Search by Topic
Stay Connected!
LIKE Us on Facebook!
Social Media Connections
-
Connect: email, text or WhatsApp +1-919-274-6194, FB Messenger, IG
-
Why Travel With Us: Help sustain regenerative traditions.
-
- We know the culture! This is our land! We are locally owned and operated.
- Eric Chavez Santiago is tri-lingual --Spanish, English, Zapotec.
- Eric was founding director of education, Museo Textil de Oaxaca + folk art expert
- Norma Schafer has lived in Oaxaca since 2005.
- Norma is a seasoned university educator.
- We have deep connections with artists and artisans.
- 63% of our travelers repeat -- high ratings, high satisfaction.
- Wide ranging expertise: textiles, folk art, pottery, cultural wisdom.
- We give you a deep immersion to best know Oaxaca and Mexico.
-
We organize private travel + tours for museums, arts, organizations, collectors + appreciators.
-
Creating Connection and Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
-
What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
-
OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here
-
Meet Makers. Make a Difference
-
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
-
Programs can be scheduled to meet your independent travel plans. Send us your available dates.
-
Arts organizations, museums, designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
-
Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *North Carolina Museum of Art *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
-
Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
PRESS
- WEAVE Podcast: Oaxaca Coast Textiles & Tour
- NY Times, Weavers Embrace Natural Dye Alternatives
- NY Times, Open Thread–Style News
- NY Times, 36-Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico
Our Favorites
- Cooking Classes–El Sabor Zapoteco
- Currency Converter
- Fe y Lola Rugs by Chavez Santiago Family
- Friends of Oaxaca Folk Art
- Hoofing It In Oaxaca Hikes
- Living Textiles of Mexico
- Mexican Indigenous Textiles Project
- Museo Textil de Oaxaca
- Oaxaca Lending Library
- Oaxaca Weather
- Taller Teñido a Mano Natural Dyes
Pita: The Silk of the Pineapple Leaf
The pita (pee-tah) I am referring to is NOT the middle eastern flat bread that most of us are familiar with. It is the fiber produced from the pineapple leaf after it is pounded, smashed, torn into long strips, soaked and washed, dried, then used for weaving, crocheting and embroidery. It has the look, texture, and strength of silk. The exhibition opening we attended on Friday evening, August 15, 2008, at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca featured this extraordinary and beautiful material — one of the indigenous useful plant fibers of southern Mexico. Pita has been used in Mexico to decorate the leather belts, saddles, and other finery that accompany the rodeo horsemen. Its fine, silky texture is easy to manipulate to add texture and design. Today, it is also being used to create fantastic jewelry. The museum had a great display of necklaces, bracelets and earrings that had been woven and/or crotcheted with pita, then dyed with cochineal and other dye stuffs. They offered a range of designs for sale in their gift shop, too. The jewelry makes a great statement and is lightweight. What amazes me is how such intricate and fine work can be so inexpensive. Necklaces ranged from $8 to $90 USD; bracelets and pairs of earrings were around $20 USD. It was easy to support the museum by buying a few of these to give as gifts. It seemed that the entire expatriate Oaxaca community came out for this opening, dressed in their huipil finery and silver jewelry. Alongside them were art students, designers, educators, politicos, and culture afficionados. The placed was packed, bumper to bumper. The museum is encouraging international visitors and we saw many Estadounidenses, and tourists from Spain, Germany, and England. The cacaphony of language variation was music to my ears.
One of the primary purposes of the museum is to educate weavers, artists and the public about fibers and natural dyes through exhibitions, demonstrations, and discussions. During a presentation by Eric Chavez Santiago, coordinator of educational services, we learned that pre-Hispanic fibers found in the Oaxaca region are ixtle (maguey or agave cactus), henequen (agave), pita (“silk of the Oaxaca rain forest”), natural coyuchi cotton (the color of caramel syrup), chichicastle (ficus tree bark), and wild silk. In addition, the yucca plants yield a fiber called petate which comes from the Mixtec highlands; hammocks are woven from henequin; and pita grows in the rain forests from Oaxaca to Colombia. Amate paper is derived from the yellow bark from the tree of the same name, which artists prize for oil and water color painting. Many people have lost the knowledge about how to grow and use these ancient plant fibers, so featuring them at the museum is an important part of cultural preservation.
With the Spanish conquest, hybrid white cotton, wool and cultivated silk (bombyx) were introduced. The Spanish also introduced the reed for the loom, the fixed frame, two-pedal loom, and the white mulberry tree for silk cultivation. The wild silk was found along the coast of Oaxaca, which is hand-spun using a drop spindle, then woven by women using traditional back strap looms (without reeds).
The botanical gardens on the back side of Santo Domingo Church and the cultural museum (corner Reforma and Gurrion) has an English language tour every Saturday at 11:00 a.m. The gardens feature a section on native plant materials used for weaving and dyeing. This was created some years ago by Alejandro de Avila, the curator of the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, and is another Oaxaca must-see. One must join a tour in order to see the gardens; there is no independent meandering!
Like this:
4 Comments
Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Oaxaca rug weaving and natural dyes, Travel & Tourism
Tagged Alejandro de Avila, churrascurro, crochet with pita, Mexican rodeo, Museo Textil de Oaxaca, natural dyes, Oaxaca Botanical Gardens, Oaxaca pita fiber, Oaxaca textile museum, pineapple plant fiber, pita embroidery, plant fibers for weaving, rodeo adornment, silk of the pita, textile art, textiles, weaving