In contrast to mainstream educational practices in the United States that prize efficiency and accelerated learning, Associate Professor Dan Barney of the art education program researches slow and silent ways of teaching and learning. In this framework, a learner sits beside the teacher in an exchange with little formal or didactic instruction. Barney’s inquiry focuses on the following question: What can art educators glean by studying educational practices within cultural locales with a history of slow and silent ways of teaching?

Backstrap Loom Weaving in Ecuador

For his research Barney traveled with professors Tara Carpenter and Mark Graham, and eight students to Ecuador in July to study the time-consuming, meticulous art of backstrap loom weaving from a family that has been learning and teaching it for generations.

Although the BYU group expected to observe the weavers working and teaching each other—and possibly get some hands-on experience—they entered Miguel Andrango’s workshop to find a station assembled for each of them. For one week, the group conducted interviews with their teachers and wove for eight hours per day.

“Each of us left with samples of weaving that we made,” said Clark Goldsberry, a high school photography and design teacher, and a graduate student in art education. “If we wove a foot of material that would be a pretty good day.

Goldsberry, whose work is dominated by the digital and instantaneous, found it challenging, rewarding and satisfying—even therapeutic—to work with his hands all day. In backstrap loom weaving, the loom is anchored to the wall and the weaver leans back on the fibers to create tension while weaving.

“It becomes almost a choreographed dance,” Barney said. “It takes time to gain muscle memory—the fine motor skills for your hands, but also that whole body motion to work the loom, which you are a part of.”

Slow: A Sense of Intense Care

McKenna Shurtleff, an undergraduate student in art education who speaks Spanish, noted the Andrango family’s devotion to this traditional form of weaving.

“I think there’s something really special when someone is passing down information that is on the brink of being lost,” Shurtleff said. “There is a sense of urgency and a sense of intense care.” 

To illustrate, Shurtleff explained how, on her first day, one of the older family members spent 20 minutes teaching her how to wrap yarn around a stick for her loom. Confident she was doing it right, Shurtleff quickly became impatient with the man. Then she noticed how attentive all of her teachers were to the specific motion of her hands. Although she did not fully understand their urgency, she admired their dedication to the details of their craft.

“Am I really this invested in the things I make?” Shurtleff asked herself. “Probably not, but I love the idea.”

Silent: Learning in Another Language

Goldsberry, who does not speak Spanish or Kichwa, the family’s first language, said it was strange to be taught by someone who speaks a completely different language than he does: “I sat down on the mat and remember thinking, ‘How am I ever going to learn this?’” Although Goldsberry did not understand their words, he said his teachers talked in a gentle way as they demonstrated the placement of each fiber.

The commitment of the students to learning and the instructors to teaching helped them develop deep friendships with each other despite their inability to communicate verbally. Shurtleff explained, “There is less of a barrier to get to know someone on a personal level when you’re being taught something that is such a core part of them.”

Valuable Lessons

As Shurtleff begins writing lesson plans, she is considering the ebb and flow of knowledge between student and teacher that she learned in Ecuador—in contrast to the one-way instruction typical in the States. “My experience really made me consider how we approach education, especially art education,” she said. “Art education can be heightened when there is flow between two individuals.”

Goldsberry was most impressed by the temperament of his instructors and hopes to emulate them in his teaching. “These weaving instructors were so gentle and patient, even in my own weaving when things were going drastically wrong,” he said. “They approached each problem with this calm assurance that everything was going to be ok and that they could fix it—or even if they couldn’t fix it, that it would still be ok.”

The art education faculty agree that experiencing an abrupt cultural shift is valuable for the development of their students who are or will become teachers, and for themselves as professors. As a result of the trip, Barney shared some preliminary research in November at the World Alliance for Art Education Conference. He and his students will also present at the conference for the National Art Education Association in March.

The majority of the trip to Ecuador was funded by a Mentoring Environment Grant (MEG) and a Graduate Studies Mentoring Assistantship (GMA). Through the GMA faculty mentor graduate students, who in turn mentor undergraduate students.