CREATING TEXTILE STORIES WITH THE PALE ROOK
San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico
March 18-26, 2023
When Johanna first viewed pictures from the San Cristobal Textile Museum, she was ready to pack her bags and head to Chiapas, the southern most state of Mexico. Situated in the highlands of Chiapas and surrounded by pine forests, the Spanish colonial city is marked with cobbled-stone streets, red roofs, iron balconies, and restored century-old houses with uniquely colored doors.
The city was named as one of the most magical of the Pueblos Magicos (magical villages). It is here that we will create our own magic with The Pale Rook.
San Cristobal has a wonderful Textile Museum where we will spend a lot of time gathering inspiration for weaving our own stories with our stitching.
Johanna will provide a doll pattern that we will use to create our doll. The remaining time will be spent on using different stitching to create a multi-layered creation.
Day One, Saturday March 18
Everyone will arrive in Tuxtla where we will gather for introductions, drinks and our first meal together.
Day Two, Sunday March 19
Have your bags in the lobby by 9:00 a.m. We will drive 45 minutes to San Cristobal where we will check into Sombra de Agua. After settling in, we will meet with our friend, Gaby, for a walking tour.
There are many ex-conventos throughout Mexico, some converted into hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, restaurants, schools and museums such as the Centro de Textiles del Mundo Maya. Upstairs inside the Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo, this excellent museum showcases over 500 examples of handwoven textiles from throughout Mexico and Central America, with most coming from local indigenous groups in Yucatan, Chiapas, and Guatemala. Two permanent exhibition rooms display huipiles (sleeveless tunics) – including a 1000-year-old relic fashioned from tree bark. Videos show how materials and clothes are created. To see more pictures, go here.
We will have lunch and then return to the hotel where we will gather in the workshop space. Class will be over around 5:00. There will be free time before we gather for dinner this evening.
Day 3 March 20
Breakfast will be in the hotel each morning. We will gather in our workshop at 9:00 a.m., work through the day, stopping for lunch. Class will be over around 4:30. Free time until dinner this evening.
Day 4 March 21
After breakfast, meet in the classroom at 9:00. We will continue stitching today with a field trip to further inspire us. Lunch and dinner will be together.
We hope to visit Sergio Castro’s private museum. Often in the highlands when cooking on comals or lifting heavy pots, women and children are often burned. Sergio has been providing burn treatments to outlying indigenous villages for years. As payment, he has often received pieces of clothing. His collection is amazing.
Day 5 March 22
Breakfast and then meet in the classroom at 9:00. We will work this morning with Johanna, have lunch then walk to one of my favorite places in the world. Taller Lenateros for a class on making paper. You will swoon at the storeroom from which you can choose papers to buy.
Tonight dinner will be on your own.
Carla Sonheim admiring the selection of papers
Day 6 March 23
Breakfast then in the classroom for the whole day, stopping for lunch. Tonight will be a special cooking class with Ana Elena Martinez, a pastry chef from Puebla.
Ana Elena Martinez
Day 7 March 24
After breakfast, we will finish our dolls, stopping for lunch and then we will clean up and have a show “n tell. There will be free time for you to make last minute purchases before our last dinner in San Cristobal.
Day 8 March 25
Have an early breakfast and then bring your suitcases to the lobby. We will travel to the Canon del Sumidero on the Rio Grijalalva for our 2 hour windy ride beneath some pretty spectacular cliffs. There will be crocodiles, monkeys, birds and butterflies.
After our brisk 14-mile ride, we will stop for comida at Jardin de Chiapas before checking into our hotel. There is time to relax before our final meal together this evening.
Day 9 March 26
Our time together is over and you may fly home anytime today.
This Escape Includes
Instruction by The Pale Rook
Some art supplies
Two nights hotel in Tuxtla
Seven nights hotel in San Cristobal
Paper making class at Taller Lenateros
Boat ride down Canon del Sumidero
Walking Tour of San Cristobal
Cooking class with Ana Elena Martinez
All meals except for one dinner on your own
New art tribe
Price: $3,950, limited to 12 people based on double occupancy, limited single rooms are available for an additional $600.
Payment is due upon registration.
Price does not include airfare to/from Mexico
Accommodations
Hotel Sambra de Agua
Ángel Albino Corzo International Airport (IATA: TGZ, ICAO: MMTG) (Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Ángel Albino Corzo), also known as Tuxtla Gutierrez International Airport, is an international airport serving the Mexican municipality of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas. It handles air traffic for the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez and central Chiapas, including the popular tourist destination of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
COVID REQUIREMENTS
Each participant will need to show proof of vaccination and a rapid test result three days before departure to Chiapas We will wear masks whenever we are in a public place and especially in the small villages where we will travel. There are no exceptions. We will also follow any local/country requirements as needed.
We will Provide
Fabric to make your doll
A doll pattern that you can cut and adapt to suit your own style and vision for your doll.
Toy stuffing.
Student Supply List
Embroidery sewing needles
A selection of embroidery floss in colours of your choice
Fabric Scissors
Glass headed sewing pins
A pin cushion
A pencil sharpener
A pencil eraser
a pair of tweezers (these can be from a pharmacy and do not need to be specialist craft tweezers).
A sketchbook
Sketching paper (for drawing and cutting your doll pattern)
Paper scissors
A small bottle of fray stop
Ana Elena, Johanna and Kathie at Nois Restaurante in Oaxaca
We are so thrilled that Johanna Flanagan of the Pale Rook is teaching another Bellissima Art Escape. She is a Scottish textile artist, doll maker and costume designer, trained in fashion, constructed textiles and historical costumes. Doll making was her first love, and she has been making dolls for as long as she can remember. In the last fourteen years, Johanna has taught in art schools, museums and colleges throughout the UK and Europe, as well as writing and tutoring correspondence courses for the last two years.