Handwoven Textiles in Kenya Today

Taught by Janice Knausenberger

Program Overview

Handweaving in Kenya ranges from home production to production sites around the country. Photos and samples will accompany this walk through the diversity of sites Janice recently visited as well as touching on the evolution of weaving she has seen in the past 20 years. Challenges remain yet communications between weavers is strong and the sharing of information is done with the Kenyan spirit of helping others and the understanding they are all in this together.

About the Artist

Janice’s loom weavings began in 1976, through two YMCA short course while she was working on her masters degree. Janice always loved art but took the science route. Since those classes, she has combined art and science in all her weavings, often envisioning a piece for some time before selecting the techniques that most expresses what she wants to create.

Janice is a native of California, graduated in Biology at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and then graduated in Entomology from Virginia Tech after analyzing population dynamics of corn earworm in soybeans. She lived ten years on St. Croix, US Virgin Island with her husband and children where she learned mostly through books and by trial and error and experimented with native natural dyes. She lived the next 10 years in Maryland, then 10 years in Kenya, and now in Maryland since 2010. She has returned to connect with weavers on extended stays, 5 times since 2010.

Janice taught different kinds of weaving wherever she has lived. She established a Fiber Arts month in a Bowie elementary school, had an artist of Residency in Howard County, and then, in Kenya, spent years interacting with weavers. From 2001 to the present, she has worked with both basket weavers and textile weavers in Kenya on the topics of weaving, spinning, dyeing, design, quality control and production efficiency. The most recent official workshop was In February 2019, where she presented design ideas and the basic use of Fiberworks PCW at the Kenyan Artisans Hand-weaving Training, sponsored in part by SITA. She also taught specific hand manipulated weaving techniques at the WGGB Weaving School. She has shown pieces locally and internationally.

Living in diverse cultures has given Janice many gifts. The most lasting gifts are from Kenya. Those include patience, kindness, humor, willingness to work hard, and faith that things will work out.

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