Celebración Artística de las Américas (CALA) is a local organization working to support Latinx art through artist residencies, workshops, exhibitions and more.
The nonprofit’s current artist-in-residence, Samantha Vo, invites the community to become part of her latest piece. The Show visited the studio to learn more.
On a recent Friday afternoon, four women gather around a large circular steel loom in a warehouse just east of downtown Phoenix. Music plays softly as they work. It’s a mix of country, R&B and huayños, a type of South American dance music. Incense burns. Snacks and tea are standing by.
On one side of the room is a folding table with an array of colorful yarn, rope and ribbon, as well as scissors and shuttles — the tool for moving material through the loom’s threads. This is week four of a series by multidisciplinary artist Samantha Vo, who welded the loom herself.
SAMANTHA VO: The loom series is a project I started in November. It started off as a project to bring community together, and then quickly, as I was building the loom, realized it was a sculpture in itself. And so it’s become … I guess a performance piece where I’m inviting people to weave on the loom with me and create community, co-create together, and allow people to just slow down and work with their hands.
SINGER: Karen Torres Breceda, a 21-year-old artist, is sitting on a stool, weaving with teal rope and white yarn.
KAREN TORRES BRECEDA: It kind of looks like the Statue of Liberty’s hair. Yes. [LAUGHS.] And I’m just weaving it through this piece right here that I’ve been working on since the first day.
During the four-week series, the CALA Alliance studio is open on Fridays from noon to 3 p.m. for anyone who wants to weave on the loom.
The steel loom is about 4 feet tall. It has nearly 150 short steel tabs welded onto two circular forms to hold the warp threads — the vertical yarn that everything else gets woven through. The loom itself stands on the bottom tabs, and the circular forms are supported by four longer steel beams.
Torres Breceda shows up every Friday.
TORRES BRECEDA: When I’m sitting here working, I feel everything. I feel very antsy because you have to sit through it and really see it through. … But at the same time, it’s just kind of like, OK, just relax.
SINGER: Zhara Negrete, a 30-year-old artist and actress, is sitting on the floor to Torres Breceda’s right. This is her first time weaving.
ZHARA NEGRETE: I really like it. … It reminds me a lot of ceramics, because it is very intricate, like when you’re hand-building something.
Negrete is drawn to the community aspect of the series.
NEGRETE: I feel like this is such a fun way to not only get to know yourself, but also like, eventually just get to know people around you … and I think that’s really cool.
Vo says about a dozen people have contributed to the project.
VO: It’s been a very tender experience, having people come and weave on the, on the loom with me. The very first people that wove on it was my family … and so now inviting other people to come and learn how to weave has been really special, and I think a great way to build connections and for people to come together and experience working with their hands in the same way that I do in my practice.
There’s not a set way to weave on the loom. Different colors and fiber types overlap without a clear pattern.
VOE: It’s usually just, like, very free play, freeform weaving. And so people get really into it and start experimenting, which is really cool.
On Monday at Grant Street Studios there will be one more chance to contribute to the loom. Afterward, Vo will take the weaving off and display it as a tapestry at CALA Alliance next month.
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