Tag Archives: Oaxaca Lending Library

Threads of Connection in Oaxaca + Chiapas: Norma Presents at OLL, Tuesday, March 5

This Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. I will be making a presentation at the Oaxaca Lending Library titled Threads of Connection in Oaxaca and Chiapas: Meeting Artisans Where They Live and Work. If you live here or are visiting, I invite you to join us. Contact the OLL website to register.

During the talk, I’ll be comparing two weaving villages, San Juan Colorado, Oaxaca, on the Pacific Coast, and San Pedro Chenalho, Chiapas, in the highlands above San Cristobal de las Casas. The talk includes weaving style, culture, women’s issues, advocacy and human rights, and the cooperative systems in which they organize themselves.

Many of you know that Oaxaca and Chiapas are the two poorest Mexican states, with Chiapas coming in last in terms of access to education, health care, and economic opportunity. Yet, both give us the most extraordinary handwoven textiles in the entire country. We will talk about why.

We will also discuss the knotty issues surrounding the topic of cultural appropriation, the perspective of artisans who must reach markets to sell their work, and what we as supporters and collectors can do to help alleviate poverty, injustice and support the continuation of centuries old textile traditions.

I hope you can join us.

Weaving from San Juan Colorado, Oaxaca

Weaving from San Pedro Chenalho, Chiapas

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.

Eric Chavez Santiago and Norma Schafer, Teotitlan del Valle cemetery, Day of the Dead 2021

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.

Artful Aprons of San Miguel del Valle Talk at OLL, January 25

The artful aprons of San Miguel del Valle are an elaborate confetti of embroidered designs. I was invited to give a talk at the Oaxaca Lending Library (OLL) on January 25, 2019 at 5 p.m. Please come! You can read more and register HERE.

Of course, you have to BE in Oaxaca, to join us!

Joining me for the talk are Jacki Cooper Gordon, who is an Envia cultural guide and Mickey Gardner, who lived in the village ecotourism cabins for a month, working with local women.

Hard to decide which one!
  • Textiles as cultural identity, and aprons in particular
  • Aprons as contemporary dress — innovation, adaptation
  • History of San Miguel del Valle and apron-making
  • Economics, production, quality
  • Cultural appropriation or cultural admiration
  • Life in a small Zapotec hill town
  • Where it is and how to get there

I got to San Miguel del Valle because I took an ENVIA tour with Jacki. She knows a lot about the history and economic development opportunities. We will talk about:

Laura and Mary in the workshop

Special Feature: We have invited embroiderers Maria Zacarias Hernandez Hernandez and her cousin Laura Miguel Hernandez to answer questions and to sell their stunning aprons. Maria is a recipient of Envia microfinancing.

Free-form, hand-guided machine embroidery

PLEASE BRING YOUR PESOS. Aprons range in price from 500-1,000 pesos, depending on complexity of design and density of embroidery. There will be about 20 pieces for sale at the OLL on the night of the talk, including bags and napkins. Sales go directly to the makers.

Traje includes two undergarments, one lacy, plus apron
Abuelas prefer a simpler style

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.

 

Oaxaca Lending Library Talk: Why Living Together is Complicated

Biological Evolution vs. Intimate Relationship: How We Are Wired & Why That Makes Living Together Complicated is the subject of a talk by Stephen Hawthorne, LCSW, scheduled for Thursday, June 23 at 5 PM at the Oaxaca Lending Library, Pino Suarez #519, Centro Historico, Oaxaca. The cost is 50 pesos (less than $5 USD).

A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Stephen Hawthorne has been on the faculty of Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, since 1977. There he created the Department of Psychiatry’s first family therapy training program, where psychiatry residents and psychology interns receive coaching and education from faculty as they work with patients in a clinical setting.

Mr. Hawthorne is in private practice in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he works with couples to improve their relationships.  Hawthorne developed ABC Therapy that combines affective, behavioral and cognitive therapy models. This combined approach has the most promising outcomes for relationship improvement.

If you are in Oaxaca next week, don’t miss this opportunity to learn more!

More information at www.stephenhawthornelcsw.com and  http://abctherapy.wordpress.com