Renowned Chef Susana Trilling cooks for you
in celebration of the Day of the Dead


 

                                            Susana Trilling: Author of "Seasons of My Heart: A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca."
Susana’s love of Mexican food was born when her grandmother from Tampico, Mexico, gave Susana her first tamal. She began formal study of Mexican cuisine in 1977 at Fonda San Miguel in Austin, Texas. Since then she has been a chef, caterer, author, and food consultant. Susana has lived in Oaxaca since 1988 giving classes in her kitchen at Rancho Aurora. Read more about Susana here.

We learn...all the time and everywhere: A report form the We Learn Conference in RI.
Patricia Tovar, PhD., Director of Projects

It all started with an email from Judith Lockhart Radtke, in which there was a link to a web page which presented the research of women from different places around the world, working in the field of literacy, in relation to social rights, gender violence, and the arts. Immediately I felt a great affinity for this group and what “We Learn” offers. I wanted the challenge to participate in this annual conference. Shortly after Mev Miller had accepted our participation and from that moment began the preparation of travel (visa arrangements, tickets etc) and at the same time I began to imagine many things around this experience: how many women would be there? from where? what they will they think, and how will they respond to our work?

One night before the conference, we had dinner at Kate and Howard Kilguss house. The cold and snowy day contrasted with the warmth and friendliness of our hosts. We talked until late, it was interesting and encouraging the way they wanted to know the details of our literacy project and I learned a lot about American culture in only one night.

The next day we arrived at the University of Rhode Island. I loved the city: clean, quiet the nineteenth century looking . Upon arrival, we saw in the work schedule, the time of our conference workshop: "Reading with all the senses." By then, Agustina, Lynne and I began to feel the nervousness of the responsibility involved in appearing before an international forum. Everything happened gradually: first the breakfast, and geting to know conference participants, then searching for our room and waiting for participants. This was exciting to see them arrive-- women of different ages, different nationalities, all with much experience in the field of education, such a challenge was in front of us.

I decided to start talking about the cultural and historical context in which we have worked for more than three years developing our program. This part was very interested to them, there were questions all the time and environment was becoming increasingly participatory, increasingly active. During the introduction of the scheme of our method of work, all the questions were about how to apply them in different contexts, in that moment I realized the importance of our work. I realized that "to read with all the senses" as a method, that could be used in different cultures and could help many more women from different countries and different ages.

At the end of this experience and after spending two weeks in a multicultural country like the U.S., I can say the greatest learning, was to prove that the dedication with which we have worked for years in Miramar, has produced results that transcend the local level. Working with art as a way to explore identity and the production of images as a line of work are contributions that can support the growth of women in many other places outside of Miramar. Literacy is an enjoyable process and profoundly human. Thank you for this learnning to the Circle of Women and to We Learn.

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THE MIXTECA WEAVERS HAVE AN EXHIBITION AT MUSEO DE TEXTIL OAXACA !

November 14, 2009 - March 15, 2010

In addition to their beautiful work, there are demonstrations of backstrap weaving and portraits of the weavers by photographer Tom Feher (Tom is working on an album of the story of the weavers to be published in 2010). There are also dolls, drawings, and writings from the literacy program in which eight women took part.

WATCH A FILM ABOUT THE WEAVERS: CLICK BELOW

VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE EXHIBIT OPENING:
CLICK BELOW

THE EXHIBITION AS AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
By Patty Tovar, PhD, Director of Programs

When the Oaxaca Textile Museum invited the Circle of Women to put on an exhibition of the rebozos, other textiles from Mirarmar, and dolls created by the women who participated in the reading and writing workshop held by the Circle; this sparked a whole new educational experience for them and for the Circle of Women as well. This experience allowed all involved to work, learn and grow together.

We started out by going on a field trip together to the “community museum” (one of the so-called museos comunitarios there are in small towns in Oaxaca) of Teposcolula. The exhibits on display in this museum touched on the ancient Mixtec worldview, which the weavers were able to see and recognize in such artifacts as an ancient calendar and descriptions of rituals surrounding corn and death. The women were all fascinated by the exhibits and tremendously curious about these depictions of their cultural heritage. They were especially moved by seeing how similar the ancient metates (woven straw mats used in the household) were to their own that they had woven. They were so touched by the sense of continuity with the past that the exhibits had given them, that not only were they soaking up every word on the tour around the museum, but when they left they took a bit of soil from the premises with the comment that it was sacred soil.

After this field trip, we did a slideshow of sorts with pictures of different sorts of textiles produced in different parts of Mexico. This was a kind of mini-course designed for the weavers to be exposed to different techniques and styles of weaving , but also to different uses for weavings and the significance that weaving has for different cultures in the country that practice it.  They were particularly interested in the huipiles (long, shapeless dresses traditional to women’s attire in all regions of Mexico) and in the symbols used to decorate them in different parts of Oaxaca. These symbols are not merely decorative, each has a particular meaning and they have always been a means for indigenous cultures to keep a record of things of significance to them; a kind of a collective history through art.

Out of this moment came the idea of possibly expanding the weaver’s range of products, and maybe even attempting to reinitiate the production of the Huipil de Miramar (each community in Mexico has its own version of the huipil).  At first many of the weavers felt rather unsure of themselves, but after having tackled some table runners and scarves, they felt energized and started creating new color combinations and varying their patterns. Some of these new weavings were shown to the director of the Oaxaca Textile Museum, and also to the curator who has considerable knowledge about local textiles. When they saw and felt the weavings from Miramar, they were impressed by the beauty and intricacy of the weavings. The curator commented that the wool rebozos are unique and are not produced anywhere else. As far as the new weavings were concerned, the cotton weavings were deemed to be expertly woven and dyed with añil. Petra’s weavings were selected as the loveliest. Both the director and the curator were impressed and have grown increasingly interested in the Miramar weavers’ work.

The work planning the layout of the exhibition and encouraging the weavers to create special weavings just for the exhibition began in May and is still ongoing. We held various meetings where we talked about what it means to have an exhibition and why it is important to exhibit your work. We also talked about how you put on an exhibition, so that the weavers could understand the process and feel invested in it, and hopefully create their best work! At the same time we were researching and digging into local memory for traces of the antique textiles of Miramar. We requested pictures of Mixtec textiles from the Oaxaca Textile Museum, and used them to consult with the weavers who clearly remembered the original Huipil de Miramar patterns and symbols. They also remembered and identified special bags that used to be used to carry corn and tortillas. This has surely been a significant find for the group.

Presently we are finishing up with the preparation of the weavings to be exhibited. We are presenting wool rebozos dyed with añil; a wool poncho dyed with añil; cotton rebozos dyed with añil and encino; woven centerpieces; mercerized cotton bags in bright colors; two huipiles with original designs from Miramar; and a tortilla bag which corresponds to the ancient design. We will also have a 40 –year-old huipil on display, a corn bag made 30 years ago, and a malacate used to thread yarn with. These belong to the weavers and they used them many years ago.

The montage will be set up in order to recreate the very personal world of the weavers, using objects from their past and present that hold particular significance for them. We will be showing all of the dolls created by the weavers and telling each one’s story. We will also be showing some sewing that was done as part of the health seminar. This is all done in an effort to show how all of the projects work together and complement one another, and how these projects carried out by the Circle of Women affect the women of Miramar and contribute to improving their lives.