Open Studio: Pacha, Llaqta, Wasichay

Artisan Alice Chéveres at work, August 2018. Photograph by Billie Rae Vinson

A clay pot inspired by a blow fish, August 2018. Photographs by Billie Rae Vinson

A detail of Jorge González’s installation in Pacha, Llaqta, Wasichay, August 2018. Photograph by Billie Rae Vinson

Participants listening to readings whilst sitting on a woven enea mat, August 2018. Photograph by Billie Rae Vinson

A family braiding the enea, August 2018. Photograph by Billie Rae Vinson

Preparing the enea before the program, August 2018.

A detail of Jorge González’s installation in Pacha, Llaqta, Wasichay, August 2018. Photograph by Billie Rae Vinson

A family working with clay, August 2018. Photograph by Billie Rae Vinson

Inspired by the artistic traditions of the Taíno people of Puerto Rico, artists Jorge González, Alice Chéveres, and Francisco González invited families to join them for a day of collaborative artmaking and storytelling.

Since the nineteenth century tobacco workers in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands would elect someone to read the news or classic works of literature as they rolled tobacco leaves into cigars. This act of public reading comes from a long standing tradition, still practiced today in some Caribbean Islands. In the Theater, families were invited to braid and weave enea, a material used in traditional Puerto Rican crafts, as they listened to readings of poetry and traditional Puerto Rican stories throughout the day.

Together, Jorge González, Alice Chéveres, and Francisco González began the workshop series Taller Cabachuelas in which people gather to study traditional Taíno pottery techniques. These traditions come from Indigenous knowledge that has been passed on over time. Chéveres teaches these classes in her home in Puerto Rico. In the Artpsace next door to the Theater, families learnt from Chéveres and joined her in making clay coil pots.