Woven in Rhythm: Sustainable Art and Jazz Week at The Ranch
Woven in Rhythm: Sustainable Art and Jazz Week at The Ranch with artist Alana Weiss Nydorf
At The Ranch, upcycled textiles from pillowcases, bedsheets, and tablecloths take on new life through natural dyes made from fruits and vegetables grown at Tres Estrellas and clays gathered from the foothills of Mount Kuchumaa. For artist Alana Weiss Nydorf, weaving has always been about more than warp and weft. It’s also about honoring memory, improvisation, and place, shaped by a lifetime of returning to The Ranch. She’s back August 22–29, 2026, for Jazz Week, inviting guests to weave their own pieces while tracing the rhythms of their lives through textiles, music, and landscape.
Alana reflects on how The Ranch has shaped her artistic practice—and why weaving feels especially at home during Jazz Week:
“As I was packing the looms for the weaving and natural dyes class this month, I realized I’ve been coming to the Ranch for two-thirds of my life. So much of my artistic practice is informed by the Rancho La Puerta ethos. Would I have been a sustainable textile artist if it weren’t for Deborah’s vision? I was always inspired by what I learned here— from Sarah Livia focusing on the community, ecological sensibility, and regenerative land practices to yarn paintings and prayer arrows with Tim even to lengthening, strengthening, supporting, and challenging my body on the hikes and in the classes— what I have learned at the Ranch has become so interwoven in my day to day experience, it is impossible to imagine what my life would have been without these experiences. I am so grateful to those whose vision and hard work created and sustain this magical place. I don’t know where I would be or who I would be without Deborah’s wisdom and the dedication of the incredible staff here at the Ranch.
Jazz Week is an especially enchanting time at Rancho La Puerta. All creative practices share the same root energy, and weaving is a lot like music in many ways. The warp serves as the structure for a woven song, a length of time/ space in which one can create something personal. My approach to weaving is much like jazz. Improvisation is key. Memory, feeling, and the energy of the materials dictate their role in each artwork. The warp gives structure: a precise beginning and end to the melody. The weft is different every time; each new line adds its own flair to the piece, the strips of fabric’s endings and beginnings punctuate the work with texture and visual intrigue, repeating progressions until there is no room to continue. Even when everyone is using the same materials, every weaving is different, as each strip of fabric is cut slightly differently, each hand-woven piece makes slightly different decisions, and every student brings their own creative inclinations to the loom. Even the natural dyes we use in this course turn out differently depending on various factors: the strength of the concoction, the length of time steeping, the thickness of the fabric, the lunar cycle. I cannot think of a greater creative parallel/ musical accompaniment to the practice of weaving.
I look forward to teaching this intuitive, improvisational, syncopated rhythm on the hand loom during Jazz Week.” —Alana Weiss Nydorf.
During Jazz Week, August 22–29, improvisation will move from the concert stage to the loom as world-class music from Sean Jones, Billy Childs, Ben Williams, and Brinae Ali fills The Ranch, while Alana guides guests through her intuitive approach in her Weaving With Natural Dyes classes. Using recycled Ranch textiles colored with fruits and vegetables from Tres Estrellas and clays from Mount Kuchumaa, each guest will create something entirely their own—a small woven piece of The Ranch shaped, like jazz, by rhythm, material, and instinct.
