the MAIWA JOURNAL

Tuesday, July 25, 2017 No comments

Wednesday, July 19, 2017 No comments

Monday, July 17, 2017 No comments

Wednesday, July 12, 2017 No comments

WORKSHOP

NATURAL DYES & IKAT

With Mary Zicafoose & Sara Goodman

An inspiring workshop taught by two groundbreaking artists who have had a profound impact on the textile traditions and practices of artisans worldwide.

In this workshop students will work with both resist-dyed threads which are called ikat, and with direct application of dyes which is called a painted warp (or weft). Ikat tapestry weaver Mary Zicafoose of Nebraska will share techniques from her lifelong ikat studio practice, and natural dyer Sara Goodman of New England will teach warp painting with natural dyes. Students will learn how to establish and maintain a natural fermentation vat and an iron vat, as well as many other processes and techniques.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR NATURAL DYES & IKAT

CLICK HERE TO READ A FULL DESCRIPTION OF THIS 5-DAY WORKSHOP

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR MARY AND SARA'S LECTURE

IN MARY'S WORDS:

The over-and-under manipulation of individual fibres into cloth is neither a heroic nor a precious activity. It is a simple, repetitive process which, when plied with intention, artistic vision, and inspired craftsmanship, becomes the agent for textile objects of legend.

I create textiles that aspire to do more than grace museums, command public spaces, and decorate homes. They are woven metaphors that strive to tie the contemporary, the symbolic, and the timeless together—coded to become a magical and lyrical form of cloth.

It is my belief that the activity of working with fibre, the processes of spinning, dyeing, wrapping, weaving, sewing, joining—the simple yet complex acts of making cloth—can trigger spiritual and cultural memory. It is my experience and my belief that inherent in the hum and whir of the wheel, and in the rhythmical bang, bang, banging of the beater, and in the silence and the singularity and focus of the fibre processes, comes a letting go and an expansion. It is my belief that over the ages, as women, and men have stooped and bent over their handwork, their simple cloth, as well as the fine brocades of kings and queens, a greater collective emotional, energetic, and etheric fabric has been remembered and woven. Weaving has always been a portal for information, guidance, inspiration, and revelation—for meditation and renewal.

Fiber Art Now - Spring 2017 Issue - In Their Own Words (Mary Zicafoose: Midway)

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE

Tuesday, July 04, 2017 No comments

Saturday, July 01, 2017 No comments

Tuesday, June 27, 2017 No comments

Monday, June 19, 2017 No comments

New Bengal Shawls - keeping the great Indian tradition of hand spun cloth alive.

Step into summer with our latest hand spun scarves and shawls in a variety of styles and weights. This collection features jamdani embellishments; a traditional technique where the artisan uses a supplementary weft thread to create intricate designs. They also showcase the metallic sparkle of zari (gold & silver plated thread), undulating ikat, and the softness and tradition of hand spun handwoven cloth.

VIEW THE COLLECTION

What is handspun?

This is handwoven cloth made from handspun threads.

But it is so much more than simply a beautiful type of fabric. It is an idea of cultural self-sufficiency with deep roots in the Indian identity.

In its essence, handspun, handwoven is fabric created through personal labour without industrial machinery. It harkens back to the centuries when India produced some of the world's most prestigious cloth. With it’s emphasis on manual skills and hand production, handspun also had a central role to play in countering the displacement of family life that took place during industrialization.

Mahatma Gandhi saw handspun as a way to break India’s dependence on British manufactured cloth. As part of the non-violent freedom struggle, Gandhi understood that a return to hand-made cloth would strike an economic blow to Great Britain (India is one of the largest markets in the world) while empowering the Indian public with a sense of self that could be achieved by all.

Gandhi’s exhortation to boycott British imports and mill-made fabric, and for everyone to spin and weave their own cloth, is now well known. The effect of the Swadeshi (homerule) movement had the side-effect of slowing the erosion of traditional Indian hand production; —especially weaving. Because “homespun” had played an important role in creating a national identity (the spinning wheel or “charkha” is on the Indian flag) India’s craft sector continued to privilege traditional materials and methods. Handloom was encouraged and promoted.

Traditional handloom is a remarkably flexible technology. Its great advantage lies in the production of embellished fabrics such as jamdanis. A jamdani is a cloth with tiny motifs made out of supplemental weft threads. At each throw of the shuttle, the weaver stops and turns the threads of the each motif by hand. As the weaver progresses a field with patterned embellishment emerges.

Handloom also permits weaving from fibres too fine to be handled by industrial mills. The mechanism of the loom (almost always worked with bare feet) permits the weaver to judge by feel when it is too damp, or too dry to continue working with extremely fragile fine-spun cotton. Exceptional muslins - as light as the air itself - can be woven only for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening when the conditions are exactly right.