Andean Textile Arts (ATA) runs 100% on the efforts of dedicated volunteers—individuals like Stefanie Berganini, who was the driving force behind the recent launch of our new and improved web site. Stefanie is no stranger to web design as well as the textile arts and their importance in the world’s cultures. She spent several years at Interweave Press, first as an intern with Fiber Arts magazine, then assistant editor of Spin-Off, and finally as managing editor of Stitch. After she left Interweave, she worked in the non-profit world until she opened her own freelance marketing and graphic design business. Today, Stefanie is pursuing a new career: she recently completed her master’s degree in anthropology and is now working on a … Read More
How ATA Supports the Revitalization of Textile Techniques
Can you imagine recreating a textile technique of the Nazca people who lived on the southern coast of Peru from 100 BC to AD 200? I recently saw an example of this technique in a detailed border fragment at the Art Institute of Chicago exhibit “Super/Natural: Textiles of the Andes.” The stitch used to make the three-dimensional plant and animal forms (shown in the picture above) is a complex looping and cross-knit looping technique. There is an ATA link to this pre-Columbian technique. For the past two years, your donations have been supporting weavers at the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) in revitalizing this cross-stitch looping. They have spent hundreds of hours bent over tiny needles, working with … Read More
The Road to Reclaiming an Ancient Paracas Textile Technique
An amazing exhibit of work by the Andean weavers of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) was recently on display (May 3-June 30) at the Museo Inka in Cusco, Peru. The exhibit, “Reclaiming Ancient Paracas: The Struggle to Recover a Textile Technique” (sponsored by Andean Textile Arts), showcased pieces the weavers created using the pre-Colombian Paracas and Nasca tubular cross-knit looping technique. Recovering textile practices of one’s ancestors takes time and dedication. The exhibit originated nearly three years ago when 20 Andean weavers from CTTC-associated weaving communities attended a workshop at the 2017 Tinkuy conference (also sponsored by ATA). In a unique union of academic and indigenous descendants of the Nasca, professors Soledad Hoces de la Guardia and … Read More
Bring Peru to You with our PTIAB Progam
Peruvian Textiles in a Box (PTIB) allows you to experience the traditional textiles and meet some of the peoples of Peru without having to leave the comfort of your guild or classroom meeting space! This is an all-inclusive educational program that provides an introduction to, and education about, Peruvian indigenous textiles and the skilled artisans who make them. Through the documentary video, Peruvian Weaving Revival by Janet Darrow and actual samples of the artisans’ works, you will meet the weavers, dyers, knitters, and spinners of the Peruvian Highlands who are cooperative members of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC). This self-contained program is designed for fiber guilds, educational settings, and other interested groups. It is packaged with: a 25-minute video which … Read More
Cochineal: A Simple Bug on a Cactus Pad
The indigenous Mixtec people of Mexico tell the story of two brothers, gods in the land of the “cloud men,” who raged in mortal conflict over fields of nopal cacti. Their blood fell upon the fields, splattering the pads of the nopal and giving future generations an “ink that would circulate through their very veins.” Thus, cochineal was born in the Mixtec pantheon of the gods. Used in ancient times as paint, a cosmetic, and eventually textile dye, cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) is a tiny scale parasitic insect that originated in the Andean regions of what is now Peru, Argentina, and Bolivia. It migrated via coastal trade routes north into Mexico some 2,200 years ago. Its use as a textile dye … Read More
Andean Textile Arts Goes to Bolivia!
For the first time, Andean Textile Arts is offering a Bolivian artisan tour. While the inaugural tour is already full for August 2019, we expect this to be an annual event, in addition to our popular annual Peruvian Highlands Tour. Bolivia will provide us with natural wonders to explore, along with traditional arts, cultures, and bustling markets. We’ll visit the lowland artisans of ArteCampo in Santa Cruz who produce indigenous and campesino craft goods and weave with the jipijapa palm. From Santa Cruz we’ll fly to Sucre, one of Bolivia’s most charming cities. There we’ll take a walking tour and visit ASUR, a nonprofit that helps weaving communities, such as Jalq’a and Tarabuco, maintain their traditions by promoting the production … Read More
Las Tradiciones Viven: The Next Generation of Weavers
One of the biggest concerns, for those of us who love and work with indigenous textiles from around the world, is “Who will carry on the traditions?” Young people once learned from their elders, stayed in their home villages, got a sixth-grade education at most, married young, and spun and wove for the rest of their lives for subsistence wages. Today they carry cell phones to connect to the outside world and aspire to go to high school or university. The allure of a profession in the city is powerful. To seek an easier, more forward-looking life should be their right. But then what about those exquisite traditional textiles, the ones that require weeks or months of skilled work for … Read More
Peruvian Textiles in a Box: Textiles and Traditions of the Peruvian Highland Weavers
You can meet the weavers, dyers, knitters, and spinners of the Peruvian Highlands without leaving home. The ATA educational program “Peruvian Textiles in a Box: Textiles and Traditions of the Peruvian Highland Weavers” presents the arts and artisan members of the Center for the Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) through a 25-minute documentary video, Peruvian Weaving Revival by Janet Darrow, and five presentation boards of twenty actual samples of unique textile techniques the artisan’s work. Now in its second year, this self-contained program has been traveling the U.S. to fiber guilds or other groups who want an introduction to and education about Peruvian indigenous textiles and the skilled artisans who make them. If you’re interested in renting this fascinating and … Read More
Reviving the Paracas and Nazca Looping Technique
During Tinkuy 2017, twenty weavers from the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) participated in a workshop on the Paracas and Nazca looping technique with two professors from Chile, Soledad Hoces de la Guardia and Ana María Rojas. In order to encourage the study of this pre-Colombian textile technique, looping became the theme for the CTTC annual competition this year. In a scant five months, two weavers who participated in the Tinkuy class taught workshops to a few members from each of the ten communities, who then returned to their communities to teach what they had learned. A competition was set among the communities with categories for adult weavers and young weavers. The external judging took place on August 15 … Read More
2018 Andean Arts Textile Tour
2018 Andean Arts Textile TourOctober 22- November 2 For many people, traveling to Peru and experiencing Machu Picchu is on their “bucket list.” For those of us who celebrate artisan textiles, that dream may include the opportunity to visit some highland villages, meet the weavers in person, and see their hands at work on the patterns that have been passed down for generations. And what if you could try your own hands at spinning, backstrap weaving, or natural dyeing? Even better, what if you could do all that accompanied by internationally recognized Quechua master weaver Nilda Callanaupa? That dream would be almost too good to come true! Almost. The good news is that we have arranged all those experiences for … Read More