Threads Of Culture

Threads of Culture

Threads of Culture

Andean Textiles Through Time

The “Threads of Culture,” Andean Textiles Through Time was displayed on

October 12 – December 10 at the SFA Art Gallery. The Art Center @ The Old Opera

House at 329 E. Main Street, Nacogdoches, TX 75962 held the opening reception at

6p.m. with the speaker being Michael T Ricker who discussed were exactly the threads of

Culture came from.

The Andean textiles have surpassed the test of time as well as weaved their past

within the stitched miraculously placed with each pattern. A textile was specifically

created for a person’s family and thus stitched together with an unbreakable kind of love.

Textiles were made for social events and their social status and plus special occasions.

An Andean would offer or surrender precious commodities; however, when it came to

there textiles they would rather burn them instead of seeing them misused by an outsider.

In which case an Andean would rather be �undressed’ per say than have their work fall in

an outsider’s hand. Nonetheless, with the twentieth first century affecting the Andean

society and influencing a change in their culture true textile making are becoming limited

with time.

I have pick four different heirlooms of the Andean Cultures art that I hove found

wonderfully fascinating. The first textile was the Ponch Capete with Ikat (festival poncho)

from Bolivia, LaPaz, Apola in Circa 1900 and its length and width is 49” x 51”. The

colors red, purple, pink, lime green, brown, and tan expressed in this textile was

brilliantly eye catching. The color red is proven to cause nervousness and increase the

blood pressure if over exposure occurs for long periods of time; furthermore, the increase

in adrenaline could heighten the affects of a celebration. Each color was added to

establish a specific pattern with the color red being the most eye catching and vibrant as

if to say look at me. Since the textile was made for a festival of some sort you could say

the use of red resembled celebration and the feelings of excitement. The textile was a

form of nonrepresentational art with each pattern woven for a specific occasion. The form

a hand woven pattern made of natural thread and its content meaning power and

happiness to celebrate. Furthermore, each pattern was a three-dimensional line that

enhance the texture and shape of each pattern by visually stimulating and enhancing the

open form. Each color pattern with three medium size lines held smaller symbols that

were situated vertically and symmetrically within the section. The smaller symbols were

of a person and an animal that might represent something to do with the celebration. The

thread was stitched to perfection in a methodical fashion like the rhythm of a song each

note is placed for a specific reason.

Textiles are hand woven from natural threads with a symbolic unity and a family

diversity because not one of the textile are the same pattern; however, the weaving style

correspond to Andean heritage. More so a symmetrical balance occurs with the enfaces

the weaver uses on the measurements used in establishing how the patterns flows and

brings out the meaning behind each textile. Thus the emphasis and subordination focus

on the color scheme is the focal point and the smaller symbols add a hidden meaning to

the textile.

The Andean textiles are an art work created to tell a tale through visual

stimulation. As I walked through the gallery and gazed upon each textile the

craftsmanship was amazingly perfect as each thread was sewn as a perfect match to the

next one. The brilliant array of colors seemed to establish what each textile was made for

if there was vibrancy then a celebration was coming and the darker more subtle were for

a lower key event. However, the feelings held with in the room seemed to follow and

speak of an almost obsolete art due to the modernization of a solemn culture and sadness

seems to overtake you because the realization that these could be the last of there kind.

To understand the art of textiles you have to be able to feel the spirit held within.