arts

Also in this section:
Embera basket weaver to give seminar in Canada
Into the Woods Jr. at the Ancon Theater
Gallery & Museum Guide

Embera woman to give elite basket weaving seminar in Canada
photos by Susan Little, text by Eric Jackson

It's long past time to put away some old stereotypes. For one example, the dumb jock who majors in basket weaving. For another, the primitive jungle culture.

When Crispula Machuca, above, teaches her basket weaving classes on May 19 through 21 at the University of Windsor in Canada, athletes won't be excluded. However, only the smart, artistic ones, who are moreover gifted with nimble fingers, will have much chance of keeping up with the professor's lessons.

Machuca, an Embera artist who lives in Arraijan, has been gaining an international reputation based upon the quality of her work. Baskets by top Embera and Wounaan artists are fetching ever higher prices in the industrialized countries because those with a refined appreciation of the arts realize that there is nothing at all primitive about the better chunga palm weavings coming from Panama's indigenous communities. The best North American weavers envy these artists' ultra-sophisticated skills, high standards and creative sensibilities.

Susan Little, who markets indigenous artwork in North America through her company Little Connections, Canadian Auto Workers Local 444 and the Southwestern Ontario Basketry Conference are sponsoring the university seminar. Traveling to Windsor (which is just across the river from Detroit) with Machuca and Little will be Rogelio Cansari, an Embera who works with the government's Office of Indigenous Affairs, who will serve as interpreter.

Machuca, a mother of six whose income derives from her artwork, will also spend several days traveling around Ontario selling her baskets, meeting artists and collectors and getting her first exposure to Canada.

The seminar in Windsor will actually include two courses taught by Machuca: one in traditional techniques and another in contemporary Embera styles. Little and Cansari will also be promoting the work of other Embera and Wounaan weavers and a chunga palm sustainability project designed to preserve the natural resource upon which this art form depends.