Weaving Cultures: Sharing Stories with Art

A study trip for Art Education students wouldn't be complete without an art project for children, so Wednesday we headed to Centro Cultural Los Nazarenos-- a cultural center that offers After School Music, Language and Art programs for children.

School is for a half day in Guatemala-- from 7 am to noon, or 2 pm to 7 pm-- so programs like the one we visited are an integral part of the community. Many families work all day and need safe, fun and educative places to send their children.

Planning an activity that extended beyond the language barrier was as rewarding as it was challenging. Our first goal was to present Art making as a universal language-- a chance to communicate without words. Our second goal was to reverse teacher/ student roles. Through art making, children would have an opportunity to teach us about Guatemala.

We selected weaving as our medium, since it is already an integral part of Guatemalan and Maya cultures. An example of traditional weavings are Huipiles-- colorful, symbolism-rich cloaks-- visual representations of the tribal communities they originate from. Casa Herrera has a variety of these gorgeous hand-woven garments hanging on the walls.

In the same manner as Huipil artisans, children used contemporary and traditional weaving materials to incorporate colors, patterns and images that represented parts of their culture. Rosa Maria, the cultural center's director, played light jazz music, and we all huddled in a tight-knit group on the floor.

Children began by creating individual weavings, and finished by incorporating personalized pieces into a large group weaving. We owe a debt of gratitude to Milady, our fearless translator. With her help, Centro Cultural children, and UT students were able to share personal art inspirations with one another.

It's been awhile since I've planned a formal art project for children, and admittedly my nerves were flaring:

"Would they have fun when communication would be so limiting?" 

I shouldn't have worried. It seems children teach more to us, than we impart to them. Between colored photograph strips, pieces of ribbon, boxes of crayons, glances, smiles, and laughs, we realized Art was a medium for something else far more meaningful than paper and string weavings.

Between halting Spanish, and the children's patient explanations ("Tortuga" said a little girl when I pointed to her turtle picture), we remembered that shared vocabulary only scratches the surface of human interaction. We were reminded that sometimes the best communication exists in the invisible space between words...  the spaces where our hearts do the talking.

Alfombras Are To Dye For

Let's just say we have been very busy. Yesterday we were able to not only catch our breath, but catch up on some sleep, some shopping, some site seeing, mailing postcards, etc.

You may be wondering what our alfombra is going to look like. Here is a sketch made by Emily C.


When looking at photos of Antigua we were inspired by the architecture we saw. We divided the center of our alfombra into three main sections featuring one of the three nearby volcanos, an octagonal rose window shape taken from the La Merced church, and the quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. The overall shape of the alfombra was inspired by the Arch of Santa Catalina. Surrounding these sections will be a thin solid border in dark green. The larger outside border of bright gold will feature a geometric pattern taken from a huipil we looked at for inspiration in the Mesoamerican Center offices at UT.

One main thing we did yesterday was dye our sawdust for our alfombra. Thankfully we had some fantastic teachers, Marlon and Jose, who both work at the Casa. We set up a workshop area with tarps, buckets, tubs, dyes, sawdust, and plastic gloves. The gloves proved to be essential for keeping the dye off our hands, even though a few of us managed to have some green and pink fingers by the time we were finished.

First the 60lb bag of sawdust was divided into 4 big tubs. A 1/2 gallon of hot water was mixed with 1 ounce of dye. Marlon mixed the dye and water by shaking it in an old fabric softener container. Then a 1/2 gallon of cold water was added to the mixture. We were making a double batch of "aqua" so we used 2 ounces of dye mixed with an additional gallon of water in the fabric softener jug.

After the dye was mixed with water it was poured evenly into the buckets. Not all of it but enough to start to color the sawdust. There were about 2 of us per bucket. It was sort of a stir/mix with your hands while rubbing your hands with sawdust in the middle to distribute the color. Constantly stirring and rubbing the sawdust. Every once in a while we'd find a color ball towards the bottom.

At first the sawdust was really powdery and easy filled the air. After the dye was added to the sawdust, the sawdust was weighted down and didn't fly as much. It was a slow process having the pale yellow sawdust turn to the dye color we added. Every once in a while Marlon would add more dye to our buckets to try to even out the color. Through this process, we realized that dying the sawdust wasn't an exact science and that the color we hoped for might not be exactly what we ended up with in the buckets.

After we had mixed the dye and sawdust completely in our buckets, Marlon dumped the sawdust onto a tarp so that we could then mix all buckets together to make sure the color was uniform. It became a friendly contest to see if there was any uncolored sawdust in our buckets. Towards the end I think we figured out a mixing process that worked, by gradually working our way around the bucket going all the way to bottom. The consistency was a like soft, moist, fluffy sand. After that we shoveled the sawdust into bags to wait until Thursday when we would make the alfombra.

We had some additionally hands helping us too: Milady, Anna Milady (Milady's mom), Juan (Milday's dad), and our Casa guard Don Jose. Milady's parents are visiting for Holy Week and have joined us on several parts of trip.

The colors we made were a faded emerald green (aka"aqua"), emerald green (another color supposed to be blue), burnt orange, and dark hot pink color. Marlon and Jose had already dyed royal purple (which is going to be the main background of the center of our carpet) and a golden yellow for us before we arrived.

Today we are going to dye black for the volcano. Grey dye is not made but Marlon suggested we use tiny pieces of aluminum foil to act as grey or mix the black sawdust with lighter colored sand. We also still have a fuchsia color and lime color that we need to finish before Thursday. Now that we have the process down it will be easy to dye those colors.

Days 3 & 4

Buenos Dias!

In an attempt to not get too far behind on our blog here, I'm gonna combine some days (as they're hard to separate in my head anyways). Monday was our busiest day so far - we had two tours and a presentation with three different people. Steven Dove was the lead-off batter in that line-up. He has been living here for about two years and is finishing up his doctoral thesis on religion in Guatemala as a UT doctoral student. As we walked to the church of San Francisco, Steven gave us some great insight to the city. In a 10x10 block of the city, there are over 80 churches! At Iglesia de San Francisco, we learned about Hermano Pedro, the adopted saint of Guatemala, and how he came to be canonized in 2002. In addition to the story of Hermano Pedro, which was elaborated on later in the week, we viewed some contemporary murals. One of these murals included images that connected traditions from the indigenous peoples in Guatemala with the ceremonies and beliefs of Catholicism. One of these traditions of the Catholic faith practiced here is the lighting of candles as a blessing for loved ones. Among usual candles to be lit, were molded wax in the shape of body parts. If you or someone you knew had trouble with your eyes, you bought an eye figure. If you or someone had a broken leg, you bought a leg. Abby's boyfriend is in medical school so she bought him one of each, and said that he should tell his patients with a problem he cannot fix to take a body part and go pray! (I'm not sure I'll be going to him).

 This is a dedication to Hermano Pedro outside of Iglesia de San Francisco.

When we returned to Casa Herrera, we were lucky enough to have a presentation from a local surgeon and prominent alfombra maker named Dr. Jose Humberto Gonzalez Arenas. His family is so well known for their unique and beautiful alfombras that they were invited to make one for the Pope in Vatican City! Pretty impressive! He elaborated on many techniques and materials used in constructing the alfombras on the cobblestone streets.

After lunch, Elizabeth Bell gave us a wonderfully detailed tour of parts of Antigua that we had yet to see. Elizabeth Bell is the number one, expert resource on Lent and Holy Week (Semana Santa) in Guatemala. This woman spat out facts and answered questions like Bing.com; there wasn't a question that she didn't have a story for. Along the way, we toured City Hall, the ruins of the cathedral in the Central Park- where we went into the crypt, contemporary art galleries in Hotel de Santa Domingo, and a jade factory and jade museum (where many of us bought presents - you might be a lucky recipient if you continue to read our blog).

Inside the old walls of the Cathedral in Central Park, open skies shine light on pieces of the fallen building.

Back at Casa Herrera Elizabeth Bell gave us a photo lecture on the local traditions of Semana Santa, primarily the alfombras and the processions. She flashed photos that she has taken over the past few years of some of the best alfombras in town, while explaining the history behind them. One of the most interesting notes that I took from the lecture was that no matter how ornate, how big or small, or how much money it cost to produce your alfombra, everyone who participates is equal. There is no judging involved.

Dinner on Monday night was a real home run (despite the fact that I personally and accidentally ordered two soups)! Posada de Don Rodrigo not only provided great food, but entertainment as well! Dressed in traditional, wooden masks and colorful, sparkly gowns (which Dr. Bolin said reminded him of some of Elton John's flamboyant costumes), they shook their booties on the dance floor! I'm only kidding, but they did shake maracas as they performed along with a band playing traditional music on what looked like giant xylophones. Liz and Sara Tess got invited to join in the dance and show off their moves :)

Tuesday (3/3) started off with more, much needed information on how to master the making of an alfombra. A family in town who has produced some of the most intricate designs we have seen yet agreed to invite us into their home to show us some of their work, including the dye for sawdust, wooden and cardboard stencils, and a video documenting the making of one of their alfombras from start to finish. We learned that it's typical for a family to start preparing for their alfombra three months in advance! Here is where we bought some dye for our sawdust. A few of us were seriously contemplating how we could fit some of their stencils into our suitcases to take home.

Here is a photo of a sawdust alfombra in the mid-stages of production. Wooden beams are used to reach the center parts without damaging the work already done. Large wooden stencils are used to create the ornate detail throughout the carpet.

Steven Dove came back to speak with us about the role of cofradias, or religious brotherhoods, in Guatemala. Being that this is his area of expertise, we discovered how these many brotherhoods were used as means to organize the religious activities in the city when there were not enough priests, and how the cofradias function within society today. Being that our time was a little rushed on our visit to the church of San Francisco on Monday, we returned with Steven to check out the ruins in the back, as well as the museum dedicated primarily to Hermano Pedro. I wish we had pictures to share of one of the rooms in the museum (photos were not allowed), because it was incredibly moving. In this hallway hundreds, if not thousands of pictures of people who were healed by Hermano Pedro, plaques of gratitude for his miracle work, and objects, such as crutches, eye glasses, baby shoes and drawings, were left as a memory of his saintly work.

As I mentioned earlier, many alfombras are began around three months in advance, and with the making of our alfombra on Thursday, we cut that down to three days. Most of the day on Tuesday was dedicated to dying sawdust. A messy process (for us at least), we dove in hands first to large buckets of super fine wood chips, massaging liquid dye into every last grain. A detailed blog is coming soon that will elaborate on this part of our day!

The rest of the night was filled with eating amazing leftovers, stencil cutting, and preparing for Wednesday's art activity with local children at the Cultural Center!

Check out our next post as we talk about this once-in-a-lifetime experience collaborating on an art project with Guatemalan children :)   (Not sure who enjoyed it more, the children or us!)

April Fool's Day (Sunday April 1st)

Buenos noches friends and family!

Sorry for the lag between posts over the past few days! They've been jam packed with stuff and things. I know that you're all probably waiting at your computers night and day for this next one to appear, and we appreciate your die-hard dedication to our whereabouts here in Antigua. Since the only detailed post in our blog so far is from our first day on Saturday, I will do my best to back-track and keep the days' activities straight as I try to recall Sunday, April 1st. (Side note: we didn't do any April Fool's Day pranks. Or at least if someone did, none of them worked out).

Sunday morning kicked off with what has turned out to be our typical breakfast here: coffee and toast. As with most things in Antigua, the coffee, bread and jam were locally made, so it's muy delicioso! Milady, the on-site coordinator for Casa Herrara, and world's best and cutest guide for the city, and Rene, a Guatemalan archaeologist and all-around cool guy at Casa Herrera, gave us an early morning orientation to try to prevent some unfortunate events (such as robberies and amoebas) and recommend some fortunate ones (such as good restaurants and shops).

Following orientation, we were all excited to see our first procession emerge out of La Merced, informally known as the wedding cake church because of it's ornate, exterior plaster work which resembles frosting! As we got closer and closer to La Merced, the streets filled with the noise of street vendors and wooden flutes, the scents of ever-enticing, yet forbidden street food, and a crowd of people comparable to ten of the most oversold U2 concerts combined (I've never been to one, but it seemed like the right comparison). Squeezing our way through families and affectionate couples, we found a warm and sunny spot on the lawn in front of the church to watch the anda (most similar to a parade float) be carried out of through the front doors by 100 men dressed in purple gowns. It's an amazing sight as the anda sways from side to side through clouds of incense, glistening in the sunlight with a life-size Jesus in the center. A band marched directly behind the mens' and womens' processions. As you might imagine, a 7000 pound float doesn't move so swiftly, so after it finally passed, we escaped the crowds to check out some of the city's Palm Sunday alfombras before the procession made it's way around to them.

I'm not sure how well what our eyes saw can be translated into words, but I'll do my best to describe the alfombras. It might be helpful to first describe to you what an alfombra is in order to better understand their purpose. Alfombra literally translates to carpet in Spanish. The people of Guatemala create these "carpets" using a variety of materials from pine needles to flowers to dyed sawdust on the cobblestone streets for the procession route to walk on. Not only is the making of alfombras a familial and cultural tradition, but it's a spiritual ritual as well. These vibrant and elaborate creations are walked over by the many men and women carrying the andas. What is left of the alfombra afterwards is believed to have been blessed by the procession, and people are eager to collect flowers and other remnants as blessings. We have videos that we hope to post that might show you this phenomenon much better than I can tell you.

After walking a few miles doing some alfombra sight-seeing, we headed back to Casa Herrera for a lunch of pepian, a traditional Guatemalan dish prepared for us by Dona Chila (who lovingly makes most of our meals!). Pepian is a stew. Pepian is good. I think it's a mystery why it's so good. Eager to spend our fresh, unused quetzales and put our bartering skills to the test, the gang headed over to the open air market around the block. For some of us, the bartering worked to our advantage, but for the majority, lack of knowledge of the Spanish language hurt our wallets. Oh well, we'll get em next time!

Continuing our walking tour of the city, we checked out a few more alfombras being made, and saw many at different stages in the process. We were definitely taking mental notes on what we saw the seasoned alfombra makers doing. Dona Chila prepared a lovely pasta salad for dinner that night, and after stuffing ourselves, we clung to the window bars on Casa Herrera to see the exact same andas that left La Merced in the morning pass by at night. Almost 11 hours later, the anda lit up the dark street with it's many glowing lights, and men, women, and children continued the procession back to La Merced. The videos that have already been posted can give you a visual of what happens on the streets of Antigua during Semana Santa (Holy Week), but there's a feeling, an emotion, a subliminal tingle deep down inside that can only be felt in person.

Then we all washed our faces, brushed our teeth (or at least I hope everyone did), and went to bed.

Until tomorrow, keep calm, carry on, and stay classy followers :)

Here are some videos of the Palm Sunday procession by the Hermandad from La Merced church. The first video is one I took of the men's procession; 80 men carry the altar for a block and then switch. The altar weighs three and a half tons. The procession lasts 12 hours, 11 am to 11 pm, and by the end of the day, 9,000 men and women have helped carry an altar.

It was an amazing experience: the smell of the incense, the music from the band, the never ending wave of members of the Hermandad walking ahead waiting for their time to carry, the Roman soldiers walking with, and all of the kids participating with their parents.

This is video from early in the procession. We saw it again later when it went by Casa Herrera at around 9:30 pm. (If the video doesn't work, you can watch it here: http://vimeo.com/39609042)



Palm Sunday procession (men) from Sara Tess Neumann on Vimeo.

Here is video Jessica took of the women's procession. If you look carefully, you can see the women switching at the beginning. (If the video doesn't work, you can watch it here: http://vimeo.com/39684019)



Palm Sunday procession (women) from Sara Tess Neumann on Vimeo.

We are Here! (Day 1)

Hola, Everyone!

We made it to Antigua safely and pretty much hit the ground running. The flights were enjoyable and most importantly on time. Our layover in Houston allowed us to relax and help ourselves to Jamba Juice. Coming into Guatemala City we saw a volcano from the plane's window.

We went through customs and got our bags without a hitch. Miladay, the on-site Coordinator of Casa Herrera (where we are staying), met us at the airport and, with some great packing skills by our driver, we were on our way to Antigua. We experienced some light traffic along the way- to our standards it might have been considered real traffic.

There was a joke with our driver that the city knew we were coming because they opened up a new section of highway just that morning. Let's just say it had a great surface but curvy and had a steep incline.

We drove on the cobblestone streets, which are everywhere, to the Casa. Upon approaching the casa, these two big wooden doors open up for us. We were contemplating on if the van would be able to fit. It barely made it through, with the driver paying close attention to the clearance of the van's side mirrors. The van parked in the open courtyard, which was originally a public space for selling goods. Through the courtyard's overhead opening, we could see the surrounding mountains and ruins.

After unloading our bags from the van, we picked our rooms. (5 in one, 4 in another, and Dr. Bolin got the 2 floor with a spiral staircase master suite) Then Milady and Rene, a long-time partner with University of Texas as an archeological draftsman, gave us a tour of the Casa and shared a brief history of the house. It is called Casa Herrera because the Herrera Family used to use it to sell sugar in Anitgua. The Herrera family is connected the one of the main sugar companies here in Guatemala.

                                       

                                                     

We carefully climbed a very small metal spiral staircase to the roof to see an amazing view (some say the best view) of Antigua.

                                                      

Awesomeness doesn't even begin to describe how it is and feels to be here.

After the tour we snacked on some sandwiches and then had a few minutes to get ready before we headed over to Casa Popenoe to hear a lecture given by our own Dr. Bolin with UFM students. After the lecture we were allowed to roam around the house and take pictures. We saw a tree that was built in the center of the fantastically landscaped courtyard in 1850. There were tons of plants and colorful flowers. It felt like paradise. You never would have known from the street that Casa Popenoe had the beautifully lush courtyards until you came inside, much like most of the residences here in Antigua. Martin, one of the gentlemen from UFM and our main point of contact, explained how you never know what is behind the closed doors in Antigua, the outside doesn't reflect the inside.

We were talking to some of the UFM students and an art history professor. They told us about all the different processions and suggested specific areas and churches to attend. (Thankfully, Milady had already included them in our agenda!) The students and professors were very impressed to find out that we will be making an alfombra of our own. They told us about how we will experience Holy Week, describing the multisensory experience including the sounds of fireworks and the people, the smell of incense, etc.

WE. CAN. NOT. WAIT!

We ate dinner at a fantastic restaurant called Frida's Restaurant, with many reproductions of Frida Kahlo's paintings throughout the space. The food was amazing, lush, flavorful. There was energetic dance music playing. All in all, it was a great first night.

We were all exhausted after dinner and upon our return we relaxed and went to bed.

Stay tuned for more!