Marilyn Murphy: Textile Traditions of the Peruvian Highlands

During this program, we will meet weavers, dyers, knitters, and spinners of the Peruvian Highlands who are cooperative members of the Center for the Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC). We'll hear the story about the vision of Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, the founder and director of CTTC, whose mission has been to preserve and perpetuate the traditional textile arts of the Highland communities. And we’ll even virtually travel with Andean Textile Arts to some of CTTC special events and communities.

More specifically, the program highlights the Andean way of spinning, dyeing, and knitting along with the tools used to create belts, bands, textiles, woven edges, and skirt borders. Through video clips and images, we’ll see the weaving of doubleweave, ikat, tapestry, and discontinuous and supplementary warps. Plus, there will be time for Q&A at the end. The program is narrated by Andean Textile Arts board member and well-known author and teacher of doubleweave, Jennifer Moore, and hosted by Marilyn Murphy an Andean Textile Arts representative. 

Andean Textile Arts is a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to supporting the people and communities of the Andes in their efforts to preserve and revitalize their textile traditions.

Marilyn Murphy, who will host the program, has combined a passion for and knowledge of the textile arts for her entire career. She is the former president of Interweave, a media publishing company focused on the arts and crafts sector where she worked for 16 years. Prior to this, in 1986, she founded the Textile Arts Centre in Chicago, and was the owner of the Weaving Workshop there. 

She writes a bi-monthly blog for ClothRoads, curates the ClothRoads collection, lectures about artisan sustainability, and volunteers as co-chair for the non-profit Andean Textile Arts. Clothroads promotes cultural and creative sustainabiity with a passion for beautiful textiles and sharing global cultures.