Cloth (Subalchi) c. 1960

This stunning Maya textile, a Subalchi, lives at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It's made with careful, repetitive movements, each stitch building on the last, which reminds me that artmaking is really about process, not just the final product. The texture here is everything. You can almost feel the soft give of the woven fabric, the way the colors pop against the off-white base. Look closely, and you'll notice these tiny blue leaf shapes, each one slightly different, like a fingerprint. These details are not accidental. It makes you consider the physical work involved, and the person that sat and gave it their time and energy. It reminds me of Anni Albers's approach to weaving as a form of drawing. Both embrace the grid, but also explore the potential for variation and improvisation within that structure. The Subalchi isn't just decoration; it's an expression of the artist's relationship to their material, to their culture, and to their own creative process.