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.
It just makes you happy.
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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Art & Faith in the Desert 