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African Threads

Valerie Hearder's African Threads

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Category Archives: Travel

New York!

African Threads Posted on November 6, 2016 by Val HearderNovember 6, 2016
New York's Garment district, Mood Fabrics.

This past week we spent 4 days in New York. We wanted to do something memorable for our 40th anniversary and New York was perfect. As our Uber driver said, as he forked over $15 for the Holland Tunnel to … Continue reading →

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Posted in art, Fabric, Fabric shopping, Travel | 5 Replies

Telephone Wire Basket

African Threads Posted on April 26, 2016 by Val HearderJuly 7, 2016

We saw this large telephone wire basket at the African Art Centre in Durban, South Africa. Vibrant colour and textur

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Posted in AfricanThreads, art, Inspiration, South African Tour, Textured Tuesdays, Travel | Tagged basket, Durban, South Africa, telephone, wire | Leave a Reply

African Beaded Skirt

African Threads Posted on April 19, 2016 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Detail of a beautifully textured Shangaan beaded fertility apron, Limpopo Province in South Africa.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Inspiration, Social Commentary, South African Tour, Textured Tuesdays, Travel | Tagged beaded, fertility apron, Limpopo Province, Shangaan, South Africa | Leave a Reply

Indigo and Clay

African Threads Posted on April 12, 2016 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Deeply textured hand built pots by a Zulu craftsman paired with indigo dyed cotton. Love being in South Africa.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Inspiration, South African Tour, Textured Tuesdays, Travel | Tagged cotton, indigo, pottery, South Africa, Zulu | Leave a Reply

Scissors

African Threads Posted on March 19, 2016 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016
Shangaan woman with carving

  We met this delight woman in Limpopo Province when we toured there last year. Her husband is a famous carver and she is is second wife. My friend Janine Hunt from Bainbridge Island was in our group and both … Continue reading →

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Posted in Fabric, Fabric shopping, Grandmothers of Africa, South African Tour, Travel | Leave a Reply

Textured Tuesdays

African Threads Posted on March 16, 2016 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

This stack of folded kuba raffia cloth exudes texture, colour and energy. Abstract designs are appliquéd on to a background fabic. The colours suggest the essence of Africa. I spotted these fabrics when we visited Kim Sacks Gallery in Johannesburg on our last tour to South Africa.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Fabric, Fabric shopping, South African Tour, Textured Tuesdays, Travel | Tagged African, appliqué, Cloth, fabrics, kuba, raffia, Textured Tuesdays | Leave a Reply

Textured Tuesdays

African Threads Posted on March 8, 2016 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

The Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan. We got up at 4:30 am to get to the market and see the fresh fish ready for sale and distribution. it was full of pattern and texture. These are fresh octopus.

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Posted in Inspiration, Textured Tuesdays, Travel, Tuesday Textures | Tagged fish, market, octopus, textures, Tsukiji | Leave a Reply

Textured Tuesday

African Threads Posted on February 29, 2016 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Whalebone vertebrae, many hundreds of years old. I found this at Red Bay Labrador at the earliest known Basque Settlement in North America. the Basque hunted whale and returned to Spain with the oil. There are 9 holes drilled in the centre of the vertebrae, perhaps made by researchers looking at the DNA of the whale, I don’t know.

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Posted in Inspiration, Musings, Nature, Textured Tuesdays, Travel | Tagged Basque, Labrador, Red Bay, vertebrae, Whalebone, whalers | Leave a Reply

Stitched into this place.

African Threads Posted on November 17, 2015 by Val HearderJune 27, 2016

Today, when some in our world seem hungry to divide people violently along racial and religious lines, I find myself thinking about growing up in Apartheid South Africa. In Durban in the late 60’s, I was not supposed to go alone to the Indian Market, in the heart of the city. Here I found community and my world grew bigger.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Community, Fabric, Fabric shopping, Musings, My history, Social Commentary, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged African medicine, Apartheid, bunny chow, culture, curry, Durban, fabric shopping, Hindu, Indian Market, Madrassa Arcade, Muslim, South Africa, tour, Victoria Market | 3 Replies

Visiting the Cradle of Humankind

African Threads Posted on September 19, 2015 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Homo Naledi is the most ancient human species ever discovered in Africa. The scientific buzz from the discovery is shaking up our knowledge of the origins of humankind.What good fortune that we decided to visit this very area on our tour next year! On-site archaeologists will guide our field trip to a dig close to the Naledi discovery.

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Posted in Nature, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged archaeological, Cradle of Humankind, Cultural tour, Homo Naledi, lions, South Africa | Leave a Reply

More fabric shopping in South Africa! Part 2

African Threads Posted on June 11, 2015 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

I’ll write more about the various adventures we had in South Africa including more in depth information about shwe-shwe fabric pictured above, which is the iconic fabric of South Africa. I want to tell you about the herd of elephants that surrounded our safari trucks, the leopard we saw and the Zulu baskets and beadwork!

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Fabric, Fabric shopping, Grandmothers of Africa, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged African trading store, elephants, fabric shopping, iconic fabric of South Africa, Limpopo, printed blouses, safari trucks, shwe-shwe, South Africa, Venda | 8 Replies

Fabric Shopping in South Africa.

African Threads Posted on June 10, 2015 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

When we visited Limpopo Province this past April, our tour group was thrilled to stop at an African trading store. Three generations of an Indian family had owned the store supplying fabric to the various groups in the area: the Shangaan, Tsonga and Venda.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Fabric, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged African trading store, elephants, fabric buying, leopard, Limpopo, safari truck, Shangaan, shwe-shwe fabric, South Africa, tour, Tsonga, Venda | 2 Replies

Visiting a Zulu village

African Threads Posted on May 30, 2015 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

In April I led an arts & culture tour to South Africa. Here I am, second from the right, sitting with our tour group while visiting a Zulu village near Eshowe, KwaZulu Natal. Behind us are traditional bee-hive huts.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged arts & culture, bee-hive huts, Eshowe, KwaZulu Natal, South African, tour, village, Zulu, Zulu dancing | 3 Replies

Embroidery Bearing Witness

African Threads Posted on September 4, 2014 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

On September 7th, a fascinating exhibition of South African embroideries will open at the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles. It’s called, Bearing Witness: Embroidery as History in Post-Apartheid South Africa It will feature the work of two groups that I’ve been closely connected to over the past 10 years through my fair trade imports, African Threads and my cultural tours to South Africa.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, art, Embroidery/Stichery, Grandmothers of Africa, Social Commentary, South African Tour, Travel | Tagged African Threads, Bearing Witness, Cultural tour, embroidery, Fowler Museum, Kaross, Mapula, post-apartheid, South Africa, textile tour, UCLA | 2 Replies

150 pairs of Granny Glasses

African Threads Posted on February 22, 2014 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Thanks to the Lunenburg Rotary Club and the Tantallon Bay Grans for donating 150 pairs of reading glasses. This wonderful pile of glasses is headed to South Africa with me next week. The glasses will be given to women artisans in South Africa.

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Posted in AfricanThreads, Grandmothers of Africa, Travel | Tagged African Grandmothers, artisan, economic empowerment, glasses, South African tour | Leave a Reply

Venice Floats Softly

African Threads Posted on October 21, 2012 by Val HearderJuly 8, 2016

Oh, the colors of Siena! So faded and gentle: muted amber, rose, tawny mushroom colors of earth. I want to make a quilt with Siena colors.

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Posted in Travel | Tagged Architecture Biennale, art, barge trip, Bertil Vallien, color, floating softly, Italy, old master, quilt, tawny mushroom colours of earth, Venice, Wales, Welsh lamb | 4 Replies

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