On Thursday October 22nd, Bappaditya (Bappa) Biswas presented On the Banks of the Ichhamati. The woven textiles told the story of the famous blue mutiny - an uprising caused by British planters forcing the peasant population to grow indigo rather than food. Bappa spoke eloquently on Bengal, its history and weaving traditions. It was our first exhibition held at our new exhibition space in Maiwa East. Attendance was good and the space was full. Music was provided by Red Light Monastery. Here are some photos from the event.
On Thursday October 22, Linda Cortright gave her lecture Wild Fibers. Linda focused on cashmere goats and her travels to the Himalayas. She gave wonderful detail on some of the social aspects of the animals - few of us knew that goats were kept from freezing to death through the addition of sheep to the flock. Linda also told us everything we wanted to know about the fibers themselves - down to the width in microns. She talked about her travels generally, about offers of live goats to take home, about how many cups of butter tea she could drink to be hospitable and about how to stay warm in the desperate cold. Linda also explaned how she started Wild Fibers magazine - the very first issue of which focused on qiviuk - the subject of the next evenings lecture ...
On Friday the 23rd the hall was filled again to hear from Fernando Alvares. Fernando was born in Peru, moved to Canada, and saw an opportunity to interact with the Inuit to collect the downy underhairs of the Arctic musk ox known as Qiviuk. These he took back to peru where he met with traditional Andean spinners and knitters to spin the fiber (sometimes in combination with guanaco and vicuña). During the question and answer period Fernando introduced Marcelina Charri and Maria Lima who travelled from Peru to teach their workshop. The audience asked: given how many fibers the women had worked with, which was their favourite? The answer without hesitation - qiviuk.
Sheila Paine, who presented her talk on October 20th. Handed us a letter the other day. She has kindly granted us permission to reprint it here.
On Friday evening Michel Garcia delivered his lecture Creating a Garden of Natural Dye Plants. Michel brought his deep knowledge of botany and natural dye chemistry, combined it with a subtle humour and wonderful storytelling style to relate how the Lauris Garden of Natural Dye plants was founded and established. Sadly he also told us how, due to local politics and management conflicts the garden is now closed indefinitely. The audience was visibly moved and during the question period people asked what could be done. The garden is the only one of its type in the world, completely dedicated to botanical sources of natural colour.
Last night Stephen Huyler was in top form, delivering a stunning collection of images from his book Daughters of India. Mr Huyler has been travelling to India for 38 years and has been welcomed into the homes and heart of this vast and diverse country. The portraits of individuals show an intimacy and connection that is magical to witness.
Nilda gave a clear, direct and witty presentation as she guided the audience through the different pieces and explained technique, colour and weave. Some pieces she said are woven so tightly that they can hold water and there is a competition to take the finished piece and see how long it can hold a certain amount of water. 
... tonight with Charllotte Kwon's talk "The True Miracle Fibres: Natural Threads of the World." We are all very excited. Tonight launches the core of the Textile Symposium and we have been planning for this event over a year now. Recently we welcomed Michel Garcia and Bappaditya Biswas to Canada. It is Michel's first visit to North America and Bappaditya's first visit to Canada. Here Michel and Bappaditya are joined by Charllotte Kwon and Maiwa editor Tim Mclaughlin on the Granville Island Ferry Slip. 
We did the Silk Road Connect teacher training workshop in New York last week. This included having a row of indigo dye vats in a narrow concrete walkway next to a children's playground in Harlem, as well as Silk Road musicians doing a drum circle and a National Geographic team doing genome sampling. (Though indigo is the main thread for the pilot project it fits in the wider theme of making connections and encouraging ‘passion-driven education’, to quote Yo Yo Ma). The whole project is a fascinating work in progress that includes many partners such as Harvard educators, New York City educators and curriculum developers, museums such as the Met, and institutions like FIT, Manhattan School Music etc. A lot now depends on the experience of the teachers in the five pilot schools, with much backing, including young ‘indigo fellows’ and an indigo co-ordinator who will liaise with the schools in NYC.
Also in the loft that afternoon was Fernando Alvarez who was meeting with us to finalize details for the fashion show. Fernando works with Qiviuk (Musk Ox) from the arctic and he also has great familiarity with vicuña, guanaco, alpaca, and merino wools. Soon Jane and Fernando were talking fibers, knits, weaves, and twists. We felt like this was what the symposium was all about, putting one master of rare fibers in the same room with a master of weave structures. We just stand back and watch the energy flow.
