From the CPGH mailbox, a class offering from the Penn museum:

Mayan Threads in Transition
The Stories They Tell
With Barbara Knoke de Arathoon and Special Guests

Maya weavers use the backstrap loom to create beautiful, colorful textiles that express their social and aesthetic traditions, as well as their individual creativity and contemporary fashions. Join us as we explore the roots and meanings of this living tradition through five weekly interactive conversations, beginning September 9 and concluding October 7. We will cover the history, materials, techniques, and woven symbols of this ever-evolving art form, and participants will be treated to a demonstration by a master weaver. Expert lecturers will use textile samples from the Penn Museum, Friends of the Ixchel Museum, the Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena, and private collections to bring lessons to life in each virtual class.

Barbara Knoke de Arathoon, Guatemalan, has a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from Wayne State University, Michigan. She is an associate researcher at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and the Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, where she was technical director (2005–2008) and exhibitions director (1991–2008). She is an international speaker, has written books and articles on the Indigenous textile tradition and is co-author of Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (2010). A permanent member of the Academia de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala (Academy of Geography and History of Guatemala) since 2000, she has held various offices on its Board of Directors and was president from 2013 to 2015.

https://www.penn.museum/calendar/888/the-deep-dig

From member Kris Peters, a video clip of a Zapotec weaver in California.

https://porfiriogutierrez.com/

From member Kathy King:

Knockando Wool Mill - Presentation of Timeless Skills

It is always fun to see machines in action!

An email came into the centralpaweavers mailbox that may be of interest.

Workshop Description:   "Create a lovely scarf inspired by the fabrics of Guatemala! We’ll use the color wheel, mathematical formulas, yarn wrapping, and a few other design tricks to plan a striped ikat warp in tencel or cotton yarns.
We will have several sessions on Zoom, going step by step through the process of design, warping, and dyeing. We will start by learning about color and ordering any yarns we may need. Then we will design and wind our striped warp. Some warps will be tied and then dyed for ikat, using a special knotting technique and easy to use fiber reactive dye. You will do the tying, dyeing and then the weaving on your loom in your choice of twill or plain weave.”
Note:  the dyeing is not complicated: it is a one-step process, can be done in a bucket of hot tap water, with another bucket or a sink for rinsing.  Should be done outdoors or in a very well-ventilated space, and you should wear a dust mask and gloves.  You can do as much of your scarf warp as you want, wide or narrow stripes.  


For more information on Linda's work, see lindahartshorn.com.

Dates: Tuesdays - July 6 and 27, August 3 and 10.  Starting at 7 p.m. First two sessions might be two hours, others will be about one hour.  
Cost $80 HWG Member   $100 Non-Member  [At this time, HWGNRV membership is $10, till our new year begins in September.]  We cannot take electronic payments, so you must send a check.
Location: Virtual Workshop using Zoom
Maximum Number of Participants: 20
Workshop Level: Intermediate - participants must be able to warp a loom independently and fully understand the basics of 4-shaft or 8-shaft weaving and drafting.

Cutoff date to cancel workshop if we do not get enough registrants is June 6. 

If you are interested, contact Pat Tracy at pattracy@gmail.com.

An email came to the centralpaweavers mailbox that may be of interest to members:

Dear Fiber Guild members,
 
It is my pleasure to provide information about the 2021 Pennsylvania Make It With Wool contest.  This contest is open to any Pennsylvanian who sews, knits, crochets, or weaves garments using wool or wool blends (must be at least 60% animal fiber).  The contest is held annually in October, usually at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg.  The garments that youth and adults create for the competition’s various age categories can be absolutely beautiful.  Our state winners in some categories proceed to national competition, sometimes winning national recognition.
 
I encourage Fiber Guild members to sew, knit, crochet, and/or weave for this contest and have fun creating with wool!  More detailed information and the Entry Form (due by September 4) is attached.   Please forward to anyone who may be interested in this program for themselves or their students or family members.

Linda Siegel, Director
PA Make It With Wool

An email came into the centralpaweavers mailbox that may be of interest to some members.

In April, the Penn Museum will be hosting an adult class "Ancient Threads" about world textiles.  View stunning and distinctive textiles from Asia, the Near East, Africa, and the Andes as we explore how fabric, weaving, and fashion have shaped agriculture, empire, colonialism, and contemporary globalism. 

Deep Dig- Ancient Threads
Four Thursdays: April 1, 8, 15 and 22
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
With Dr. Anne Tiball
This Deep Dig course unearths the rich and varied history of cloth and clothing, from the first twisted string to the modern fashion industry. What materials have cultures across the world used to make textiles? How and why were they created? View stunning and distinctive textiles from Asia, the Near East, Africa, and the Andes as we explore how fabric, weaving, and fashion have shaped agriculture, empire, colonialism, and contemporary globalism. Join Dr. Anne Tiballi for this four-part online course offering a dynamic, in-depth learning experience with up-close investigations of artifacts from the Museum’s collections.
Dr. Anne Tiballi is the Andrew W. Mellon Director of Academic Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. After completing her undergraduate degree in anthropology at Vassar College, she began graduate study at Binghamton University and performed her dissertation research on the archaeological materials from the Cemetery of the Sacrificed Women, Pachacamac, Peru, at the Penn Museum. Dr. Tiballi specializes in the analysis and interpretation of ancient textile materials, with a particular interest in the social dimensions of technology. She has worked with textile collections from several coastal Andean sites, including Huayuri, Cerrillos, and Casa Vieja in the Ica Valley. As Director of Archaeological Textile Students for the California Institute of Peruvian Studies, Dr. Tiballi led an annual field course on the analysis, reproduction, and field conservation of textiles from the prehistoric Andes, which has been held in Arequipa, Peru and at Bryn Mawr College.

An email came to the centralpaweavers mailbox, and I thought the info worth sharing:

The Viral Imaginations project is a web-based gallery and archive of current and former Pennsylvanians’ creative responses to the coronavirus pandemic. The curated galleries feature creative writing and 2D visual art and are available at: viralimaginations.psu.edu. Submissions are also made directly to the site using forms found on the home page. We encourage submissions from all ages and all levels of ability. We want to see your work and hear your voice!

Most of the visual items are drawings or paintings, but there is some fiber in there! Regardless of the media, there are many impactful pieces. 

Laura

Member Robin Lunger sent in this article from the Magazine of Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian about woolly dogs:   https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/a-woolly-tale

I was happy to see the announcement about HGA's new 'Textiles and Tea' program:
https://weavespindye.org/textiles-and-tea/

Programs are free, and an hour is just long enough to be inspired!

Member Robin Lunger sent in this article about improvements in textile development.
https://naplesdailynews-fl-app.newsmemory.com/?publink=0543ad92b

Reading it, I am reminded how fortunate we are to be able to weave because it brings us joy, not out of necessity.  How much time would we be spending daily on spinning/weaving/knitting/sewing if we had to produce ALL the textiles our family needed?