As I watched Timoteo, a master weaver after more than forty-five years, work with the weavers in his Peruvian community, I realized I was also watching a master teacher. Small groups of young weavers led by more experienced weavers were learning a discontinuous warp technique (also called scaffold weaving or ‘tillca’). Timoteo observed the groups and from time to time would tell a teacher to add something to the instruction or correct how the technique was being taught. Through this type of layered learning (wherein students learn technique, and at another layer teachers learn to teach and improve their own weaving), Timoteo and the other older accomplished weavers were passing on the precious weaving techniques of their ancestors to future … Read More
Board Member Profile: Reflections on a Life Touched By Textiles
Memories flood back: Trying to get the rhythm of my grandmother’s treadle sewing machine when she taught me how to sew at age 10 . . . at 16 learning to knit from the neighbor who made me the classic blue and white sweater with skaters on it that I still have—a 1940s pattern. (Interesting that both of my daughters love textiles but are makers and creators in different forms.) My interest in textiles has been a life-long journey. My mother, who got her masters in painting at the University of Iowa in the 1930s, often drove us to the countryside, pointing out colors, textures, and landscapes—encouraging us to try new things and new colors together. Travel has enhanced my ability … Read More