in honor of these hands & all they allow me to do

a selection of works by rosa iris fitz

she completed her third weaving during lockdown/shelter in place with limited materials and couldn’t find a loom big enough for her next project

so she built one.

equipped with a heddle rod & all. measuring 24x72inches. her first large scale tapete is currently staring at her; waiting for the final 2inches to be woven while she types this.

rosa is a chicago-based mixed media artist, farmer, and color enthusiast who comes from a long lineage of landworkers. she works in both her art and advocacy toward a world that honors the labor and strengthens sovereignty in our food system. A printmaker by training, she has recently immersed herself in ceramics and weaving while still keeping her knitting needles, watercolors, and blockprinting tools close.

rosa’s hands are her ultimate gift, and they are at their best when in soil, transforming clay, or in between the strings of her loom. she dreams of spending her days working on a farm producing fiber from plants, welcoming migrating monarchs into her milkweed garden, and growing grapes for natural wine.

her flower allies are toloache and cempazuchtl. her favorite colors are ochre, taupe, goldenrod, and moss.

she is in the process of documenting the manos of her abuelos - honoring the decades of labor & craft they & their ancestors have carried on for generations.

her patience for textile craft is guided by her abuela rosa who encourages her with ‘poco a poco mija,’

// looking forward to a lifetime of magic with these hands.