On this journey, we’ll travel to “La Chinantla”, a region of Oaxaca that topographically and culturally is distant from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. Bordered by Veracruz to the North and the Sierra Juarez Mountains to the South, this is a singular cultural region of Mexico. From low coastal plains and river banks, to mountain shrouded in clouds, the land and people offer incredible landscapes and deep traditions. On this trip, we’ll meet Chinantec and Mazatec people and communities.
This trip is designed as a special study trip opportunity for WARP members to observe dress of this region from the prior decades and to see how it may / may not have changed or evolved today. We will photograph, take notes and compare to the early field work of Irmgard Weitlaner-Johnson, and meet with her daughter Kirsten, when we arrive in Oaxaca on June 8.

After the WARP Annual Meeting, we’ll fly to Mexico City on Monday, June 12. From here, we’ll drive 1.5 hours to Tenancingo to meet the master ikat dyers of Mexico. Arriving, we’ll begin our visits to the homes and workshops of the master ikat rebozo dyers and weavers of Mexico. We’ll l learn, step-by-step, the process of warp faced ikat dye resist techniques in Mexico. We will also learn about and admire the beauty of the varied ikat designs in Tenancingo, such as “labor doble”, “media Azteca” and others. Finally, we can purchase directly from the artisans or in the marketplace!

Join the master dyers of the Centro de Arte Zapoteco Bii Dauu to learn of their ancient techniques and masterful use of working with natural dyes. We begin with the yellow set of dyes, derived from “pericon”, tagetes lucida, a wild marigold, to develop our yellows and our yellow bases for future over dyes. Next we will work with reds, and in Oaxaca, this means cochineal! We will learn about this dye source and work with it to develop our reds and oranges. Finally, we work with our blue, indigo vat. Here we see the magic unfold as our blues and all our over dyes begin to emerge: greens, purples and more.

Price: $100 for the day of dying and a lunch break of regional foods. Includes:

• Workshop
• Recipe swatch books Lunch