Veronica Peak, beyond the village of Chinchero, Peru. Photograph by Joe Coca from the book, Faces of Tradition. FAR AND AWAY In the process of writing a book, Thrums Books authors and photographers travel to some pretty faraway places, tucked in jungles or on the edges of giant mountains. Sometimes they just live there. Either […]
21
Aug
Aug
A special, behind-the-scenes look from author Deborah Chandler: “Making” is such an all-encompassing word, a good word for the discovery, research, and creation processes that led to the birth of Traditional Weavers of Guatemala. It truly was a privilege and an honor, and equally, an adventure at every level. Their Stories I confess that some […]
14
Aug
Aug
Creating a Thrums book requires a large cast of characters. There’s the author, or authors; a photographer; a “fixer,” or local person or persons to make introductions and set up interviews; driver; guide; translator; and so on. All these people receive some compensation—book royalties, expenses, daily fees, depending on their contribution to the project. For […]
31
Jul
Jul
A Gem From The Chiapas Archives This story has two parts. It starts when I was in a tourist shop in Eastern Mexico in 1997. Flung on the shelf amid the usual stuff—bright pottery, Aztec gods, naughty little clay figures, painted wooden jaguars—was this bag. “Cuanto questa?” I asked in my pathetic high school […]
24
Jul
Jul
Linda wrote the post below over two years ago, after she and photographer Joe Coca had returned from a photo shoot for Traditional Weavers of Guatemala: Their Stories, Their Lives by Deborah Chandler and Teresa Cordón. We thought it would be fun to have a look back at those behind-the-scenes photographs of Joe at work, but this […]
17
Jul
Jul
Around the World Last weekend I reminisced with a weaver of wild silk about her hometown in the highlands of Madagascar. I learned about modesty aprons from a Vietnamese embroidery artist. And I wandered amidst Mexican sculptors, Tuareg jewelry artists, Rwandan basketmakers, Uzbekistani ceramists, and weavers from Mexico, Laos, Guatemala, East Timor, Taiwan, and Paraguay. […]
14
Jul
Jul
Chances are it was my long-time designer sidekick, Michael Signorella. When he works on a Thrums book, it’s not just the typeface—it’s the column widths, size of the margins, selection, size, and appropriate placement of photos—all those things we tend not to notice in a well-made book. Fine Design He’s pickier than I am, a […]
26
Jun
Jun
I’ve been fascinated with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival blog and Facebook feeds the last few weeks. Interpret “fascinated” as spending way too much time watching video clips of upcoming events and dreaming myself there! The Festival started this Wednesday on the National Mall in Washington D.C. and runs through the weekend, then it’s on again […]
