The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in January will host Zapotec-American multidisciplinary textile artist Porfirio Gutiérrez for a two-part program exploring the ancestral knowledge, natural materials, and contemporary innovation behind his celebrated work.
Supported by the Christel Bejenke Fund, the programs invite the public into a rare engagement with one of today’s leading voices in Indigenous textile arts and natural dye traditions.
Gutiérrez is internationally recognized for revitalizing traditional Zapotec weaving and expanding its creative vocabulary.
His work is held in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, Tucson Museum of Art, and Harvard Art Museums’ Forbes Pigment Collection.
His artistry and cultural advocacy have been featured in The New York Times, ARTnews, PBS, the BBC, Vogue and Artforum.
The museum’s January offerings begin with Ancestral Materials & Modernism, a talk, 6-7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9 in Fleischmann Auditorium.
Gutiérrez will guide audiences through the cultural lineage of natural materials, the science and spirit behind cochineal red, and the ways in which ancestral knowledge can speak to the complexities of modern life.
Attendees will also view a special display of Gutiérrez’s functional woven works, such as centerpieces, rugs, and wall hangings, with some pieces available for purchase. Tickets are $10, RSVP required, and doors open at 5:30 p.m.
The introductory evening sets the stage for an Intensive Natural Dye Weekend, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 24-25 from in the museum’s oak woodland location alongside Mission Creek.
Participants ages 16 and up will receive 11 hours of hands-on instruction in the traditional use of cochineal dye, learning how to mordant wool, grind the insect pigment, prepare dye vats, and create their own cochineal-dyed wool scarf to take home.
Gutiérrez will also share the deeper cultural significance of cochineal — once associated with gods, ritual, and medicine in Mesoamerican societies — offering insight grounded in his lineage from the Zapotec civilization that helped develop this globally influential dye.
The workshop requires advance registration. Tuition is $300 general / $280 for museum members. Participants should dress comfortably for outdoor work and bring lunch, water and a notebook.
Gutiérrez is bilingual and ready to support Spanish-speaking attendees by request.
For more information or to register, visit sbnature.org, or email Kperry@sbnature2.