Material Culture: A Weaving Podcast

You can feel something different in a piece of art when it's created with a sense of authenticity and passion from the artist. What would it mean to be courageous in fully showing up to tell our stories? In this episode of Material Culture, we talk with the sister duo behind Crossing Threads - Lauren and Kass Hernandez, who started weaving together in 2015. They share with us about their journey as co-creating and running a business together as sisters - as well as what they've learned about setting boundaries and facilitating a creating process that feels good for everyone involved. Topics discussed include: creating in times of great pain and tension, making your own process work for you, taking the time to slow down and resist the culture of hustle, and their experience as Filipina women exploring their identity as children of immigrants.

You can find more of Lauren and Kass's work at their website crossingthreads.co, or their instagram @crossingthreads.

The Material Culture podcast explores narratives of weaving, (text)iles, art, manufacturing, history, and the people, workers and artists whose stories create the framework and understanding of living with cloth. Material Culture is produced by the yarn shop, textile studio and weaving school, Weaver House. If you have a question, comment or other feedback - you can leave a message for the podcast at weaverhouseco.com/podcast.

This month's episode is also sponsored by Silver Spun Goods, a woman-owned American sock brand that produces socks spun with pure silver. You can find them online at silverspungoods.com, and for a limited time enter code MaterialCulture for 20% off your order.

Thanks to Philadelphia-based musician Michael Myers for the use of his song, Weave off the album This is Only Light. 

How does our connection to resources inform how we create? What does it mean to imagine a future where we can make sustainably - and uplift everyone involved in the creation of textiles and the images they depict? In this episode of Material Culture, we talk with weaver, woodworker and painter Stephen Hamilton, who forages from all kinds of different sources for his eclectic work. He shares with us about his experience in Nigeria with Yoruba religion and its affect on his work, as well as natural dyeing and the impact he hopes to have through his art. Topics discussed include: agency of those being portrayed by art and culture, creating with a limited budget, the importance of remembrance and ancestors, and being resourceful by treasuring the materials you use.

You can find more of Stephen's work at his instagram @theartofstephenhamilton, or his website itanproject.com.

The Material Culture podcast explores narratives of weaving, (text)iles, art, manufacturing, history, and the people, workers and artists whose stories create the framework and understanding of living with cloth. Material Culture is produced by the yarn shop, textile studio and weaving school, Weaver House. If you have a question, comment or other feedback - you can leave a message for the podcast at weaverhouseco.com/podcast.

This month's episode is sponsored by Wild Hand, a Philadelphia-based yarn and fiber shop. Wild Hand is a community that believes in the magic of fiber craft: to bring together people who share a vision of an imaginative and just world. Now through the end of March use code MATERIALCULTURE for 15% off your first order at wild-hand.com. You can also find them on Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks to Philadelphia-based musician Michael Myers for the use of his song, Weave off the album This is Only Light. 

How does the community that builds us into who we are impact how we create? How can we hold the people we cherish close to us in times like these - and what does it mean to find connections in art and textile language? In this episode of Material Culture, we explore these questions and more with weaver and artrepreneur Shenequa Brooks. She shares with us about her Carribean-American heritage and how it's influenced her work, as well as her time in Ghana and how practices there impact her weaving and life now. Topics discussed include: the bond of sisterhood formed through braiding, breaking generational curses, functionality of textiles to commemorate community, and finding the strength to not always need to be strong.

You can find more of Shenequa's work at her website at shenequaabrooks.com, or her Instagram @she_ne_qua - you can also catch her work featured later this year in the book Yarn, Thread and String of Uppercase Magazine. 

The Material Culture podcast explores narratives of weaving, (text)iles, art, manufacturing, history, and the people, workers and artists whose stories create the framework and understanding of living with cloth. Material Culture is produced by the yarn shop, textile studio and weaving school, Weaver House. If you have a question, comment or other feedback - you can leave a message for the podcast at weaverhouseco.com/podcast.

This week's episode is also sponsored by Silver Spun Goods, a woman-owned American sock brand that produces socks spun with pure silver. You can find them online at silverspungoods.com, and for a limited time enter code MaterialCulture for 20% off your order.

Thanks to Philadelphia-based musician Michael Myers for the use of his song, Weave off the album This is Only Light. 

What does it mean to create? How do art, textiles, and culture connect us by a common thread between people groups, places and time? How can we honor the people who have gone before us in all kinds of making, and help create a better future for artists? In the Material Culture podcast, we are attempting to explore this, starting this episode with a conversation with Weaver House founder, Rachel Snack. Topics include: the sacredness of the act of creation, stories being told about cultures through craft, balancing being an artist and running a business, and what it means to lift one another up in light of injustice and inequality. Join us as we embark on something special - learning how to create together, with one another in mind. 

The Material Culture podcast explores narratives of weaving, (text)iles, art, manufacturing, history, and the people, workers and artists whose stories create the framework and understanding of living with cloth. Material Culture is produced by the yarn shop, textile studio and weaving school, Weaver House. If you have a question, comment or other feedback - you can leave a message for the podcast at weaverhouseco.com/podcast.

This week's episode is also sponsored by Weaver House - find us online at weaverhouseco.com, or on Instagram - @weaverhouseco.

Thanks to Philadelphia-based musician Michael Myers for the use of his song, Weave off the album This is Only Light.