All the
arts have their roots in decoration. Once upon a time in some ancient human pasture,
unrecognizable today, a cave woman, named Manoka, from Mesopoindotaindumaya
electrified by a sucessful hunt that would feed her tribe for a month, and dazzled
by potions and hours of dancing, thrust her fingers into a fresh mammoth
carcass coating them with blood. She proceeded to paint her chest and face with
designs. Others enthralled by her enchantment began to paint their bodies as well. So moved was Manoka that soon she began to lead a loose conga line of "new" disciples and in the firelight, their distended shadows writhed upon the uneven vault of the cave. Everyone became inebriated by the spirit in the colorful movements.
With these few squiggles and lines that outlined her eyes, mouth, and
breasts, Manoka became the madre primera of all decoration and discos too. Her rapture, however, did not go unnoticed. It was soon co-opted by some clever
tribal elders who immediately realized the power in decoration combined with human survival. They
quickly turned Manoka's euphoria into calendric ritual. To "relive"
and elevate a critical event in ceremony seems to have been the original engine
for all decoration. Manoka was the first commemorator. Arts and crafts arose
from the human need for re-creation. Adornment was a form of honor to human
affairs and human form.
As time passed humans got "festoon fever" not only decorating their
bodies, but their utensils with designs, and their walls with images. This is
the moment when painting began to deviate from craft which separated like
two galaxies, both created by the same big bang but now moving away from each
other at light speed. The plastic arts blazed off on their own discursive path
shedding the restrictions of ceremony, utilitarianism, and religion, moving
into "other" ever distant dangerous meadows of pure concept. Painting moved from depictions of the hunt on a cave wall to Duchamp's ready mades. The original
motivators for decoration, were abandoned for unrestricted experimentation, yet
adornment and ceremony always remain the patriarchs of the plastic art family
tree.
Craft on the other hand never completely left its utilitarian roots. It
couldn't. A box is a container and an earring is a metal, stone, or bone thing. However, it
exhalted and refined technique in the course of its history. It has always
sought to embellish the quotidian. Craft beautified the liturgy of human
ingenuity. Tattoos for special occaisions, the enriching of a fiber skirt with
painted designs for a wedding or a crop cycle, the molding of a clay pot into a
stylized human form, the tea server adorned with delicate silver leaves and
amethyst, and the bronze baldachin over the altar of Saint Peter's Basilica are
some examples.
Let's talk about IKAT. The idea is to explore the craft that one
discovers in Tenancingo, from where it came, and how it arrived here. There are
theories based on the traceable history of IKAT. It seems like with all human endeavor, exchange of ideas, like a wake of stardust, were left far and wide following commerce and trade routes There was no written chronicle at the time weaving and
IKAT evolved, and the fact that textiles are perishable destroys archaeological
traces,, well then sometimes enlightened speculation becomes evidence.In my
case imagination coupled with the former serves as evidence, perhaps with a
comic twist.
What is IKAT? The term “ikat” refers to a dyeing technique used to create the
designs on fabric. It is a resist dyeing process, where bundles of yarn are
marked along their length, then tightly wrapped together and then dyed as many
times as is required to create a desired pattern. The tieing creates a resist to the dye. This dyeing process differs from others because the yarns are dyed before being woven into cloth.
In most of the other resist-dyeing techniques, like batik for example, it is
the final cloth and not the thread, that’s dyed.
Below is
a very shortened version of the IKAT method used in Tenancingo.
Separating threads into bundles to be tied
Marking wheel used to mark bundles of threads
Ball in the background are bundles of threads that have been starched to facilitate marking. The bundles in the foreground have been tied. Each tie forms a resist to the dye.
Bundles have been dyed. The ties are being removed to show the white of the thread that has resisted the dye.
Here one can see clearly the white pattern where the ties created a resist to the dye.
Here is a finished rebozo on top of threads recently dyed and untied. They are ready to be strung on the loom.
Dyed threads above being strung on the loom. The white background is below. The union of the resist-dyed threads (upper left) and the white background (center) produce an ocillating pattern and a whole new softened tone. If the bottom or background is tinted that adds another dimension to the mix.
The term, “ikat”, was introduced
to the Western world when
Dutch
scholars were studying
Indonesian textile traditions in the early twentieth century.The term IKAT
originates from the Indonesian word
called ‘meningkat’, which means to tie. IKAT seems to
have originated in Mindanao because here and in Indonesia all the techniques of
IKAT dyeing are employed. It seems to be the ground zero for IKAT. Also,
Autronesians were reknown sailors who took their clothes making and decoration
techniques with them on the boat. I know I know that this may contradict other
theories of the origin but this is what I believe at the moment. I may change
my mind later when I have other information. It's my right to vascillate.
Perhaps more than 1000 years ago, before Leif Ericson reached Newfoundland,, Polynesians, on one of their bold starry voyages touched the shores of the New World at Easter
Island or other locations. From Easter Island they could have easily reached the mainland of South America. There is compelling evidence for this.There are some
theories that claim the backstrap loom came to the New World via the
polynesians, who received this weaving method from people in what is now the
Phillipines. In the article Amazing Austronesians there are attempts to
establish linguistic links between the words used for the parts of the
backstrap loom in the Polynesian Maori language and Quechua speakers in Peru.
It's possible that Polynesians did in fact bring the technology to Peru, yet I
have my doubts that all indigenous people in South and Central America went
about bare assed or using llama skins for warmth before the polynesians arrived
to save them. It is a fact that weaving on a backstrap loom sprung up in various parts of the world independently. According to Maya
Quiche mythology, for instance, Ixchel, the Moon Goddess was the patron of weaving. She was depicted sitting,
with one end of her loom tied to a tree and the other around her waist. She is
weaving with the shuttle in her left hand. There is evidence that the backstrap loom has been in use
in Mexico and Central America since 1500 B.C.E. A Classic Maya ceramic figurine
recovered from Jaina Island off the eastern coast of Mexico is of a weaver at
her backstrap loom. This loom is sometimes called the hip-loom, or stick-loom
(telar de palitos).
Recently, archaeological evidence discovered in the area od San Diego, California points to a much earlier date for human expansion into this continent. This evidence claims that humans arrived here 130,000 years ago, more than 100,000 years before the more accepted date. This compelling evidence is somewhat fresh and open to much controversy among those in the archaeological community. That should put a twist into everyone's timetable of everything. That earlier arrival date does allow ample time for whomever those humans were and are to develop a method for weaving fabric out of fiber instead of using skins to cover their behinds.
So what about Tenancingo? Why IKAT there,,,,,,and why do men dominate the weaving process? It is true that in Chile, Guatemala,Tenancingo, and a few other places in Latin America men dominate weaving. My fantasy answer: It just might lie in trade routes, and that famous real estate maxim,,,, location, location, location. Before the autopista in Tenango that now diverts traffic away from Tenancingo to the better politically connected Ixtapan de la Sal, Tenancingo was well positioned. It was a stop on the main gold-silver route between Iguala, Taxco, and Mexico City. Dubloons of silver and gold were inevitably spilled behind by travelers which encouraged the Tenacinguenses to prosper. The people here are an industrious lot, having taken advantage of their location, plentiful water and reasonable soil. Being on "the gold and silver route" the city evolved into a commercial place. It has never been washed in pastels. Tenancingo's surface is a little grubby from the commerce that constitutes its lively corazon. In the course of 500 years it has evolved into the most important economic center in the southern part of the State Of Mexico. People stopped, ate, shit, and slept here. Another important addition to the long term commerce in Tenancingo was due to the "Galleon Trade" between Spain, Asia, and the Phillipines. Spanish ships from Asia landed in what is now Acapulco laden with cargo from the orient destined for Mexico City and then Spain. More than likely aboard ship there were exotic cloths from Manila. IKAT designs and mantones de manila were loaded on the mule train to Mexico City along with spices, doo dads, and sundry baubles. What if some Phillipine guy on the mule train, a guy who knew how to dye cloth using the IKAT method, because he paid attention to his mother,,, what if he left the group because he fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful morena in Tenancingo. With that AWOL of the heart he spread the mighty germ of textile creativity here in the form of IKAT. The method might have been adopted by indigenous people who grafted it upon their own shawls woven in cotton or other fibers, like the lady pictured below from nearby Tenancingo who weaves with Joshua Tree Fiber.
Recently, archaeological evidence discovered in the area od San Diego, California points to a much earlier date for human expansion into this continent. This evidence claims that humans arrived here 130,000 years ago, more than 100,000 years before the more accepted date. This compelling evidence is somewhat fresh and open to much controversy among those in the archaeological community. That should put a twist into everyone's timetable of everything. That earlier arrival date does allow ample time for whomever those humans were and are to develop a method for weaving fabric out of fiber instead of using skins to cover their behinds.
So what about Tenancingo? Why IKAT there,,,,,,and why do men dominate the weaving process? It is true that in Chile, Guatemala,Tenancingo, and a few other places in Latin America men dominate weaving. My fantasy answer: It just might lie in trade routes, and that famous real estate maxim,,,, location, location, location. Before the autopista in Tenango that now diverts traffic away from Tenancingo to the better politically connected Ixtapan de la Sal, Tenancingo was well positioned. It was a stop on the main gold-silver route between Iguala, Taxco, and Mexico City. Dubloons of silver and gold were inevitably spilled behind by travelers which encouraged the Tenacinguenses to prosper. The people here are an industrious lot, having taken advantage of their location, plentiful water and reasonable soil. Being on "the gold and silver route" the city evolved into a commercial place. It has never been washed in pastels. Tenancingo's surface is a little grubby from the commerce that constitutes its lively corazon. In the course of 500 years it has evolved into the most important economic center in the southern part of the State Of Mexico. People stopped, ate, shit, and slept here. Another important addition to the long term commerce in Tenancingo was due to the "Galleon Trade" between Spain, Asia, and the Phillipines. Spanish ships from Asia landed in what is now Acapulco laden with cargo from the orient destined for Mexico City and then Spain. More than likely aboard ship there were exotic cloths from Manila. IKAT designs and mantones de manila were loaded on the mule train to Mexico City along with spices, doo dads, and sundry baubles. What if some Phillipine guy on the mule train, a guy who knew how to dye cloth using the IKAT method, because he paid attention to his mother,,, what if he left the group because he fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful morena in Tenancingo. With that AWOL of the heart he spread the mighty germ of textile creativity here in the form of IKAT. The method might have been adopted by indigenous people who grafted it upon their own shawls woven in cotton or other fibers, like the lady pictured below from nearby Tenancingo who weaves with Joshua Tree Fiber.
The rebozo is a blend of the traditional lienzo on
native Indians,
their carrying cloths,
indigenous shawls, the Spanish mantilla,
ikat and fabrics from Asia and
the beautifully
fringed shawl called
the Manton de Manilla. It is possible that the Manton was another
piece of merchandise on one of those mule trains,, crates of Mantones de Manila
on their way to Mexico City and Spain. The mantones de manila, like the ones
pictured below, (a chinese invention in silk not a Phillipine one) could have
been seen in Oaxaca and this may have started an embroidery fever there grafted
onto their own traditional tilma or huipil. And what of that beautiful addition
to the rebozo the "punta" Tenancingo style, long and complex.The
Manton de Manila must have been revealed in Tenancingo where the people there
added their own touch to the fringe adding another step and another elegance to
the rebozo. Ai Ai Ai the possiblities are endless no?
Manton de Manila
Ikat from The Phiilipines
Ikat from Tenancingo
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