So I haven’t been very good at posting lately but I promise it’s not because I have been idle! I have a quilt that has been “In Progress” for years and I finally bit the bullet and said no more projects until this one is done. It’s been so hard! I have so many project ideas!

Needless to say, I have nothing really new to add as of late until it gets finished. Instead I am going to do a quick post on a crazy cool exhibit I saw in Toronto this summer at the Textile Museum of Canada (http://www.textilemuseum.ca/). The museum, right downtown and tucked into a little side street, is such an interesting little space, and easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it!

I was hoping to see some interesting quilts but what really blew my mind was the exhibit, “Huicholes: A People Walking Towards the Light, Wixarika Art by José Benítez Sánchez”. These yarn paintings were really so breathtaking, and quite large!

Kauymari, the Wind and the Word by José Benítez Sánchez, 2005. The caption accompanying the piece reads “Tamatsi Kauyumari (Our Elder Brother, He Who Does Not Even Know His Name) is the god of the word as he is the one who taught the Huichol people to name things. At the centre of this yarn painting, we see Kauyumari in the form of the deer that taught the believers the language they hear at the sacred sites. According to Sánchez, before Kauyumari taught them language, ‘the entire world spoke badly.'” I think it’s so great how the various languages spilling out of the mouths is depicted!

These pieces are made by taking a piece of wooden board, covering it in a layer of beeswax, and then pressing yarn into the wax to make a highly detailed and colourful image. Other art pieces included very intricate beadwork, and such an exciting and remarkable texture is created when the beads cover an entire sculptural piece.

Accompanying exhibit caption: “Tamatsi Kauyumari, also known as the Blue Deer, is the cultural hero of the Huichol. As he is an ambivalent being, he is associated with the morning and evening star.” This caption goes on to describe how Tamatsi Kauyumari was turned into a deer, and how pilgrims to the desert in a traditional yearly pilgrimage are able to interact with him through the consumption of peyote.

These pieces are filled with symbolism and imagery special to the Huicholes people and their culture and it was a pleasure to get a glimpse into their worldview.

For more information I bought a book in the gift shop that went with the exhibit “Yarn Paintings of the Huichol” by Hope Maclean.

As captioned at the exhibit, “This artisanal bowl is made from a gourd. It was inspired by a ritual bowl.”