Imagine! A 4-day hands-on weaving workshop in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, with the family of master weaver Federico Chavez Sosa. From Wednesday-Saturday. For beginners and experienced weavers!
- W-Sa, March 14-17, 2012 OR
- July 11-14, 2012
PLUS a traditional Zapotec cooking class with one of Oaxaca’s premiere cooking teachers — fun, flavorful and hands-on!
- Tuesday, March 12 OR
- July 10.
Workshop Option 1: Arrive March 12 and depart on March 18, 2012
Workshop Option 2: Arrive July 9 and depart on July 15, 2012
- Federico Chavez Sosa at the loom
“The workshop was an incredible program. I have enjoyed the process! Thank you very much for your hospitality and for sharing your talent, knowledge and wonderful teaching. I would recommend this program to any friend. This has been an unforgettable week.” –Giovanna Balarezo, New York City
Reyna at the Metate
Workshop tuition is $995 per person, including lodging (double occupancy), most meals, and cooking class. Workshop is limited to 6 participants.
Includes 22 hours of instruction, 6 nights lodging, 6 breakfasts, AND a traditional Zapotec cooking class with lunch. Perfect for fiber artists, weavers, knitters, natural dye aficionados, artists, teachers. A great shared experience for parents and children.
- Cultivating Cochineal — The Red Dye From the Insect
“Dancing on the Loom” was a marvelous experience; not only did I learn the essentials of weaving and dyeing, but I have the opportunity to see people engaging in the building of a sustainable production.” — Akilah Zuberi, Philadelphia
Not only will you learn the way Zapotecs have been weaving for over 500 years, and dyeing for millenia, you will be experiencing village life through a very unique and personal perspective.
The Federico Chavez Sosa family has traveled and exhibited throughout the United States, are in the permanent collections of galleries, museums and artists, including the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. They have exhibited and lectured widely, including at the National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago), the San Jose (CA) Quilt and Textile Museum, the American Tapestry Alliance, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Purdue University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
- Cochineal Colors
Who Should Attend: Weavers, artists, knitters, textile designers, teachers, university students, anyone interested in weaving and natural dyeing techniques, and sustaining indigenous art forms using traditional methods.
Level of Experience Necessary: These are small group, hands-on workshops that can accommodate varying levels of ability, from beginner to advanced student. Because the size of each group is limited, you will receive individualized instruction and coaching from the master weaving family of Federico Chavez Sosa. More experienced weavers can create more complex projects.
Participants will have a personal loom for the session. The loom will be dressed (warped) and ready for you to begin weaving upon arrival. Materials include your choice of naturally dyed wool yarn from which you will weave a sampler textile that can be used as a wall hanging, pillow cover, or form the body of a purse or shoulder bag. You will select the wool from colors dyed with pomegranates, pecans, mosses, indigo, and cochineal. Our participants have created amazing textiles that range from 18 inches to 30 inches in length.
What You Will Learn:
- Traditional Zapotec weaving techniques, patterns and motifs that produce squares, stripes, diagonals, circles and color gradations;
- Use of the two-harness pedal loom and shuttles;
- Practice weaving simple or more complex patterns, depending upon your level of experience;
- The cultural history of rug weaving in Teotitlan, ancient wool preparation techniques, natural dyeing methods, and how to discern synthetic dye use
- Participate in natural dyeing demonstrations to see how the range and variety of color comes from native plant materials;
- Complete a finished textile: cut the sample tapestry from the loom, clean the wool tapestry, twist and tie the fringes; and
- Work under the expert guidance of weavers who have created extraordinary textiles for generations.
Participants with Federico at the tapestry loom
Day 1: Arrive and settle in to your Bed and Breakfast lodge.
Weaving Workshop: Days 2-5, 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Day 2: Arrive at the Chavez Family Studio for an orientation and demonstration of Zapotec weaving patterns and techniques to create squares, stripes, diagonals and circles. Choose your loom and select the colors for your tapestry. Prepare the bobbins. Begin your project.
Days 3-4-5: Participate in demonstrations and then practice using the two-harness pedal loom using a variety of shuttles to make more complex patterns and greater variety of colors, experiment with using the equipment on your own, learn dyeing techniques using cochineal, indigo, wild marigold (pericone) and moss. Learn how to count threads to create a circle or square within the overall design. Finish off your piece by cutting it off the loom, rolling and tying fringes.
Day 6: After breakfast, walk around the block to the kitchen of the famed cooking teacher. You’ll go to the market with her, select the food you will prepare, join her in her kitchen for all the preparations, then enjoy what you have cooked for comida!
Day 7: Depart for the airport and home after breakfast.
What Is Included:
- All weaving equipment and supplies to create a finished wool tapestry sampler that is approximately 18” wide by 24” long
- 22+ hours of supervised instruction in English
- An educational reference notebook of workshop materials
- 6 nights lodging (double occupancy) with daily breakfast in Teotitlan del Valle at a lovely and comfortable bed and breakfast within easy walking distance of the weaving studio
Cost for the 6 Night/7-Day Program is $995 USD per person, double occupancy. Additional nights lodging can be arranged at $55 per night per person in Teotitlan del Valle. Oaxaca city extension can be arranged at $125 per night (includes breakfast).
How to Register: A $500 USD deposit is required to reserve your space.
Final payment of the balance is due 45 days before the start day of the workshop. If the final balance is not paid by then, we reserve the right to treat the reservation as cancelled and no refunds are offered. Any registrations made within 60 days of the workshop start date must be paid in full at the time of registration.
- Mountains and Rains Zapotec Rug Pattern
Cancellations and Refunds
If cancellation is necessary, deposits are refundable, as follows:
Cancellations must be made in writing by email.
Deposits may be refunded:
- up to 60 days before the workshop start date, 50% of the deposit will be refunded.
- After that, deposits are not refundable.
- If cancellation is necessary, you may apply the deposit to a future workshop scheduled in the same calendar year or transfer your registration to another person.
- We reserve the right to cancel or reschedule workshops, in which case you may choose a 100% refund or to apply the tuition to a future workshop.
We prefer payment with PayPal. See “Register Today” for form and procedures.
What Is NOT Included:
- Transportation in/to Mexico, Oaxaca and Teotitlan
- Local transportation costs (bus, taxi, collectivo)
- Gratuities and fees
- Trip insurance, medical expenses, hospitalization, and other fees
- Lunches and dinners (unless noted in the itinerary), snacks, liquor/alcoholic beverages
- Optional afternoon side trips and excursions
Upon registration for the workshop, we will provide you with:
- Transportation options to get from the Oaxaca airport to Teotitlan del Valle and your bed and breakfast
- A self-guided tour map of Teotitlan del Valle
- How to get from the airport to the village
- A seasonal packing list, and travel tips to make your journey easier and fun
Note: Zapotec weavers use the pedal loom, which they stand at to work. People who have difficulty standing for any period of time, or who have back problems are discouraged from attending. Many of Teotitlan’s streets and alleyways are cobblestone and/or dirt, with many uneven surfaces. It is a several block walk between lodging options and the weaving workshop. Please bring appropriate walking shoes.
Documentation
U.S. Citizens traveling to Mexico are required to carry a current passport, valid for at least three months after your re-entry to the U.S. It is your responsibility to obtain proper documentation. If you are not a U.S. Citizen, contact the Mexican embassy, consulate or national airline of Mexico for entry requirements.
Trip Insurance
Please consider purchasing travel insurance. Unforeseen circumstances of getting to Teotitlan del Valle could cost you more than you expected. In the event of an emergency or natural disaster caused beyond our control, trip insurance will cover any unexpected expenses.
Questions? Contact oaxacaculture@me.com
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Chiapas Notebook: Magdalena Aldama Weavers
Our recent textile study tour took place over nine days. We were based in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, with so much to see and do, and no time to write!. I’m going to start now with one highlight that happened in the middle: a visit to Magdalena Aldama, Chiapas.
A few of our group with hosts Rosa and Cristobal, Magdalena Aldama
Some of us know this village, about two-and-a-half hours from San Cristobal, as Magdalenas. Others call it Aldama. It is one and the same. Officially, it is known as Santa Maria Magdalena.
Indigenous justice and liberty are elemental here, as is native Non-GMO corn.
It took on the name Aldama in 1934 in honor of Mexican insurgent Ignacio Aldama. This is a Tzotzil village strongly aligned with the Zapatistas.
Rosa with Barbara, and a neighboring Chenalho blue emboidered top
Not many foreigners show up here. Without an introduction to a family, it would be difficult to know where to go to see extraordinary back strap loom weaving and intricate embroidery that the women here are known for.
Susie admires a finely woven, embroidered huipil
We pulled up to the village zocalo and parked near the church. Cristobal was waiting for us and took us to his family home where his wife Rosa greeted us. She was joined by family members who were busy weaving and doing fine stitching, surrounded by children.
Children hover close to mom when strangers show up
This would not have been possible without our knowledgeable guide who arranged the visit through an anthropologist friend who has been working here for some time.
Every garment handmade: the woven cloth, fine embroidery, seams, hem
After demonstrations and a stunning expoventa of very fine work, the family invited us into their kitchen where they prepared Caldo de Gallina over a wood fire.
Work continues with babies bundled across backs with rebozos
They make the soup from organic free-range chicken and fresh local vegetables. The tortillas come hot off the comal. We toast the day with posh, the local fermented drink made from corn and sugar cane.
It is quite tasty!
Indigenous rights are fragile. People here take a stand for themselves. Viva Zapata!
Women work hard here, staying close to home. Tending babies, preparing meals, cleaning up, weaving, sewing. Extended families live together in the same household and next door.
Fifteen enjoying a family meal, altar with Mayan cross in background
I saw no young men and assume they were in the fields tending to vegetables or herds of cows. Or, perhaps they were in El Norte USA trying to make a few dollars to send home. At 20 pesos to 1 US dollar now, it’s an economic advantage to go north to work. Regardless of what Agent Orange says, families do not like to be separated. They do it out of necessity.
A village Mayordomo came by to check us out and stayed for lunch
Since the village is not frequented by tourists, we had a social call by one of the village leaders, a mayordomo and friend of our host family. He saw that we were supportive of the cultural norms and stayed to talk and have lunch with us. We were not a rowdy group!
Waddle and daub traditional village construction, perfect backdrop
The large kitchen space where we had lunch, the traditional outbuilding where the expoventa (show/sale) was held, and some of the surrounding cottages, were all constructed with waddle and daub. This is different from adobe bricks. It is a great insulator, keeping the house warm in winter and cool in summer.
Yes, smoke gets in your eyes, clothes, hair and lungs in traditional kitchens
The only problem was the ventilation from the smoke, which rose to the ceiling in billows but didn’t escape readily from the open areas near the rafters. In some villages, NGOs are working with locals to create better vents so they don’t breathe the wood smoke and develop lung disease.
Britt wears an elegant dress, traditional in design
Magdalena Aldama is about ten minutes further from San Andres Larrainzar, another amazing weaving village, much larger than Magdalena. There seems to be some crossover in stitching and fashion, though for the most part women like to identify with where they are born and live by their costume.
Mom and toddler, infant sleeping behind
The finely woven mesh bags you see below are hand-woven from ixtle, the washed, pounded and softened fiber of the agave cactus leaf. The finer and smaller the bag, the more costly. The shoulder straps are soft leather. Sometimes they are finished with colorful woven edging. We love them and bought lots!
Display of blouses, bags, table runners, dresses, pillow covers
Often, the difficulty for western women is to find a garment large enough to fit us. The width here is as wide as the loom, but the arm holes and necklines can be small. So small, we can’t get the blouse over our heads or arms through the sleeves. Here, it wasn’t a problem! They knew we were coming!
Rosa holds up one her group’s fine blouses. They sold out!
On our way back to San Cristobal de las Casas, we made a quick stop in Larrainzar to check out the street scene. On the way, we passed a family of sheep herders. While the animals grazed, the women tied their looms to the trees. No one here is idle.
Looms tied to trees. Always something to weave.
In San Andres Larrainzar, we stopped at a commercial cooperative outside of town. I was disappointed in the quality and offerings, though a few of us managed to find a treasure. It’s best to find a private group!
San Andres Larrainzar main street. Hard to find a huipil for sale here.
Local women buy the embroidered bodice pieces and then stitch their own cotton or poplin (cotton/poly blend) to make the complete blouse. They like the polyester because it dries much faster. So, it’s getting more difficult to find a pure cotton garment. The embroidered pieces cost 1,000 to 1,500 pesos before being made into the blouse.
Embroidered blouse pieces, Larrainzar. White area is for head opening.
Back in San Cristobal, I wore the Magdalena Aldama blouse I bought from Rosa and Cristobal on the following day. People stopped me. Where did you find that? I told them. I visited a local Mayan coop and the manager said, “We don’t carry anything that fine. It’s hard to find and too expensive.” Well, not really. Not for us at the current exchange rate!
The weaving group in black and white.
Making a trip into the village to meet the family, share a meal and support their work was one of the highlights of this trip.
Weaving on the street, Magdalena Aldama
We are going to offer this again at the end of February 2018. Contact me if you are interested and I’ll put you on the list to let you know dates and cost. This study tour will be limited to 9 people maximum!
Games little boys play, in the doorway to the kitchen.
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Posted in Chiapas, Cultural Commentary, Photography, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged Chiapas, Embroidery, loom, Magdalena Aldama, photogrphy, photos, San Andres Larrainzer, San Cristobal de las Casas, study tour, travel, weaving