Border Loomers - Incite at Columbia University

Incubated Project

Border Loomers

Mexico-United States border

Border Loomers is a Bisbee, Arizona-based initiative serving binational communities across Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora, Mexico. Traditional weaving knowledge is disappearing in border communities, and fiber arts education remains largely out of reach. Border Loomers addresses this erasure by creating a binational platform for storytelling through fiber that prioritizes healing through hands-on learning.

The initiative preserves heritage while reimagining it as a tool for resilience and cross-cultural collaboration. Through community workshops, artisan interviews, and public installations, Border Loomers amplifies the voices of borderland artisans. Workshops are led by elders and queer makers, and use portable frame looms to host free sessions in public spaces on both sides of the border, engaging artists, youth, and elders in fiber art rooted in cultural memory and place.
 

Team Lead

  • 0
    Fernando Serrano

    Fernando Serrano is a queer Mexican-American artist and cultural worker based in Bisbee, Arizona. An active and proud member of Central School Project (CSP), Fernando is deeply committed to community-building through accessible artmaking and mutual support. His artistic practice is rooted in printmaking, textiles, ceramics, metalsmithing, and experimental processes, and he believes strongly in the preservation and evolution of traditional craft.

More Projects

  • go to The History and Hopes of Altgeld Gardens
    The History and Hopes of Altgeld Gardens
    Documenting Chicago's Altgeld Gardens without documentary interviews, aerial photography, and portraiture. Part of Assembling Voices
  • go to Street Seen
    Street Seen
    Creating cultural programming for and by unhoused people in San Diego. Part of Assembling Voices
  • go to Embodied Earth
    Embodied Earth
    Breaking through climate knowledge silos with collaborative, interactive public performances driven by research. Part of Assembling Voices
  • go to Abolish ACS Fashion Show
    Abolish ACS Fashion Show
    Hosting an event series to support political education, organizing, and mutual aid among those most impacted by the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. Part of Assembling Voices