chillca, that we would later prepare and use to make a mint green dye. After filling our bags, we headed to the working studio of Pichinku Yarns. Here we prepared various plant materials for dyeing, and began the extraction process.
There's something so healing about touching the plants with your bare hands, taking respectfully what you need to bring new life in the form of color to a fabric/yarn.
Throughout the day we dyed wool yarn using cochineal (red), nogal - also known as black walnut (brown), kinsa kuchu (sage green), kaka sunka (orange), q'olle (yellow), and chillca (mint green).
We then enjoyed one of the most scrumptious picnic lunch along side the river with a beautiful view of the mountains. During lunch, I had an overwhelming feeling of joy and realization that I was sitting in a place with women and men that are rich with history and culture.
Back at the Nunu Boutique Hotel, Dominic and I enjoyed the cool breeze as the evening awoke, in the festive hammock just outside our room.
September 4 - 6, 2019
SHEARING + SPINNING
We then embarked on our next adventure to the high mountains of the Andes where the Alpaca were awaiting us. We were invited by the people of Patacancha to experience and participate in a sacred ritual of the alpacas. They outfitted us in their beautiful mantas, skirts and hats and we followed along in a dance and sacrifice in preparation for shearing. We then were given the opportunity to shear a few strokes of fiber, if we so desired. And I was ALL on board for that! They use a knife and their two hands. Nothing fancy. The simplicity of their methods made it approachable, eliminating the fear I often associate with shearing an animal.
Then off to Señor Juan and Señora Elena's home to practice our hand at spinning on a drop spindle. The women made yarn with such ease and quickness. They spin nearly at all times of the day and throughout many of their other tasks. They were excited to show us this skill! Once we became sufficient at spinning, a woman lay out a beautiful assortment of hand spun and naturally dyed yarns that we could choose for our back strap weaving.
WEAVING
We choose our colors, and paired up with a weaver. Four sticks with sharpened ends were hammered in the ground as our frame for weaving and the warping process began. It took me a moment to find the rhythm and understand their process, but by the end of the day I had developed a sense of what we did and why. The day concluded and we headed down to Ollantaytambo for the night - the main town at the base of Machu Picchu.
The following morning, we made the trek back up the mountain to Patacancha where we continued to work on our weavings. (Come see my weaving in person at the studio!)
For lunch, we had a pachamanka meal. Pacha means earth and manka means oven. The food is put into a hole in the ground and then covered with dirt and a blanket until it has cooked.
Best. Meal. Ever.
Following lunch, we headed back to our back strap looms for the final stretch of weaving and finishing. And then... the goodbyes. A bittersweet moment of gratefulness and sadness. Though it was only two days, and there was a language barrier, somehow a bond was created.
As we walked back down the hill to our awaiting vehicle, I stopped for a moment. I looked up at the sky and felt a rush of emotions come over me. I held Dominic close to me as I turned and looked back at where we had spent the last two days connecting with a beautiful community. I took a deep breath, smiled and continued on. I will be back.
REFLECTING AND RELAXING
With the fiber part of the retreat over, it was time to relax and soak in the 3 immersive days of the Andean ways of textiles. Hot tub in a forest? Day trip to the famous Maras Salt Mines? Yes please! The perfect end to an amazing trip.
TAKEAWAYS
As I've sat with this experience I feel so honored that we were invited into the communities where they were excited to show us their ways of spinning, dyeing and weaving. Since my return, when sharing my experience, I've been asked, "But don't you know how to do all of that already?" Each region has unique ways and relationships with how they make their textiles. Learning the Andean traditions of textiles was simply amazing, but more than that, I am thankful that I got to spend time in a community that is so different, yet so similar to mine. We speak different languages, wear different clothes, our upbringings are much different, yet we all have a love and appreciation for fiber and an eagerness to share with those who want to learn!
A huge thank you to Sonya and Steph of Aula Artesana, and all of their collaborative partners for making this happen! <3
-Alisha and Dominic
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