ClothGirl

A World of Textiles and Travel

Judy

From Loving Hands…sharing stories to honor the past

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Schacht Spindle Company in Boulder recently celebrated a 50th anniversary and it got me thinking about people who helped me get started in spinning, weaving and other textile pursuits. We never get to where we are without a helping hand and honoring those who came before – the ancient ones and those closer in time – enrich our textile history and culture. There is no better way to do this than sharing stories.

I recently moved across country and my two big looms stayed behind with wonderful friends to start the next chapter in their story. And I am the proud owner of a shiny new Schacht Wolf Pup loom. As I worked to assemble it I was also knitting a cowl with very special handspun yarn that I have saved for years. It was spun on a Journey Wheel by my first spinning mentor, Edith Marsh, who was also a weaver, knitter and natural dyer. She loaned me that same spinning wheel in a box to take to the Toronto Handweavers meeting long ago. Her handspun yarn is a gift of remembrance.

I decided that my first weaving for the Wolf Pup would be made from that same handspun, a silk and wool combo, dyed with madder, in honor of Edith and all who freely pass on their knowledge. She was the consummate example of our guild’s motto Each One, Teach One, her generosity a model for all to follow. I have tried to honor her legacy by sharing my experience and enthusiasm. I bought my own Wee Peggy spinning wheel kit from New Zealand many years ago and still keep it by my side for the long rainy winters in the Northwest, but my “extra” spinning wheel lives with a friend in Colorado who is new to spinning. And so, on we go, sharing and teaching those who come into our lives with loving hands.

As an anthropologist I often yammer on about the critical importance that history and culture play in our textile continuum. All art, craft and making come from culture and reflects those who are part of that culture. Schacht Spindle Company has a culture and a history. They celebrated 50 years of hard work in an ever-changing textile world. There is a huge group of young and enthusiastic textile kids out there and we all need to band to together to keep things moving forward. You have a history that surrounds your textile work and you can honor that by sharing the history and the culture that grew your interest in textiles with the next generation.

Cloth is part of our past, present and future. It can tell the stories of our lives in a beautiful way.

Textiles Through Time, a video about my textile journey can be found by clicking the link.

Life Philosophy

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Much of my travel has focused on the cultural study of textiles, both ancient artifacts and contemporary cloth. I use textiles as interdisciplinary teaching tools in the classroom and my global perspective continually inspires me to develop future courses connecting history, geography and culture through a study of textiles. I hope this inspired enthusiasm opens my students’ eyes to the multiplicity of cultures available to travelers, to them.

I pass on what I know through mentoring, classes and exhibitions. I spent years working in classrooms as my three sons grew. I always found that textiles were a perfect way to reach children, whether it was a first grade class studying basic needs like clothing and shelter, a third grade studying the Colonial period, or sixth grade studying the Industrial Revolution. Always, textiles could be used to engage, excite and inspire.

By passing on the techniques of creating cloth and sharing the stories of woman through classes and exhibitions, I offer a bridge to understanding textiles and their place in our lives. Textiles aren’t just beautiful objects or fashion plates, but woven histories that can promote understanding of culture, reveal bits of society, and unravel a continuing story through the structures, patterns and colors in cloth.

Textiles Teach

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Although textiles are often relegated to academic backwaters in terms of anthropological research, the social significance of textiles cannot be underestimated. The most innocuous dishtowel and the most sublime Oriental rug are both produced within particular cultural contexts and are productive of those contests. Through textiles, we can explore art, society, politics, religion and more, making connections between cultures and through time. Textiles surround and swaddle us from birth to death, a part of the social fabric, bringing meaning to our physical, emotional and spiritual lives. The stories of our lives can be told through textiles. Culture and history can be explored through the study of textiles. Cloth is part of our past, present and future, embedded in our consciousness in ways we may not be aware. Exploring our textile past can reveal the hidden meanings in cloth and fill the gaps in history and cultural knowledge.

My Sonoran Souls essay and artwork speaks to the culture of cloth and how critical issues are part of the social fabric.

The Sonoran Desert is my inspiration for this small work of art. This unique desert holds many secrets; delightful and dark. Native desert plants yield dye colors to explore and appreciate, while border crossings require thoughtful soul searching. While delivering water to hidden stations in Organ Pipe National Monument, I often found scraps of cloth left behind, sometimes entire blankets which I used to create art pieces in honor of the missing. The tiny wool bundles in this piece represent the souls lost in the vastness of the Sonoran Desert; the disappeared, the desperate, the forgotten ones. Wrapped in the colors of the Southwest, Mexico and Central America, some bundles are tied, some loose, some show wear and tear from a dangerous crossing. How many are lost in this mesmerizing world of heat and beauty? We’ll never know…but they are now profoundly anchored to this landmark and threads in the social fabric of our lives.