Where: Texere, Oaxaca, Mexico

When: January 2025

This January, I had the absolute dream opportunity to reside at Texere, a lush fiber art studio located in a small village 30 minutes outside of Oaxaca City, Mexico, immersing myself in the vibrant world of textile arts. Having participated in a group residency there exactly two years ago, I knew it was the perfect place to start the new year, learn new skills, and organize my ideas, thoughts, and goals for the near future.

During this time, I focused on acquiring two new skills that I had long wanted to add to my portfolio: natural dyeing and sewing. Yes, sewing—a skill you might assume is a prerequisite for a textile artist. However, until now, I had managed to avoid sewing machines, relying solely on my abilities as a knotter and weaver. I have long been captivated by the appearance of bojagi, a Korean patchwork technique that originated during the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910). During this period, women, often confined to their homes due to societal restrictions, expressed their creativity by sewing together fabric scraps to create wrapping cloths known as bojagi. These textiles, resembling stained glass windows, are truly spectacular in design and rich in detail. 

I thought this would be a great project to learn to use the sewing machine during my residency. It turns out it wasn’t at all! Sewing the seams of all the small patches in the correct order requires quite a bit of skill. I managed somehow, thanks to my naivety, to push through, and am actually quite pleased with the finished work. By the way, the majority of the colored fabric pieces are hand-dyed using marigold, avocado pit, brazilwood, indigo, and rosemary.