CLAY! 2008

Trinidad Area Arts Council

is proud to present

works in

CLAY! 2008

Reception for the artists

Friday

September 5, 2008

Member's Reception 5:00 to 6:30 pm

Public Reception 6:30 to 8:00 pm

Good news for weaving enthusiasts and for anyone who would like to learn the difficult but fascinating art of Navajo weaving: Sarah Natani, nationally renowned Navajo weaver from Table Mesa, NM, will be returning to Trinidad in September for a weaving workshop to be held in the Trinidad Area Arts Council’s First Street Gallery. The five-day workshop is scheduled for the week of Sept. 15 through 19.
Natani came to the TAAC last September to conduct her second workshop in the region, and a small but enthusiastic group of weavers were enthralled with her teaching and her stories of traditional Navajo life. This year Natani again will be the guest of longtime friends Lonnie and Vibeke Adkisson, owners of the McCormick Building and of Purgatoire River Trading Company in downtown Trinidad.
Natani has taught Navajo weaving workshops for over 40 years in the United States and Europe. Her presentations are filled with stories about how the Navajo deity, Spider Woman, taught weaving to the people, Navajo weaving etiquette and many personal stories of her life with weaving. The course, in addition to teaching the techniques of Navajo weaving, will included a natural plant dye workshop.
Participation in the workshop will be on a first-come basis, with tuition set at $350. A down payment of $200 is required, as well as a lab fee of $125. A Navajo loom can be rented, in advance, for $25, or students are welcome to make their own.
To register for the weaving workshop, or for more information about it, contact the TAAC at 719-846-1441.

“Batik 08.08.08,” a show of modern artwork utilizing the ancient method of dyeing cloth, will open on Friday at the First Street Gallery, sponsored by the Trinidad Area Arts Council. A reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. will be for TAAC members only, and a public reception is scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
The featured batik artists, husband-wife team Jonathan Evans and Beth McCoy who live part of the year in LaVeta, also will conduct a three-day adult workshop at the First Street Gallery Saturday through Monday, Aug. 9 -11. The workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, and cost is $145, with all materials provided. Participants will be able to complete a batik scar and wall-hanging by the end of the workshop.
Batik is a process of dyeing using a resist, a substance which prohibits dyes from penetrating. The resist is usually melted wax, but starch, oils, flour paste, even mud have been used down through the ages. Although it is not known exactly where batik originated, the art has been perfected on the islands of Indonesia.
Evans, born in England and educated in Scotland, has been a full time batik artist since the late 1960s, when, as a primary school teacher, he experimented with wax and dyes in a classroom with kids. In 1982, he represented the USA in the International Batik Show in Koln, Germany. He has shown his work at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, and throughout the United States. During the past decade, Evans has traveled around the world, worked in Bali and in the Himalayas in North India, where he and his wife currently spend part of the year.
McCoy was raised on the East Coast, and after a series of different jobs after high school, moved to Colorado in 1988 and began to paint seriously. The natural beauty of her surroundings new LaVeta have provided great inspiration, she says, as have extensive travels with her husband, which has given her new subjects to explore in batik.
The batik show at the First Street Gallery will continue through August 29, featuring a variety of current works by both artists. The Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information about the show, or to sign up for the batik workshop, call the TAAC at 719-846-1441 or 859-7702.

Interstate 25

New work by

Patrick Kikut

July 12 through August 2, 2008