The Mesoamerican Textile Seminar, in conjunction with the Department of Anthropology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, is proud to announce a major exhibition of the textiles and weaving of the Maya of Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. Woven Voices: Textile Traditions of the Highland Maya will be on display at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, Florida from December 16, 2000 through February 25, 2001. The exhibition Woven Voices has recently completed an extremely successful stay at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts in Tallahassee, and we are proud to have the opportunity to present an enhanced and expanded version of the exhibit at the Appleton Museum. An Exhibition Symposium will also be held at the Appleton Museum of Art on Saturday, January 27, 2001 from 10:00AM - 6:00PM.

The exhibit covers a time span of about 2,000 years. The designs and motifs used in the ancient Classic Period (AD 250-900) are comparable to those produced in today's textiles. Many of the customs and ceremonies used to honor Ix Chel, the Maya Goddess of Weaving, also have their origins rooted in the Classic Period. Maya monumental art communicates the importance and distinction accorded textiles during these ancient times. Incredible examples of ancient textiles were literally carved in stone, while masters painted polychrome ceramics depicting their value as trade and tribute. Evidence of the weaving craft is abundant in the archaeological record and examples are displayed in the Precolumbian segment of this exhibition.

Contemporary examples of this art form are the focus of this exhibit. Different highland villages are depicted through traditional and characteristic garments worn there today by the Maya as they continue to practice many of their ancient customs. The woman's traje (tra-hey), is a complete costume usually consisting of a blouse or shirt, skirt, belt, hair-ribbon, and the ubiquitous shawl. Each of these garments will be presented individually. Examples of full traje are interspersed throughout the exhibition halls.

The technology and methods of weaving on the traditional backstrap loom are complex and involved. Great patience, skill, and dexterity are needed to produce these incredible fabrics. The materials and dyes used by both Precolumbian and modern Maya are also displayed. Men participate in weaving primarily by working with machinery and techniques introduced by the Spanish in the 1600s. Their clothing, like that of the women, shows the unique and village-specific color and design combinations found in each of the indigenous villages throughout Chiapas and Guatemala.

These two geographic regions lie adjacent to one another in the valleys of contiguous mountain ranges. Today, the territory is divided by indigenous language groups and modern political boundaries. In ancient times the competition created by intense trade and commerce with other Mesoamerican cultures was a cause for major hostilities between these separate Maya groups. The war and uprisings that have been a curse in these regions for at least 2,000 years, continues to plague this magnificent land even today.