about

	Artist Statement: My work combines modern material with ancient technique. In my explorations I have built looms, spun and knitted using trash such as plastic and rubber tires. The trash comes from both the USA and Lake Titicaka, Peru; an ancient and ecologically sensitive environment 12,000 feet above sea level. The language and culture here is Aymara, a milleninial language dating back to pre-Inca Wari and Tiwanaku cultures. The work is a synthesis of tradition with modernity. I feel that sometimes tradition must change and build upon its origins in order to achieve continued relevance in modern contexts, while also serving as a vehicle to express the concerns of an isolated and culturally marginalized people on the fringes of Peruvian society. I learned the techniques of spinning, weaving and knitting within a traditional indigenous Aymara lifestyle. My grandmother Maria, a master weaver, would spend her days in the fields and nights at home, all the while spinning her drop spindle to a rythm of lake and sky. At the age of fifteen I began learning from her. She would weave the colors of the high Altiplano and Lake into her works, this vibrancy of color also inspire and influence my woven and painted works.

Artist Statement:

My work combines modern material with ancient technique. In my explorations I have built looms, spun and knitted using trash such as plastic and rubber tires. The trash comes from both the USA and Lake Titicaka, Peru; an ancient and ecologically sensitive environment 12,000 feet above sea level. The language and culture here is Aymara, a milleninial language dating back to pre-Inca Wari and Tiwanaku cultures. The work is a synthesis of tradition with modernity. I feel that sometimes tradition must change and build upon its origins in order to achieve continued relevance in modern contexts, while also serving as a vehicle to express the concerns of an isolated and culturally marginalized people on the fringes of Peruvian society.

I learned the techniques of spinning, weaving and knitting within a traditional indigenous Aymara lifestyle. My grandmother Maria, a master weaver, would spend her days in the fields and nights at home, all the while spinning her drop spindle to a rythm of lake and sky. At the age of fifteen I began learning from her. She would weave the colors of the high Altiplano and Lake into her works, this vibrancy of color also inspire and influence my woven and painted works.