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.
Oaxaca Lending Library “On The Rocks” Concert Shakes ‘Em Up
What do expats, snowbirds, Norteños and extranjeros do for fun in Oaxaca [besides learning Spanish]? The Sunday afternoon concerts hosted by Jane Robison at Casa Colonial are one way to get together, shake-shake-shake to 60’s and 70’s classic rock, drink Margaritas, swill some Victoria, slurp an agua de jamaica and support the good work of the Oaxaca Lending Library. Admission: 60 pesos. Contact the Oaxaca Lending Library for schedule!
Mick Jagger could learn a few things from Kimberly Reyes [on vocals and percussion]. Her trained voice is clear with great range and she can really move, inspiring the crowd to get up and dance. And, we did!
On The Rocks organizer Kurt Hackbarth on keyboards is a playwright and author who has a work in production in the city. He also teaches playwriting in Spanish to local aspiring writers. Electric bassist Bill Stair hails from the U.K., Oaxaqueño Luis Santos is on drums, and electric guitarist is Rafael Gonzålez Lumbreras is from Mexico City. The band definitely represents the multiculturalism that makes Oaxaca so great.
On Saturday mornings the Oaxaca Lending Library is a hub of activity. Children gather around tables to learn English using hands-on coloring tools, coached by volunteers and parents. Adults are in dyads to talk back-and-forth in English and Spanish, locals teaching visitors and vice versa.
The Library is also an extraordinary resource for jobs, volunteer opportunities, things for sale or wanted to buy. Workshops, trips and event posters cover the bulletin boards. A complete library of books, videos and CDs in Spanish and English are available, too. Along the edge of the room, young mothers hold newborn infants close to them, swaddled tightly.
Education is central to the OLL mission and extranjeros seem to enjoy supporting this while having a good time, too.
Resources:
Oaxaca Lending Library, Piño Suarez near Llano Park.
On The Rocks, classic rock band for hire, contact Kurt at (951) 203-2749 or Kimberly at (951) 513-5574.
Casa Colonial, Miguel Negrete #105 at the corner of Division Oriente (extension of Morelos), house with the purple door. This is a magnificent hacienda on incredible grounds covered with old growth bougainvillea, agave, cactus and shade trees, filled with original Oaxaca art by some of the now deceased folk masters, and a comfy living room with a complete library in English and Spanish. The Swiss mining engineer who built the adobe hacienda long ago framed the fireplace with mineral rocks. Owner Jane Robison opens the Casa to support community endeavors.
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