Focus on Creativity, Color and Calm, Summer/Fall 2023

This summer, Friends of ArtisansBeyondBorders.org (ABB) teamed up with La Casa De Las misericordia y Todas Naciones – The House of Mercy and All Nations shelter in Nogales, Sonora, to establish a Weaving studio and program for asylum seekers who are often stranded there for months.

Staff and guests at the shelter cleaned out the storeroom and painted and tiled the floor to make space, a rare thing in a shelter. With the aid of two modest grants from W.A.R.P. (Weave A Real Peace), and THSG (Tucson Handweavers and Spinners Guild), we friends of Artisans Beyond Borders were able to buy tables and shelving and spools of cotton and wool to weave with.

With grant funding, we were also able to purchase the lumber to make our own weaving tools (sticks and shuttles). Men from the shelter cut, shaped and sanded each tool in preparation for classes. Members of THSG donated frame looms for larger projects, and we were able to find frames for smaller projects.

Every other week, ABB volunteers visit the shelter with donated or purchased supplies and teach basic hand loom weaving to guests, some of whom quickly graduate to become onsite teachers themselves. Our first class was inspired by indigenous Mapuche weaving.

Our first onsite teacher emerges ~ Maura from Guatemala, an indigenous weaver with generational skills.
Staff, volunteers, and shelter quests begin to weave together. Classes focus on best practices in weaving so everyone can have a successful experience.
Process. Mindfulness. Calm.
In one class we focus on the colors of the rainbow.
It just makes you happy.
Students create small satisfying projects like mug rugs to keep or to sell.
Completed Mug Rugs (SOLD)

In addition to choice embroidered mantas, completed weavings will be available for sale at the in-person Opening of the Exhibition Bordando Esperanza ~ Embroidering Hope, November 18, 2023 (in time for the holidays) at Border Community Alliance in Tubac, Arizona. More details coming soon…

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4 thoughts on “Focus on Creativity, Color and Calm, Summer/Fall 2023”

  1. Hello!

    I just read about the new center for weaving – is there a way I can send you a LOT of yarn I will not be using? Some of it is wool, some is mixed fibers – the colors may be a little more muted than you would like, but perhaps it can be used somehow?

    If this is possible, please tell me where to send it, and perhaps the best method too…

    I love what is happening with the organization, and hope I can support it in some small way.

    Blessings to you all!

    Jane Jones Prescott, AZ

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  2. Hello,
    I enjoy getting your newsletter and seeing how your organization is helping at the border.
    I’m a weaver in the Tucson area and also have cotton yarns and accessories I’d like to donate. If there is interest, please let me know.
    Karen

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