Weaving in Beauty

Today, we made a morning visit to St. Michael’s Mission, about three miles from our class site.  The gardens there are at their height and they have a small museum that details the activities of the Franciscans in the development of the Navajo census and in documenting the Navajo language.  The prayer chapel on the grounds is built in the model of a hogan and we spent some time there dicussing the hogan and the points of the Navajo compass as defined by the four sacred mountains.

The gardens at St. Michael's Mission in St. Michael's, AZ.

Quite a few of this class’s participants had never visited Hubbell Trading Post or hadn’t been there for quite some time.  For me, it is always wonderful to stand in the house and revisit the art treasures and woven wonders amassed by Juan Lorenzo Hubbell and his family.  After the home tour, we visited the rug room and saw several new acquisitions.  Outstanding were rugs done by young male weavers and a new Eyedazzler by Verna Smith.  Below is a piece by Eddie Bonnie, a finely woven Chief Blanket variation, held by class participant Arlene Anderson.

Moqui Revival rug by Eddie Bonnie (shown courtesy of Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site)

Back in Window Rock, we stopped for lunch at my favorite swap meet food stand, Scott’s, for lunch featuring frybread dishes.  Rejecting mundane frybread toppings, Diane Woods chose mustard, and I can prove it (see picture below).

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Do you want mustard with that frybread?

The rest of our day was spent weaving and talking with visitors to the classroom.  The class participants’ rugs are proceeding very well, and one student was observed heading off for some pre-bedtime weaving with his loom and an Ott Light.  We’re up at 6 AM for a trip to Canyon de Chelly, so I’ll leave you with a picture of Marsha Herr’s weaving.  It’s inspired by the Spider Rock pattern developed by Harriet Whitney and Lavera Blake of the Spider Rock Girls.

Marsha Herr's piece is done in a combination of handspun and commerical yarns with many of her colors dyed on Sunday, August 17

Today, our class started with loom warping and we had all eight warps done by noon, which is a real tribute to the students’ focus.  Warping a Navajo loom is a complex process that requires attention and strength and Jennie Slick likes to have the students warp as a team of two so that each of them works on two warps.  I’ll have pictures of the beginning of the participant weavings tomorrow.  On warping morning, I need to help Jennnie in any way I can and I often find I don’t have any or many pictures of the process.

After lunch, we visited Burnham’s Trading Post where the students picked up more yarn and we had a great visit with Virginia Burnham, the wife of trader Bruce Burnham.  Virginia talked about the early years of her marriage when she and Bruce were at Dennebito, The Gap and Cedar Springs.  In 1971, she and Bruce were offered the chance to trade in the New Lands area near Sanders, Arizona.  This area was added to the Navajo Nation as part of the settlement of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute settlement.  It was after their move to Sanders that Bruce began his work with weavers and rug designs.  The Burnhams even have wool custom spun for Navajo weaving and they have a large yarn room.

Although the Burnham rug room primarily features contemporary weaving, there are many vintage rugs there as well.  The picture below shows Virginia Burnham discussing her career with the class as Laurie Rosen admires a Germantown Sampler on the counter.

After we left Burnham’s we visited Jennie Slick’s home where she demonstrated weaving on two large looms (see picture below).  She is working on a 2′x3′ Storm Pattern and a 5′6″x7′ floor rug in Burntwater colors.  It is truly amazing to see a large rug in the process of being woven.  Jennie’s experienced hands are expert in transforming warp and weft threads into treasured heirlooms.

Jennie Slick, right, demonstrates weaving to Tammy Denhard (standing) and Arlene Anderson

Tomorrow, we’ll visit St. Michael’s Mission and Hubbell Trading Post National Historic site.

Our Natural Dye Retreat participants left Window Rock today and we put together a look at the samples that we dyed yesterday. The retreat is a time to reflect on knowledge that is slipping away today and to appreciate the bounty of the Navajo homeland.

2008 Natural Dye Retreat plants: cochineal, cliffrose, bee plant, sage, coreopsis, black walnut hulls, ground lichen, wild carrot, sage, indigo and Navajo tea

Today was also the beginning of the first August session of our week long class and tour. Since we still had some dye materials left, we used those up, but did collect new batches of rabbitbrush, sage, ground lichen and cliffrose to replenish the pots. We also did some indigo overdyes. The picture below shows the group around the pots as we were beginning to add yarn.

From left, Diane Wood, Jennifer Thistel, Vickie Norrid, Marsha Herr, Arlene Anderson, Laurie Rosen, Tammy Denhard, Rose Dedman and Bob Rosen gather around the dyepots at the start of our weaving class and tour.

After lunch with dye master Rose Dedman, we gathered up the wool and came back to Window Rock to visit with Morris Muskett and get cleaned up. We finished the day with a trip to Gallup for dinner at the El Rancho Hotel (rated as very good by the group) and a visit to the nightly Native American dances that are held on the McKinley County Courthuse plaza. The Nááts’íílid (Rainbow) Dancers from Shiprock performed several dances that involved weaving and we felt very lucky to be there. The picture below shows the group doing a sash belt dance.

Rainbow Dance group at the McKinley County, NM Courthouse performing a sash belt dance.

Tomorrow we’ll be warping looms and visting R.B. Burnham Trading in Sanders, AZ.

Today, we collected the plants that we’ll use in a few hours to dye wool. We met with Rose Dedman and then went to the Defiance Plateau to collect sage, rabbitbrush, cliffrose and ground lichen. Then we headed out to Navajo, NM to collect Navajo tea, which can be used as an herbal tea as well as a dye for wool. Then we went just beyond Navajo to the Snake Rocks, a tuffaceous sandstone outcrop which glows green against the red sandstone cliffs because of a high concentration of olivene. There, we gathered coreopsis. After lunch, we headed out to Standing Rock, NM to collect wild carrot, a type of rumex which produces a burnt orange color, and finally made a stop at the Crownpoint rug auction. We have to be at the dyepots early in the morning, so I’ll leave you with a picture of the cliffrose blossoms. The leaves, twigs and flowers produce a beautiful beige color with pink undertones. Before the Navajo used diapers, the twigs and leaves were used to line cradleboards.

Cliffrose blossoms on the Defiance Platueau

Today, we concluded our advanced weaving seminar, which has been newly dubbed Camp Weave-A-Lot, and we started our Natural Dye Retreat. We met at Burnham’s Trading Post in Sanders, AZ and got a look at some of the vegetally dyed colors that Marie Begay is able to achieve. We were also treated to a weaving demonstration by Jennie Slick, who was working on a C-cactusflower loom that she carries with her. After we left Burnham’s, we headed north to Window Rock and started our natural dye work with cochineal. The Quality Inn let us use their shade house and we set up our hot plate and dyepot. Just as we were getting started extracting the color, some of the Spider Rock Girls stopped by and spent some time visiting and spinning while we were waiting for the dyepot. Here’s a picture of grandma Rose Yazze, (left), granddaughter Alyssa Malone and mom Emily Malone.

Emily and Alyssa Malone look on as Rose Yazzie spins in the shade house at the Quality Inn

A very small percentage of rugs are done with hand carded handspun wool.

Gilbert Begay and Laurie West swap yarns.