Marilyn Murphy: Textile Traditions of the Peruvian Highlands

Join us for an inspiring virtual visit to the weavers, dyers, knitters, and spinners of the Peruvian highlands who are cooperative members of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC). Their focus is on the preservation and revitalization of their traditional textile arts—including some techniques dating back to the Paracas/Nazca cultures.

We will see the Andean methods of spinning, dyeing, and knitting, as well as the tools to create belts, bands, textiles, woven edges, and skirt borders. Through video clips and images, the weaving of doubleweave, ikat, tapestry, and discontinuous and supplementary warps are also highlighted.

This video is narrated by Andean Textile Arts (ATA) board member and well-known doubleweave author and teacher, Jennifer Moore. In addition to the video presentation, one or two ATA board members will be present to answer questions at the end of the video.

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 sustainability with a passion for beautiful textiles and sharing global cultures.