Stories in Cloth: Presentation at the OLL

You are invited! Eric Chavez Santiago and I are making a presentation at the Oaxaca Lending Library (OLL) on January 11, 2022 at 5 p.m. Please come if you are in Oaxaca. The library is next to the Hotel Mariposa o. Pino Suárez near Parque Llano

FACE MASKS REQUIRED. PMEASE KEEP YOUR NOSE AND MOUTH COVERED. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Here is the program:

Stories in Cloth: Deciphering and Collecting Oaxaca Textiles

Tuesday, January 11, 5:00 p.m. — 100 MXN pesos for members. 130 MXN pesos for non-members.

Using examples from their personal collection and through photographs, Norma and Eric will discuss the rich textile history of Oaxaca to help participants better understand our state’s rich weaving traditions. From the Oaxaca coast to the Mixe to the Papoalapan region, the diversity of woven cloth — wool and cotton — tells a story of people, beliefs and traditions. Each village has both similar and different stories to tell through the cloth they weave.

Eric and Norma will select villages from various regions to explore designs and materials and techniques. They will talk about how to assess quality, how to differentiate between cloth woven on the backstop loom, pedal loom or on a machine. They will discuss “fair trade,” pricing and value, authentic from copycat, and cultural appropriation.

Furthermore, they will recommend villages and makers near Oaxaca City where excellent quality can be found at fair prices.

Like Antiques Roadshow, Norma and Eric invite audience members to bring one piece from their own collection to show. Presenters will attempt to identify where it was made, how it was made, and the story in the cloth.

Bio Briefs

Norma Schafer is a retired university administrator and director of Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC. She has lived in with the Chavez Santiago family in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, since 2005. In 2006, Norma started organizing tapestry weaving and natural dye workshops, cultural and textile tours, concentrating on Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Eric Chavez Santiago was the founding director of education at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca from 2008 to 2016. In 2017, the Alfredo Harp Helu Foundation tapped him to open, manage and promote indigenous artisan craft through their new folk art gallery, Andares del Arte Popular. Eric resigned from the foundation at the end of 2021 to grow the family enterprise, Taller Teñido a Mano, which provides naturally dyed cotton yard and woven goods to a worldwide market. Eric is a native of Teotitlan del Valle and speaks three languages: Zapotec, Spanish and English.

We are pleased to present this educational program in collaboration with the OLL.