Peruvian Obliquely Interlaced Braids

	Rodrick Owen October 11th and 12th, 2008 9:30-4:30 Race Road Fire House $170 /12 Students

Obliquely Interlaced Braids from pre-Hispanic times date between 2000 BC to AD 1500. The braids we will learn to make in this workshop are unique. They are obliquely interlaced structures that were made by the Paracas and Nazca cultures and date back to 600-200 BC. No other culture has produced braids like these. Rodrick will introduce us to these unique designs that are part of his research for his new book. As the head is the most visual part of the body the headband braids (also referred to as Turban braids) were worn wrapped around the head as a symbol of their status in the community. In the later periods more headbands were made than other articles of clothing to be buried with the dead. Not all of these braids were wrapped around the head; many of were also used as short tassels attached to woven pieces. We will reproduce several turban braids using our fingers and simple equipment. Questions? Contact Linda Thom

Rodrick Owen
Rodrick Owen has been making braids for 30 years. He trained as a mature student at the London College of Furniture, completing the City and Guilds Creative Textiles programme, qualifying with distinctions in 1981. He remained at the College as a Tutor for the next 13 years. He was educated in Australia, and spent 25 years working in Industry, leaving in 1973 to found a residential learning centre in France. His textile work has developed from his research that begun while at college, covering both Pre-Hispanic Peruvian Braids and Japanese Kumihimo. Currently his research is expanding to cover braids throughout Europe and Asia. In 1984 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study Kumihimo in Japan. While in Tokyo he was invited to teach at two Universities, and exhibited with Makiko Tada in Tokyo and Osaka. In 1987 he was invited to send work for the opening exhibition at the American Crafts Museum, New York, to celebrate the publication of Jack L. Larsen's book Interlacing. The exhibition travelled to Washington DC to be shown at the Textile Museum in 1988. In 1990 he was a co-director of the Textile Festival held in Bradford UK. In 1991 he organized an international, mixed media exhibition, Sunrise in the West. It included kimono, kumihimo, prints and pottery and travelled to locations in the UK. Arts and Crafts Council grants have supported his work, leading to exhibitions and commissions including those from Linda and Paul McCartney, Textile Designers and Industry. He has written a book Braids: 250 Patterns from Japan. Peru and Bevond published by Cassell and Interweave Press in March 1995. The book has been translated into German and Danish. Victorian Video invited him to make a video on Kumihimo - Japanese Braiding that was released in May 1999. His second book Making Kumihimo- Japanese Interlaced Braids was published by GMC UK in February 2004. Articles on this work have appeared in several magazines in the UK and USA including Ornament, Piecework, Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, and Beadwork. Apart from teaching in the UK, his work has taken him to four European countries, Australia and many parts of the USA, including Convergence at Washington DC, Atlanta and Cincinnati. He is available to teach workshops and seminars.