The creole loom
The creole loom is a simplified harness of the early "Spanish paisan loom" settled in Perú in l559.
It is about 1,5 mts. high and 1,5 mts. wide, the structural cage holds the horizontal harness, the "lisos" and the pedals.
To make the rims with jagged, typical of the ponchos, there is jagged loom.
The creole loom in Areco
It is well known that the priests of the Company of Jesus taught some weaving techniques in different settlements of America.
However there is no doubt of this practice in our land.
Yet, it is likely that when they settled down in Areco surroundings in 1660, when they set up the chapel of our Lady of Begonia the writer Juan Carlos Garavaglia mentions in his book "Men and women of the colony" ..."when Julian went up to Felisa Aguilar (1740), she was waiting for him in their house in Pitambala to take her to a hut in Areco, they gathered their belongings on a cart and there were the harness boards among them..."
This text shows how the loom was part of the wife house work which led to the development of this handicraft in different areas, these internal migrations were driven from the centre of the territory to the River Plate area along the "royal trail" and the "Figueroa post".
There are some deeds which assess the creole loom arrives in San Antonio de Areco in 1936 by Mrs. Ramona Risso Patrón de Beristayn, who is invited by the mayor of the town Antonio Guiraldes. This loomer from Catamarca, runs the carpet factory of Clemente Onelli in Buenos Aires city. This outstanding artist sets up a school of the creole loom in San Antonio de Areco attended by a group of neighbours and whose works of art were shown in the First Traditional Exhibition leading to the creation of the "Museo Gauchesco Ricardo Guiraldes".
Among her students some skillful weavers of ponchos and belts were born, in this early group we call on Miss Guida O´Donnell, a remarkable local artist.
This is a turning point for the further development and spread of either the weaving techniques or the meaning ful works of art in antique ponchos which belong to our cultural asset patrimony.
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History
