Workshops + Tours

Oaxaca Tour: Day of the Dead 2009 – October 29-November 4, 2009, in Teotitlan del Valle.  A personal cultural experience!  Traditional meals, visit the cemetery with your Zapotec host family, explore craft villages, take a cooking class.  Registrations accepted now.  Early bird discount available.  See  blog post “Oaxaca Tour: Day of the Dead” for complete information.

Oaxaca Weaving Workshop: Dancing on the Loom and Glorious Color: Natural Dyeing Workshops are scheduled throughout the year at the Chavez Santiago Family studio and home in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca.  Weaving and dyeing workshops are limited to 5 participants.

Documentary Filmmaking Workshop: Visual Storytelling is set for February 19-26, 2010.  See blog post http://oaxacaculture.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/visual-storytelling-documentary-filmmaking-workshop-oaxaca-mexico-february-19-27-2010/ for details and registration information.  Limited to 6 participants!

Sweep of the Hand-Stroke of the Brush: Painting Workshop is a hands-on experience with noted artist Pantaleon Ruiz Martinez, who has exhibited widely throughout Mexico at the invitation of Mexico City’s governor.  As an accomplished weaver, Pantaleon understands the use of  natural dyes and incorporates this traditional Zapotec dyeing technique into oil paint pigment that he applies to canvas using brush strokes and grand sweeps of his hands and fingers — a technique similar to finger painting.  He has taught studio workshops at the University of Oregon and exhibited in the U.S. as well.

Customized Programs We also schedule customized workshops for individuals or small groups according to your travel plans and our artists’ availability. Participants’ skill levels vary from novice to experienced, and we are able to give personalized attention because the group is small. Groups can include mothers/daughters, families and friends.  Master weaver Federico Chavez Sosa and his daughter Janet Chavez Santiago, a fluent English speaker, are both instructors at the workshop.  If you have any questions, please contact me directly by phone (919) 274-6194 or by email normahawthorne@mac.com

If you are associated with a weaver’s guild, knitting circle, museum, gallery, university, or arts organization, and would like to arrange an exhibition, lecture, demonstration, or series of classes in tapestry weaving and/or natural dyeing techniques, please let me know. The Chavez Santiago Family comes to the U.S. twice annually to conduct workshops and we would be happy to arrange a visit to your city or town.