Teaching and Learning

चर्ख़ा, چرخہ, charkha

Explorations of one’s weaving and spinning heritage can be fraught with misconceptions when gleaned via the language and perspectives of a third-party culture. Such is Fazia’s first-generation-American pursuit of her heritage with charkha, a term which western audiences often think refers only to one specific kind of charkha.

Charkha means so much more to South Asians and not just as the term for spinning wheel. Reclaiming a subcontinent’s independence from colonial rule also meant reclaiming its textile industry, one with a deep history and global reach, as well as securing its future, and weaving a country together spiritually via spinning. To talk about charkha is to talk about political history. 

This presentation will explore the deep history of the word and the wheels, dispel misconceptions and western ideas of its origins, and deepen our understanding of the role of spinning in India’s independence movement, popular culture, the resurgence of khadi cloth, and reveal why you may know the box wheel to be “the charkha”.

An Online Workshop Support Group: A New Kind of Study Group

In 2021, WSSA member Fazia Rizvi signed up for the MAIWA School of Textiles’ online course, The Natural Dye Workshop. She followed along with the online class, watching videos, reading PDFs, and participating in the student discussion as modules were released. However, time and work responsibilities meant she only managed to complete a handful of the hands-on exercises.

Flash forward to 2024, and Fazia was determined to finished all the exercises and get the full experience of working with these natural dyes. What she needed was something to keep her on track. So she reached out to her guild to see if anyone was willing to sign up for the workshop and work through it together with her. A handful were, and a support group was born. Members of this small group worked on their own through the modules as they were released online. They then met once a month at Fazia’s studio to catch up on the modules, explore more with other fibers and dyes, share successes and failures, have lunch and socialize. The following spring, several people continued the support group through MAIWA’s “Journey Into Indigo” workshop.

In this presentation, Fazia will share how the group was organized and how they adapted to changing needs, as well as how they made the most of the monthly in-person meetings and the chat-like environment of Discord. She’ll also share some of the beautiful work that resulted. You’ll learn how your guild can create a similar kind of support group to supplement your online courses.

An Exploration of Kani Weaving

Woven like a carpet but lightweight and full of drape, using tapestry techniques but informed by a written code instead of a cartoon, Kani shawls are exquisite cashmere creations by the artisans of Jammu and Kashmir. An art indigenous to the region, with a history stretching back to the Mughal era, they were once sought after Maharajas and European aristocracy alike. But with pressures from machine-created replicas, geopolitical turmoil and climate change, this woven art form may be in danger of dying out. Join Fazia as she takes you on a journey through the origins and making of kani shawls, and her hope for their future.

The Groffs and Drafts & Designs

(Description arriving soon.)