On Wednesday, March 27th Kawsay Ukhunchay Research Collection hosted our Open House! The event celebrated the Collection’s semester-long theme of “Storytelling Tapestries and Story Cloths” with food, tours, and an invited artist talk by Carlos Quispe Flores.
Invited artist and scholar Carlos Flore Quispe, son of Bolivian master weaver Mama Santusa Quispe, gave a talk about the significance of weaving in Andean indigenous cultures along with an explanation of the techniques behind the weaving process. Carlos brought storytelling tapestries made by his family and taught guests how to “read” them as alternative forms of literacy.
Over 50 event attendees ranging from Spanish and Quechua undergraduate and graduate students to professors and department administrators engaged with our kawsay waqaychaqkuna student researchers/curators who gave brief presentations on Panamanian mola appliques and carved wooden nuchucana, Panamanian Pre-Columbian ceramics, Andean textiles and storytelling boards (tablas de Sarhua), as well as African story cloths on loan from OSU’s Historical Costumes and Textiles Library.
The event was an opportunity to network, honor the work of student researchers for the Kawsay Ukhunchay Collection, celebrate our institutional collaborations with Denison Museum and OSU’s Historical Costumes and Textiles Library, welcome our invited artist and guest speaker, Carlos, and build community around an Integrated Research/Teaching /Learning Environment for Andean and Amazonian Studies.
The event was supported by the Denison Museum, the OSU Historical Costumes and Textiles Collection, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Whitten Donation, our OSEP Ohio Sustainable Energy Partners Grant, and our wonderful student kawsay waqaychaqkuna. Thank you to everyone who came out to participate and engage in this event!
If you missed the Open House, you can still take advantage of the exhibition at OSU’s fingertips. These cultural artifacts will be on display until the end of the Spring 2024 semester. Please contact Professor Michelle Wibbelsman (wibbelsman.1@osu.edu) to schedule a visit to the collection as we continue to contribute to Ohio State’s student research opportunities and excellence!