Kente Cloth Exhibitions and Workshops
Kwasi Asare welcomes all opportunities to share the Ashanti Kente weaving tradition with national, international and local audiences, including museums, universities, colleges, primary and secondary schools, churches and arts and culture organizations. Kwasi’s Kente exhibitions, demonstrations and interactive workshops are adaptable to all ages and educational levels. Kwasi enjoys setting up and demonstrating his work on his large traditional loom, which gives people the opportunity to see how Kente cloth is woven, thread by thread, in real time.
At summer art festivals, special events and exhibitions, Kwasi Asare loves to demonstrate the art of Ashanti Kente weaving on his large loom. By watching Kwasi at work on a loom that has been a part of his family for generations, people witness the process of Kente creation firsthand. By seeing a Kente master weaving Kente cloth thread by thread, it becomes easier to understand why Kente is Africa’s most prized fabric. The colors are radiantly beautiful, and Kente has a look and feel that no other fabric has. Most of the “Kente” artwork and clothing that are found at art festivals and popular events are cloth-dyed fabrics produced in China and Korea. Authentic Kente has a true connection with the African Motherland and a handwoven process that is a truly magnificent artform that is blessed by the Ancestors and the Ashanti and Ewe traditions. As more and more people see and experience authentic, handwoven Kente, we come to understand why this extraordinary fabric has traditionally symbolized royalty, dignity and honor and is worn by kings, queens, chiefs and great leaders.
In December, 2013, Kwasi Asare designed a special handloom that he could use to help him fulfill his life mission and passion to teach Kente weaving and culture to as many people as possible. Kwasi uses these handlooms in special workshops with elementary, middle, high school and college students as well adults of all ages and backgrounds. By working with the handloom, workshop participants from ages 8 to 80+ are able to produce a bookmark or bracelet with their own creative design, using Kente weaving patterns and principles. Adults and children alike love these workshop presentations and gain a greater appreciation for Kente weaving history and culture.
Mathematics, Art and the Mind-Body Connection
Kwasi Asare’s workshops are unique and unlike any other kind of educational or cultural presentation. His workshops explore mathematics as Kente cloth weaving naturally involves careful visualizations, pattern recognition and calculations. But the tactile sensations and artfulness of weaving has a way of breaking down math anxiety by engaging students in the challenges of problem solving for their own designs. This can be especially rewarding for primary, middle and high school students who sometimes have a visceral fear of classroom mathematics. Participants experience Kwasi’s workshop with a playful feeling of joy and creativity, especially as they learn that everyone – regardless of age – can make their own Kente creations. Kwasi is now experimenting with developing his own curriculum for teaching some aspects of beginning algebra and geometry using his handloom. If you are a classroom teacher or are interested in his mathematics/weaving course, email Kwasi directly at kwasister@gmail.com.
Working with a loom by hand – as with other art forms like painting, music or pottery – produces a sense of mindfulness and relaxation that leads to a complete absorption with the art. This is a healthy alternative to modern society’s continual drumbeat of excessive stimulation and distraction by computer screens, TVs, video games and electronic devices. Through years of experience of working people of many different backgrounds, ages and cultures, Kwasi has cultivated an effective way of teaching that helps his students integrate many different kinds of learning through the creativity of Kente weaving.
Tutoring Calculus and other Mathematics
As a school teacher and a trained mathematician Kwasi Asare, has often taught classroom mathematics, in addition to his unique way of integrating math as part of this Kente weaving exhibitions and workshops. Kwasi offers individual and small group tutoring services in calculus, trigonometry and algebra for those students who are having difficulty mastering certain concepts or would like to accelerate their learning and advance their mathematical skills to a higher level beyond their classroom lessons. Sometimes additional help and support is the key to making a breakthrough in mastering higher levels of mathematical abstraction.
Kwasi Asare: Master Kente Weaver, Mathematician and Teacher 