Maya Woman Series on Exhibit

Wendy Carpenter’s work in weaving, dyeing and basketry spans more than 35 years. The accomplished fiber artist has spent the past nine years working with craftsmen and women in Central America and Mexico on textile designs and organizing sewing cooperatives, as well as custom-cutting jadeite and quartz geodes for making jewelry.

Her Maya Woman series on exhibit at La Antigua Galería de Arte features six sculptures from a series of nine, representing her efforts to blend cultures through art. The works express a connection from the past with the present, through form, color and tactile material.

Carpenter purchases hand-woven fabric from local indigenous women and then cuts and weaves portions of the material into her sculptures. Her works depict the essence of the native women in Guatemala, walking the streets arm and arm, preserving tradition in today’s modern culture.

Carpenter studied fiber sculpture in Olympia, Washington, in the mid-1970s, tapestry weaving in Taos, New Mexico, and completed her bachelor’s degree through the University of Wisconsin.

Her sculptures can be seen at La Antigua Galería de Arte, 4a calle oriente #15, La Antigua Guatemala.