When Shi Paw came to Minnesota as a refugee in 2011, she brought only a few belongings. One was a cherished wedge of dark, tropical wood from the loom she used during more than a decade in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Colorful handwoven textiles are an important folk art among the ethnic Karen. Their weaving tradition survived the military conflict that drove them from their villages in Myanmar. It survived the refugee camps. And, now, a handful of Minnesota-born supporters and Karen women are trying to ensure it will survive in their new home in Minnesota.
Shi Paw meets weekly with other Karen women in St. Paul to weave not only traditional sarongs, but new items like placemats and scarves that appeal to American buyers. On Friday, Nov. 11, they open a small exhibit of their work.
“There is a window here of time for preserving this cultural art and making sure it’s conveyed to the next generation,” said Betsy Gedatus Garcia, an English instructor for adults learners in Roseville Public Schools who has been helping the effort. “As these women get older and can’t weave, and as they pass away, that art will be lost unless we dedicate time to it now.
“What they do is astounding, absolutely astounding,” she said. “Most of these weavers are extremely humble and don’t consider themselves anything special. But here in Minnesota, we would look at them as being artists, and really, master weavers.”
HOW THEY WEAVE
On Wednesday afternoon, eight Karen women sat on the floor or on folding chairs in the basement of the East Side Freedom Library. Several women pulled thread from colorful spools. They chatted in Karen.
Aye Lwai sat barefoot on the carpet with her loom strapped around her hips. The Karen weave on simple backstrap looms, which are common in traditional cultures throughout Asia and Central and South America. As the name suggests, the weaver uses her body as an anchor by passing a thick strap around her lower back.
The warp threads stretched taut over Aye Lwai’s outstretched legs. The other end was anchored about 3 feet away to the basement wall. She fiddled with the PVC tubes and dowels she uses to raise and lower the threads.
Millimeter by millimeter, a blue and pink woven fabric emerged under her deft fingers. She planned to make a bag. If she wove sunup to sundown at her Maplewood apartment, she said, it would take three full days to finish. She’ll sell it for $30, perhaps a bit more if the pattern is complicated.
Shi Paw and Aye Lwai, who came to Minnesota two years ago, said they learned to weave from their mothers when they were about 13, living in their farming villages in Myanmar. Later, in the refugee camps, they wove to make money for food and school fees and books. Shi Paw taught three of her four daughters to weave.
When the Karen women arrived in Minnesota, they stopped weaving. The young women had no time for an expensive and time-consuming hobby, on top of learning English and other schooling, jobs and caring for children. The older women have time, but no equipment.
Shi Paw, 52, said she lost a bit of herself.
“She said she cannot find the words,” said Laymu Paw, the weaving coordinator who acted as interpreter. “But she said there was something missing in her heart.”
HOW IT STARTED
Staff at the Adult Learning Center in Roseville, where many Karen people take English classes, decided that reviving weaving could preserve a cultural tradition but also give the older refugee women a meaningful activity to combat isolation and depression.
“I started to just ask what people needed in order to weave,” said Tim O’Brien, director of adult basic education program in Roseville.
Through trial, error and translation, O’Brien made parts for looms. He ordered bamboo from California and planed down pieces of local maple to make “swords” or beaters used to pound the woven threads tight. Keith Pierce, a retired math professor and a member of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota with an interest in ethnic weaving, found an Idaho shop that sells a thread similar to the thin, colorful cotton thread used in Thailand.
In 2014, about six women started weaving regularly at Fairview Community Center in Roseville. Some of the original women left and others joined when the effort moved to the nonprofit East Side Freedom Library last year through a new partnership with the library, Goodwill-Easter Seals and The Karen Organization of Minnesota, which received a $32,000 Minnesota State Arts Board grant to expand the weaving circle. The grant paid for supplies, the salary of part-time coordinator Laymu Paw and visits to three Roseville and St. Paul high schools to introduce weaving to students.
Rosie Say, 57, is one of the few women in the weaving circle who didn’t learn the craft until she came to Minnesota. She arrived in St. Paul in March 2014. She said she was scared to leave her home at first because she can’t speak or read English and big city buildings were confusing. Like the other women, she doesn’t work outside the home. She lives in a house with her husband and her two adult daughters and their husbands, who work as hotel cleaners, nursing home attendants and sorters in a recycling center. She cares for three grandchildren. The weaving circle is one of the few reasons she gets out of the house. She says it “makes her happy.”
She’s also happy with a bit of extra money. She sold her first piece last year at a fundraising gala for the Karen Organization, a bag for $60. When asked what she does with the cash, she breaks into a smile and she says she buys toothpaste and other small things.
The Karen Organization, which represents about 12,000 Karen in Minnesota, just learned the state arts board grant was renewed for 2017 at $40,000. That will allow them to return to several schools in the spring and expand efforts to sell pieces at art fairs.
Retired math professor Pierce has an additional goal in mind.
“They haven’t entered the State Fair,” he said. “What they do is marvelous, especially considering that they’re using very primitive equipment, basically a collection of sticks. I couldn’t possibly do it. I think they’d be candidates for a ribbon.”
IF YOU GO
What: Karen Weaving Exhibition
When: Opening reception and demonstrations 4-7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11; exhibit open 9 a.m.-noon daily except Sundays through Nov. 23
Where: East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St., St. Paul
Information: eastsidefreedomlibrary.org
