Testimonials from our recent Rug-Hooking Tour:

I can’t say enough about my recent 10 day Rug Hooking  experience in Guatemala with Mary Anne Wise and Jody Slocum. You could not ask for a more competent, good humored, unflappable leaders to see this beautiful country. The tour was set up to include time with indigenous women from rural villages who are part of a cooperative women’s empowerment program. Because of the thoughtful design of the tour and the cultural
competence of the leaders, we were able to spend significant, meaningful time with these women both as they worked at the cooperative (13 Threads) and by visiting their home villages. We were able to enter into their lives and share a common ground as women and artists.

All the details of the trip were meticulously planned for us. I have been to Guatemala 5 times and this is the first time I did not suffer GI distress. The food was delicious and safe. The rooms were clean and everywhere the settings were beautiful.

A big bonus was the women who were attracted to this tour, maybe it was that Mary Anne and Jody were the magnet and/or, maybe it is that rug hookers are a great folks to be with.
I highly recommend this experience. I would be happy to discuss this further and can be reached by email: cstockman2 at verizon.net

- Chris Stockman, February 2012

Whether a rug hooker or not, this was an opportunity of a lifetime to not only visit another country, but to actually participate in the culture of a proud, generous and hopeful people. Their beautiful ear-to-ear smiles are genuine even though their stories are often times hard to hear. Each person you meet touches your heart and awakens your soul to new thoughts and ideas. Their artistry is dynamic; alive with great energy and emotion and not to be missed. Once you see how they create their textiles, you will never be able to look at woven, hooked, beaded items in quite the same manner or possibly even as casually as you may have in the past. The tour was  extraordinary – we saw and did so very much in a very short time. I will never forget this trip!

-Shirley Plumb, February 2012

The first ever rug hooking tour to Guatemala concluded on Sunday, Feb 26th, 2012. Ten women from Texas, Massachusetts, Montreal, Wisconsin & Minnesota buddied up with our nine Guatemalan student rug-hooking teachers. 

We were united in purpose: to share rug hooking experiences and to build meaningful cross cultural friendships. Over the course of one week the Guatemalan rug hookers helped the visitors design and color-plan a hooked rug imbued with uniquely Guatemalan ‘flavors’.  While simultaneously rug hooking we shared personal histories, family photos, food, hugs- one of us even ‘google earthed’ her home in Texas and without understanding a word of spanish, she found her buddy’s home in Totonicapan right there on her ipad!

Thanks to the North Americans for taking the ‘leap’ and for making this dream partnership become a reality for our Guatemalan rug-hookers. It was an experience our students from Quejel, Patanitique, Totonicapan and Chirijquiac will never forget. Still more ‘thank yous’ to Rosa Garcia Garcia and Yolanda Morales Calgua for inviting us in to your homes at Patanitique and Quejel. Your presentations to our group- including a folk dance demonstration just for us- made us feel welcomed, special, and deepened our appreciation for the daily challenges facing Guatemalan women.

Thanks also to the staff and interns at Oxlajuj B’atz’ for their attention to detail and for being on hand to translate whenever needed. A special thanks to Reyna Pretzan for always knowing how to set the exact right pace. Is there an award for Best Tour Guide Ever? If so? I nominate Jody Slocum for her boundless energy, enthusiasm, insights and consideration. Jody is truly one of a kind.  Finally, a heartfelt thank you to the Delta Family Foundation. 

Prior to the tour I gave a lot of consideration to the pairing of the rug hooking ‘buddies’. The task was complicated for I had never met half of the north americans. However, I did know the Guatemalans because we’ve had the pleasure of working together for nearly 4 years. In the end, I made a list and mentally noted each student’s strengths and weakness and simply ‘winged it’. Here are two stories about the new rug hooking ‘buddies’.

All best,

Jean & Carmen
I knew the Guatemalan women would adore Jean, 80 years old from Mankato, MN, and so I paired her with Carmine, our Guatemalan student who, during previous classes has exhibited the lowest self esteem of any student. Carmine often needs to be reminded to speak above a whisper. She has come a very long way but she is still uncomfortable voicing her opinion. And yet she can enlarge scale free hand and hook like a dream. I knew Jean would be patient, attentive and kind: Jean is the embodiment of grand-motherhood. Over the course of several days it was an absolute thrill to watch Carmine help Jean design a rug. Carmine insisted that Jean “hook the right way” and pulled out any stray loops.  Slowly Jean’s rug took shape as Carmine’s vision appeared on the monks cloth loop by loop.

Jean brought photos from home to share with Carmine and Carmine brought in her photos, too. None of us had ever seen Carmine’s photos: yellowed black and white snap shots of Carmine as a young woman; color photos of her 2 sons and 1 daughter posing for the camera and looking thoroughly modern and, more recent photos of Carmine in the rug hooking classes. It was lovely, just lovely watching the women bond.  By the time the tour concluded, Carmine was walking on air.

Peg & Rosemary
You don’t need to be around Peg long to understand her ability to connect with teenagers because at heart she’s still a teenager, too. Peg is a retired high school art teacher from Red Wing, MN. Pairing Peg with 15 year old Rosemary was a no-brainer.

I met Rosemary for the first time when she arrived in the January ‘Teach the Teacher’ class. Another more experienced rug hooker was supposed to participate in this class but she was unable to get permission from her husband. In her place, OB selected Rosemary. My first thought was: she seems young, she’s only hooked 2 rugs, but after observing her work ethic I understood OB had made a good choice.

All along Rosemary has been telling me she attends school- I was confused by this because if she was in school, how could she get time off to participate in rug hooking classes and attend the rug hooking tour? Oh well, I pushed the thought aside.

Over the next few days Peg teased apart Rosemary’s story…. I had never heard Rosemary’s story so I was especially curious to listen as Peg gently probed her brief history. As if they were Rosemary’s big sisters, OB staff members Reyna & Mildred held her hand as they translated into english Rosemary’s painful life.  Her father is long gone… her mother has 4 other children, all younger, and she needs Rosemary’s help to feed the family. Rosemary has been cleaning houses since she was 5 years old.

Rosemary’s mother has been very critical of her ‘art’- it didn’t sell. Going beyond criticism, her mother told her she wasn’t any good and she should stop coming to the classes, she should stop rug hooking, she should go back to cleaning houses. Recalling her mother’s hurtful words, Rosemary breaks down in tears.

And then, miracle of miracles, somewhere along the line her two rugs sold. Her mother has now changed her tune: she wants Rosemary to teach her how to hook.

It turns out the school Rosemary was referring to? it’s the rug hooking classes- that’s her school.