Past Trips

In Indonesia, Peru, Bolivia, Laos and Cambodia, TAC members have visited the homes and studios of local weavers and designers. They have been able to see how beautiful textiles are still made by hand, using materials and tools perfected over the centuries. Visits from such well-informed and enthusiastic strangers have encouraged and motivated many weavers to gain an even deeper appreciation of their heritage in the fiber arts. TAC travelers, in turn, have had once-in-a-lifetime adventures while gaining access to world cultural heritage sites such as Macchu Picchu and Angkor Wat. Our guides have been uniformly outstanding, and every trip has gone off without a hitch, and with unanticipated rewards for all of the travelers.

The Weaving Cultures of Bali and Timor, Indonesia

July 2011 brought together ten textile enthusiasts to savor the diverse cultures, scenery, and textile traditions of Bali, Timor, and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. So much of a tour depends on the personalities of its participants; together their expertise and perspectives afforded a rewarding adventure for each.

While the romance of Bali has been widely recorded in the arts, literature, and movies, I Wayan Sudarta, a Balinese guide, provided more intimate access to the culture and the role of Hindu religion in daily life, variously through a presentation on the centrality of the coconut plant in daily life and ritual, a walk through the rice paddies and introduction to native plants, and our participation in Galungan offerings and prayers. Visits to a puppet and mask museum and mask maker as well as practice at gamelan instruments enhanced our enjoyment of traditional dance performances. Our stay in Bali coincided with Galungan, a ten-day festival that symbolizes the victory of Dharma (virtue) upon Adharma (evil). We were fortunate to observe a special ceremony performed on the final day; dancers in trance stabbed themselves with their kris, thereby eliminating evil from the world.

Jean Howe and William Ingram, along with their associates from Threads of Life, deepened our appreciation of Indonesian textiles by allowing us to sample traditions from Bali and Timor. Threads of Life is Fair Trade business that empowers women weavers on multiple levels: through research of local dye plants and processes, identification of technical standards of spinning, dyeing, and weaving, education in labor, financial, and marketing practices, and increased access to resources and markets. Threads of Life, while based in Ubud, Bali, reaches out to more than 1200 weavers across the islands of eastern Indonesia and puts them in contact with customers desiring high quality, indigenous textiles.

Armed with Jean and William’s comprehensive knowledge of Indonesian textiles and our practice at batik techniques and ikat tying, we shopped with greater enthusiasm. Stops on Bali included a natural dye batik studio in Pejeng, weaving cooperatives in Sideman, and Seraya, and the double ikat village of Tenganan. Each occasioned observation of yarn dyeing, loom set-up, weaving, and/or printing stages of production.

During the mid-portion of the tour, we were fortunate to visit five cooperatives in Timor and witness the positive impact of a fair trade organization on the lives of the weavers and communities. On two occasions, the villagers welcomed our arrival with music and dance; in all villages, our guides reciprocated with gifts of betel nut, an sign of hospitality. Women demonstrated the preparation and spinning of cotton, preparation and dyeing of resisted warp yarns, and supplementary weft, tapestry, and ikat weaving; all enticements to purchase a women’s tube skirt, men’s wrapper, shoulder cloth, or betel nut basket as souvenir.

Seven travelers continued on the five-day extension to Yogyakarta, Java. Yogyakarta is a city of contrasts, history and tradition coexist with the cosmopolitan. Visits to the Prambanan Hindu temple and Borobudor Buddhist temple complexes coincided with a traditional performance of the Ramayama. The contemporary art batik and garments found in Nia and Agus Ismoyo’s batik studio contrasted with the traditional work of a batik cooperative and the vintage and antique textiles in the Imogiri Batik Museum. A few artisans continue to craft puppets, batik cap, and silver jewelry as the modern world favors mass-produced entertainments and apparel.

Many thanks for the success of the tour are extended to Chee Choy for insuring the smooth operation of the schedule and wonderful accommodations, and to Susan York for conceiving, coordinating, and promoting the memorable experience.

Turkish Delights

May/June 2009

The Textile Arts Council sponsored a wonderful textile, art, and architectural tour of Turkey in May/June 2009. Our knowledgeable guides, Paul Ramsey, rug scholar and dealer, and Vedat Karadag of Walk Turkey Adventures, introduced us to the beautiful pile carpets and flat-woven kelims and to the weavers themselves. Read on.

A Journey through Vietnam

This trip was offered in two sections:
February 19-27 2004 in South Vietnam,
and February 27-March 2004 in North Vietnam.

The highlights included an overnight cruise on the Mekong Delta, visits to museums and weavers villages, as well as a trip to the site of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, Hanoi, Sapa, and the northern highland villages. Travelers on this trip stayed in the best available accommodations, including some of the best hotels in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Read on.

Paris

In 2004, a group went to Paris and London. Led by our own Melissa Leventon, now an independent curator, this trip took its participants to the great textile and costume collections and fashion houses of these two capitals. They visited museums, great houses and flea markets. From Paris to Lyon, for our trip’s extension to France’s second largest city, we boarded France’s version of the “bullet train”. Lyon is the center of France’s silk industry, with a long history of trade and manufacture of this luxury material.