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Apr 19
Ready for Textile Travel Again
Travel hiatus seems to have passed as the pent-up wanderlust is being fulfilled this year. You may still have room in your calendar, and funds tucked away for at least one more textile travel adventure, don’t you? (We have some recommendation below!) For years, ClothRoads has enticed you, and in some cases you’ve even traveled along with us to far-flung places. Your eyes (and pocketbooks) have been opened as you’ve met artisans in their villages, watching them weave, stitch, and/or dye while producing their heritage-based products.
Recently, I met a ClothRoads-inspired traveler, Jeanette Lurier, while attending the rug symposium at the Denver Art Museum held in conjunction with the exhibit Rugged Beauty (closing May 29). Jeanette told me that all her past few years of textile travel first began with a ClothRoads textile tour recommendation. She heartily added how wonderful and engaging textile folks are, having gained many new friends through these trips.
Do you have textile travel recommendations to share? I’ll be updating the ClothRoads’s Textile Travel list in the coming months. Send your recommends and a few snaps to murphy@clothroads.com. If you’re inspired to do so, share this blog to others who have the travel itch or just want to armchair travel along with us. We’re sure to cross paths while traveling the cloth road.
Andean Textile Arts
Andean Textile Arts: Bolivia Tour
August 8 – August 21, 2023
Explore the traditional arts, cultures, and natural wonders of Bolivia. Visit the artisans of ArteCampo in Santa Cruz and the Cochabamba weavers at ASUR in Sucre. Spend time with Jalq’a and Candelaria weavers in their villages and explore the famous Tarabuco Market. Tour a silver mine in Potosi (UNESCO World Heritage site) and visit the Royal Mint House. Travel through the high plateau, see herds of llamas and vicunas, and meet local quinoa growers. Watch the sunset over the magical salt planes of Uyuni and spend the night in a salt hotel. Visit the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore in La Paz. Explore the shores of Lake Titicaca. Wander through the Witches’ Market in La Paz and view the city from above on telefericos. Contact Pam Art at tours@andeantextilearts.org for details.
Behind the Scenes Adventures
Textile and Festival Tour of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
July 21 – August 8, 2023
Come and enjoy the best of all three countries – the most interesting textiles, festivals, architecture, and archeology, including three UNESCO World Heritage sites in this small group tour. Meet indigo dyers and ikat weavers at work and learn about their dyeing methods on silk and cotton. See loads of stunning hand weaving, most of them patterned with the complex ikat or mat-mi technique. Attend the Wax Candle Festival or Khao Phansa in Ubon Ratchathani. This exciting event showcases some of the country’s best artistry with hand-carved wax Buddha figures on floats in a parade with musicians and dancers. Bucket list destinations are included on this 19-night tour, such as the ancient Khmer complex of Angkor Wat, and the royal city of Luang Prabang with its golden temples!
Flora Felts
West Hungary Felt Retreat
August 23 – Sept 1, 2023
Meet up in Budapest then head to the West to stay in historic downtown Kőszeg. The workshops will take place in the 120-year-old MuliFelt Factory. Internationally recognized, innovative instructors will teach the workshops: Anikó Boros will present a workshop on how to make a jelted jewelry, and Flóra Carlile-Kovács will teach a three-and-a-half-day workshop with the help of the old industrial equipment. Between the workshops, take a day trip to Vienna, and visit the Museum of Art Nouveau, and a half-day trip to visit Liliomkert craft and antique market. This is a limited space retreat with a small group size. Contact Flora@florafelts.com
Tia Stephanie Tours
Feria Del Rebozo: Ikat Traditions and Techniques
September 2023 (exact dates to come)
This trip is scheduled around the Feria del Rebozo in Tenancingo, the rebozo mecca of Mexico, known for exquisite ikat (jaspe) dye resist rebozos. Enjoy this unique opportunity to see and purchase collection quality rebozos, as well as the lovely and comfortable ones for daily wear. Meet numerous artisans and begin to see the designs each is most known for. After Tenancingo, continue to Michoacan to visit special rebozo weaving communities and to learn about the rebozo as an essential element of the ethnographic Purepecha dress.
Andean Textile Arts
Textile Tour of the Cusco Highlands, Peru
October 15 – 26, 2023
Visit remote weaving communities of the Cusco Highlands accompanied by Nilda Callañaupa, Quechua master weaver and founder of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco. Be welcomed with special ceremonies and demonstrations (and textiles!) by the weavers. Encounter many of the greatest archaeological sites of the Incan Empire: the massive ceremonial center of Sacsayhuaman above Cusco, the fortresses of Pisac and Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, and the crown jewel, Machu Picchu. Explore the ruins as our private guide Raul Jaimes shares his knowledge of Incan architecture and history. Stop for views of the glacier Chicon on your way to Nilda and Raul’s hometown of Chinchero, where a traditional Andean lunch will be served, take part in a natural dye workshop, and tour the traditional House of the Weavers. Cap off the tour in Lima with a viewing of the Amano Museum’s private collection of exquisite pre-Columbian textiles.
Optional Extension to Ecuador: October 26 – 31, 2023.
Explore Quito, including the museum of Ecuadorian handcrafts. Then spend three nights at the lovely Hacienda Cusin, discovering the hacienda’s own textile collection and visiting artisan weavers and embroiderers in and near Otavalo.
Interested in joining our next trip? Contact Pam Art at tours@andeantextilearts.org.
A Memorable Textile Tour to India
December 28, 2023 – January 10, 2024
Do you dream of travel, meeting artisans and enjoying exquisite handmade textiles? Judy Frater, who lived in India for 30 years and established the first design school for artisans, is planning a unique experience of intimate exchanges with textile artisans of Kutch and Ahmedabad. Meet weavers, block print, batik and bandhani artists, embroiderers who have graduated from the year-long design course and more, hear their amazing and heartwarming stories, and delight in their fabulous innovations. Learn craft traditions in four hands-on workshops. Savor a visit to the world-famous Calico textile Museum and authentic Gujarati cuisine. Most important, your experiences will encourage you to contemplate traditional lifestyles and the complex issues of traditions adapting to the fast-evolving contemporary world, and to ponder concepts of sustainability. If interested, please contact judyf@textileslive.com
Armchair Travel to Peru
Want to learn more about the culture and history of Peru? From the rainforests of the Amazon, to the Sacred Valley of the Inca, to the Nazca Lines in the south, Peru is a rich environmental and archeological tapestry stretching back over two thousand years.
Andean Textile Arts brings you a limited series of online talks from Raul Jaimes Callañaupa. Named one of the “Best of the Best” tour guides by Overseas Adventure Travel, Raul has been leading tours in Bolivia and Peru for twenty-three years, including those for Andean Textile Arts. A native of Chinchero, Peru, and the son and grandson of weavers, Raul is passionate about sharing Andean culture. The cost of each Zoom talk is $20, to help support Andean weaving communities. All four programs will be recorded, and registrants will receive a link for viewing.
The four lectures will take place Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. EDT, beginning April 20. Descriptions and registration links are here.
Don’t Miss This Exhibit: Closes May 29.
Seattle Art Museum
Ikat: A World of Compelling Cloth.
March 9 – May 29, 2023. Seattle, Washington.
Pardah hanging, late 19th century, Silk Road (Uzbekistan), silk, warp ikat, cotton weft, 90 x 65 in. Collection of David and Marita Paly.
Enter the woven world of ikat, a complex textile pattern that knows no borders. Presenting over 100 textiles from the museum’s global collection and loans, Ikat: A World of Compelling Cloth is an introduction to the meticulous and time-honored processes of dyeing threads to create complicated hand-weaving. Elegant Japanese kimonos and furnishings, silk robes from Central Asia, symbolic cloths from Indonesia, and more will fill SAM’s galleries. The exhibition also offers the immersive experience of walking into an ikat, with an installation by contemporary artists Rowland and Chinami Ricketts that flows from the floor to the ceiling. A radical departure from today’s factory-made cloth, ikat serves as a reminder of the power of slow fashion and the sacredness of clothing as art.
