March 24, 2010 - Weaving and Dyeing Techniques from Teotitlan del Valle with Erica Rothman

Ms. Rothman is an award-winning documentary film producer-director and owner of Nightlight Video Productions in Durham.  While teaching a filmmaking workshop in the town of Teotitlan del Valle outside Oaxaca, Mexico, she visited the studio of the well-known rug weaver, Eric Chavez Santiago.   Fascinated by the dyeing using natural dyes and weaving methods used at this famous rug-weaving center, Ms. Rothman will show slides of what she observed.  Ms. Rothman will have just returned from a second workshop in Teotitlan in February 2010, and will surely have additional stories to tell us. 
 
Field trip to the Gregg Museum of Art and Design, March 12

One week after our guild meeting, on Friday, March 12, we are going on a field trip.  The Gregg Museum of Art and Design, on the NC State campus in Raleigh, has an extensive and impressive textile collection that includes textiles from cultures across the world.  The Africa collection will be the subject of our field trip.  Ms. Zoe Starling, Curator of the Textile Collection, has arranged a special viewing of pieces from this collection just for our guild.  Having seen examples on the museum’s website, I can attest to the beauty of the Africa collection and strongly encourage you to join us.  Our tour is scheduled from 3 – 5 pm.

In addition to the Africa collection, we will have the opportunity to see Lia Cook’s amazing work in the Faces and Mazes exhibit, also at the Gregg Museum.  Known internationally, artist and weaver Lia Cook has explored the technology of cloth making, in particular the jacquard process.  In the Faces and Mazes series of weavings, she uses an electronic Jacquard hand loom to weave faces that appear to dissolve into   maze-like patterns.

If you’re interested in joining us for the visit to the Gregg Museum, please contact Dianne Byrne( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 919-929-8266) on or before March 5.