Ana Dolores Russi Suárez sits at her traditional Andean loom while a visitor observes her work.
Photo by Hugh Dorwin, Smithsonian Institution
Ana Dolores Russi Suárez weaves a hat using sheep wool.
Photo by Amy Vaughters, Smithsonian Institution
Ana Dolores Russi Suárez weaves a bracelet using her spinning wheel loom.
Photo by Francisco Guerra, Smithsonian Institution
Ana Dolores Russi Suárez and María Yolanda Franco García knit with a festival visitor.
Photo by J B Weilapp, Smithsonian Institution
Ana Dolores Russi Suárez winds sheep wool to be used for future weaving.
Photo by Joe Furgal, Smithsonian Institution
Ana Dolores Russi Suárez weaves a wool bag.
Photo by Joe Furgal, Smithsonian Institution
Ana Dolores Russi Suárez winds sheep wool.
Photo by Michelle Arbeit, Smithsonian Institution
Ana Dolores Russi weaves both with esparto (needle grass) fibers and lamb’s wool. She learned this craft by watching her uncles, mother, and other community weavers. Her uncles made sandals and her mother wove wool ruanas. Dolores does loom weaving and also knits and crochets goods, which she sells in the market. For two years, she also worked with a cooperative and produced fabric for stores.
"We come from our ancestors, from them we learned to sheer the wool and to weave what we make today."
