In October 2022 we visited the Uros communities on their floating reed islands on Lake Titicaca. I wondered why would their ancestors chose to create and live on floating islands, when there’s so much open land altiplano surrounding the lake. It seemed like a challenging existence. According to legend, the Uru (or Uros) people originated in the Amazon region and migrated to the area of Lake Titicaca in the pre–Columbian era, where they were oppressed by the local population and unable to secure land of their own.1 Another source added that the Uros people considered themselves the owners of the lake and the water and that they had black blood because they did not feel the cold.2 A third resource … Read More
Knitting, Weaving, and Courtship on the Isle of Taquile
A two-and-a-half-hour boat ride from Puno on Lake Titicaca, itself a day’s bus ride from Cusco, brings you to the remote island of Taquile, whose indigenous Quechua-speaking inhabitants weave and knit some of the finest textiles in the Andes. Rising more than 700 feet above Titicaca’s vast expanse, this rocky island has been home to its Quechua-speaking community since before the time of the Incas. Ancient ruins on the island date from 1200 CE and pre-Columbian farming terraces are still cultivated. Due to its isolation, the island was one of the last communities of the Inca empire to be brought under control of the Spanish in the sixteenth century. The Spaniards renamed the place Taquile after a prominent Spanish nobleman. … Read More
Indigo Mules
We flew to Peru carrying precious cargo in our suitcases—seventeen 1-pound bags triple-wrapped in plastic, and labeled “Ground Indigofera Tinctoria” just in case our bags were searched. This wasn’t the first time we were asked to be “indigo mules” and I’m sure we haven’t been the only carriers over the years. This indigo would be given as gifts to each of the ten weaving communities, association members of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC), who the ATA board and volunteers would be visiting in late October (2022). Recovering Natural Dye Usage Since the 1990s, the CTTC has worked to recover the practice of natural dyeing in the Cusco region. Through extensive research, attending workshops, talking with natural dye … Read More
Join Us on ATA’s first Ecuador Explorations!
Although Ecuador may be small, it’s a remarkable country of extremes. From the Andean highlands and volcanic mountains to Amazonian rainforests and the unique Galapagos Islands, Ecuador is one of the most environmentally diverse countries in the world. These varied landscapes translate into rich cultural heritages and a vast array of folk art traditions. That is why we are so excited to be offering ATA’s first two trips to Ecuador this fall: a five-night extension following our Peru trip in October, or an eleven-night comprehensive trip, in November. Our tours will visit the Andean high Sierra near Quito and Otavalo in the north. The longer trip also includes Cuenca in the south. Both Quito and Cuenca are UNESCO World Heritage … Read More
Power to the Potato!
Serve up the papas fritas, French fries, or pomme frites! May 30, 2024 will be the first-ever International Day of the Potato, a date chosen to coincide with the historic Peruvian National Potato Day celebrations. This is the first time that the United Nations has ever declared an international day for a major crop. They recognize potatoes have an important role in helping to eradicate poverty, improve food security, and provide healthy and nutritious food to millions of people. Potatoes are one of the five most consumed crops around the world following wheat, rice, corn, and sugarcane. And although you may initially think of German potato salad or French fries, potatoes were first domesticated between 8,000-10,000 years ago in southeastern … Read More
The Re-Emergence of Ticlla-Watay: An Overview
A number of pre-Columbian textiles are so technically sophisticated that scholars today can’t be sure how they were made. Breathing new life into “lost” textile forms has been an important focus of the ten community weaving associations of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC), where they continue to re-vitalize Andean textile traditions and techniques. Between roughly 600 and 900 CE, the Nazca and Wari peoples evolved a very complex textile form, referred to as “Wari tie dye” by museums and scholars. These ancient pieces rival 1960’s tie dye in their vibrant designs, but the techniques are dauntingly complex, combining resist dyeing and multi-colored, de-constructed, and re-constructed woven cloth shapes. In 2020 Andean artisan weavers living in several of … Read More
What’s Happening in Peru?
It was just a few months ago that we sent our holiday greeting to you, expressing gratitude for your support this past year. We were rejoicing that after a three-year COVID-forced hiatus, the ATA board had been able to visit the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) and many of the weaving communities. Tourism was rebounding in Peru and the CTTC was poised to welcome all. Fast-forward four months and life in Peru has once again been altered due to political volatility. Tourism has come to a screeching halt. Inflation has at least tripled. And our dear weaving friends, who rely upon tourist and the support of the CTTC, are once again thrust into an unknown future. Of course, … Read More
A Virtual Visit to the Weavers of Cusco: A Special Benefit Program
We hope that you will join us on April 1 for a special event to benefit the communities of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC). The CTTC supports groups of weavers in ten villages, each community with its own unique dress, textiles, and techniques. The weavers depend on sales of their textiles to help support their families and send their children to school. For several years, COVID halted tourism and, thus, textile sales. Now, just as Andean communities were beginning to recover and regain hope, the political strife in Peru has brought tourism to a halt, once again. But where there are caring hearts, there is always hope On April 1, ATA and CTTC are teaming up to … Read More
Travel to the Andes in 2023 with ATA!
Our Andean Textile Arts board recently had a scouting visit to Peru (and Ecuador) and we are so very pleased to report that we feel able to begin our textile tours again in the fall of 2023! We found the weavers eager to show us all that they have been working on during the pandemic and especially excited for tours to start up again! We’ve even added an optional extension to Ecuador that we expect will be very popular. And, once again, Raul Jaimes will be our guide in Peru. In addition to our fall tour, we have one to Bolivia as well. We are finalizing the costs and exact itineraries for both tours, but we have dates: PERU FALL … Read More
Cataloging & Using Traditional Designs
The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC) has long understood the importance of documenting weaving designs, techniques, and other textile traditions that were disappearing over time. One of the early goals was to create a simple design catalog as a physical archive documenting a woven example of each design and its name. In 2020, the CTTC completed the documenting of the designs from all ten communities, finishing it during Covid, which helped to maintain contact with the weavers. In 2021, the CTTC expanded the design catalog from a physical archive to a digital database, taking photos of all the designs and collecting histories from the weavers about each design. By the end of this year, all of the CTTC’s … Read More