1968-
2019-
Jan Farry-Menke was stationed with her husband John in the Chiloe region of Chile. While in Chile, Jan writes that she “spent months trying to be the teacher at the school in our area of Butachauques island, as there was no teacher, but it was finally decided that the teacher had to be a Chilean, so instead, I helped at the health center when it was open.” Upon returning to the US, Jan was employed as a social worker for Child Protective Services in NJ and AZ. Most post-Peace Corps years were spent as a fiber artist. She is uncertain whether Peace Corps service may have helped her to focus on a helping profession. “Given my majors in college were sociology and anthropology, my focus on weaving, and collecting artifacts from Araucanian and other Amerindian groups, while in Chile, was instrumental in encouraging and guiding my later fiber art, and collections.” Jan states that her two years of Peace Corps service stimulated her interest in Araucanian (Mapuche) arts and permitted travel to areas where there were indigenous weavers (esp. Chile, Peru, and Bolivia).