Volunteering for WARP can be hard work or light. Fun or serious. Big job or small. In a team or isolated. There are many opportunities requiring many skills and welcoming many personalities. What follows are notes from some of our current 23 volunteers – over and above the nine on the board – women whose … Read more
by Julio Alfredo Cardona Morales Photography by Mark Van Wormer Image above: A group of weavers in San Rafael, Rabinal: Gilberta Gonzalez, Berta Cuja, Bernarda Morales, Celestina Gonzalez, and two others who have left the group. NOTA: puede ver la historia en español abajo del inglés Labor Supply in Guatemala Guatemala is a country with … Read more
by Ansie van der Walt Image above: a Ramallah (Palestine) head shawl, photo from @tirazcentre In her book Threads of Identity, Widad Kawar tells the stories of four women she knew who played a significant role in not only creating beautiful tahriry embroidery and malak outfits but in spreading its legacy across Palestine and beyond. Women from Beit Dajan … Read more
by Valarie James NOTA: puede ver la historia en español abajo del inglés One day in the winter of 2021, Cecilia, a mother, a migrant, and an indigenous weaver from the mountains of Guerrero in Southern Mexico, saw an old broomstick tossed aside at the border shelter in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. From that day on, … Read more
by Deborah Robson If you have not yet watched “A Sheep’s Tale: Preserving the Churro,” the WARP-organized webinar about Navajo-Churro sheep, don’t miss it. The three presenters—Molly Manzanares, Alta Piechowski-Begay, and Lyle McNeal—have been stars in one of the primary constellations by which I’ve navigated my life for a number of decades. In 1985, when … Read more
by Tara Gujadhur What do you imagine when you think of a museum? Spare displays of ancient objects on a white wall? Taxidermy? Tiny print labels with obscure words, the name of a donor, and an accession number? In the 21st century there has been the much overdue recognition that the traditional model of a … Read more
by Linda Ligon If you’re a weaver, maybe over the age of 40, and someone says “green book,” you know exactly what they’re talking about. That label doesn’t describe the title or the content or name the author, but its existence since 1944 has created an ecosystem of readers—tens of thousands of them—for whom it … Read more
Above: Group photo with the tejedoras of “Asociación de Desarrollo Integral Rial Poop B’atz”, Chamelco, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Photo credit: Lyndsay Harshman by Bob Miller The most recent WARP online panel discussion “Follow the Thread: Textile Tours and Traditional Craft” provided a welcome hour for many of us, whether experienced past or hopeful future textile travelers, to … Read more