Tramando
Tramando, a workshop series presented by Taller Puertorriqueño, is dedicated to empowering individuals and diaspora communities through collective art-making and the preservation of cultural heritage. The series supports artists in cultivating creative agency, developing sustainable practices, and honoring the rich diversity of Puerto Rican and Latino cultures.
Structured in four modules, Tramando offers hands-on exploration of traditional textile arts. Each of the first three modules focuses on a specific practice—natural dyeing and fiber spinning, Mayan backstrap weaving, and mundillo lace making—guided by expert guest instructors. These immersive workshops combine skill-building with professional development, fostering deeper connections to ancestral traditions.
The final module brings all participants back together for a collaborative, community-designed textile installation. Led by Richie Wilde López and created in partnership with the Fairhill/Kensington neighborhood, this culminating public art piece celebrates the collective knowledge and creativity nurtured throughout the series.
Module 2: Mayan Backstrap Weaving
Led by master weavers Oralia Chopan and Amparo De León of Trama Textiles in Guatemala, this module offers an in-depth introduction to the art of Mayan backstrap weaving. Participants will learn the fundamentals of this ancestral technique, which continues to be practiced by Indigenous women across Guatemala as a form of cultural preservation, economic independence, and resistance.
Through hands-on instruction and storytelling, Oralia and Amparo guide participants in setting up and weaving on a traditional backstrap loom, sharing the cultural significance embedded in each step of the process. This module centers the role of weaving as a living tradition—one that ties generations together and sustains communities.
In honoring the lineage of Mayan weavers, Module 2 offers not just technical skill, but also a deeper understanding of textile as memory, language, and legacy.
Module 1: Natural Dyeing and Fiber Spinning
Presented in collaboration with Trama Antillana, this first module explored the foundational practices of natural dyeing and hand spinning, grounded in Caribbean ecology and Puerto Rican textile heritage. Participants worked with cotton grown in Puerto Rico, learning to card, spin, and prepare the fiber by hand—a tactile process that connected them to ancestral methods of making.
Through dye baths made from plants native to Puerto Rico, the workshop introduced sustainable, small-scale approaches to coloring fiber while emphasizing the cultural and ecological importance of natural dye traditions in the Caribbean. Participants left with a deeper appreciation for the labor, land, and legacy behind every thread.
