Weaving proves to be top choice of campers in art camp 4 in Fruita

Art Campers were treated to a special treat from Sheri Tice. Tice brought in a loom complete with a weaving done by a Mayan Indian Woman last summer. Tice and her husband, Warren Harrison, spend time in a small coastal community each winter where they work and experience the traditions and culture of the people there. The Guatamalan weaving was a gift to Warren  by the weaver. She even gave him her mother's needle made from deer antler. The campers noted that when the Indians hunted game, not one bit of the kill was wasted, even to the use of bone and antlers.

The campers were visiting the southwest this week. Activities included paper weaving, which acted as a pre-curser to actual weaving. Lori Baker and Vera Mulder made cardboard looms. They invented a simple means of homemade needle to use as shuttle. 

After the initial weaving lesson, the activity took off like a rocket. It became the favorite project thus far, even better than tie-dye shirts, clay rattles, clay animals and Indian coil pots. 

The weaving brought in by Tice was received with "ahs" by campers when they actually saw how thin the threads were in this weaving, compared to the yarn they had been using in their first weavings.

It certainly gave an appreciation to everyone for the days and months of labor the American Indian and other cultures put into the wonderful rugs they have done in the past and continue to do today.

Campers enrolled in the camps have been from Cap Rock, Wingate, Thunder Mountain, a few from Rim Rock, Shelledy, Appleton and Loma Elementary.

Baker and Mulder hope everyone remembers the camps this June, Australia, Africa, China and the Southwest, and will take another adventure next summer. Who knows, we might explore space, the Himalayas, or go back in time to other civilizations.