Weaving in Beauty

I’ve just finished revamping the Where to Learn Indigenous Weaving Techniques page and it’s going to be an exciting year with lots of great classes and wonderful instructors, if you don’t count me.  Me, I’m not too bad for a bilagáana.  I’ve summarized the classes for you below, and you can click on any of the class titles to get all the juicy details of the class that you’re interested in.  Most of the listings have email addresses and/or phone numbers where you can contact a real, live person who will be glad to answer questions and get you started on a great weaving adventure.  

If you know of any other classes that should be listed, please contact me. 

Keith Little is at the right in this picture, taken in August 2007. Also in the picture from left are Barbara Spelman, Jennie Slick, Code Talker Samuel Tso and Judy Sutton.

Tempe, AZ   I’m very sad to report that Code Talker Keith Little has passed away at the age of 87.  Mr. Little was the president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association and you can see and hear him speaking on the Code Talker web site (warning: music plays when you go to the site).   He joined the Marines in 1943 and served in the Marshall Islands, Saipan and Iwo Jima.  In order to qualify as a Code Talker, a recruit had to be able to read and write both English and Navajo, a rare skill even today.  Although the code was based on the Navajo language, it was refined with cyphers so that not even a person who understood Navajo would be able to decode it.   The code was never broken. 

Keith Little became a wonderful and articulate spokesman for his fellow Code Talkers and especially worked to communicate to young people the need to strive for excellence and to answer the call of duty.  He was proud of the Navajo culture and traditions, believing that they are a firm foundation for generations to come as they were for him as a young man going to war.  

It might seem weaving has very little to do with the Code Talkers, but weaving is a large part of the way of life that Keith Little went to war to protect.  There is a Code Talker mural by Be Sargent in Gallup that depicts these brave men in present and past, framed within the Four Sacred Mountains and  the familiar rhythms of life in their homeland.  You can see it in a panorama below.  There’s a weaver teaching the craft to her grandchildren in the left hand corner.  The inscription in Navajo reads “Niha áłchíní nołinígíí Diné bizaad bee ałdasiibaa yéę nihaa doolyoół.  Éí ‘akót’éego ha’oodzil Dinék eh yáti éí bee ách’ąąh neelyéego hinii’ná.”   To you, our children, we bring home the Navajo Code.  It is our way of saying speak Navajo and defend our way of life.

It is this way of life that Keith Little defended until yesterday evening.  Nizhónígo naniná doo, Mr. Little.  May you walk in beauty. 

The Code Talker Mural in Gallup, NM. Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

There are about 20 new forks to the Mercantile for your shopping pleasure. I haven’t had time to update the Mercantile tools for quite awhile and some new forks have just come in from Al Snipes and Gary Tsinniginnie. The design of the store pages has been changed so that you can see each fork by itself.   Right now, there are over a dozen of Al Snipes coveted ergonomically shaped Gillian style combs in a variety of woods and weights.   There is one rare left handed version.  If you prefer the look and feel of a traditional tool, take a look at the finely finished designs by Gary Tsinniginnie and Al Snipes.   There are a few pictures of those below.   You can see all of the new forks here.  There are more forks and battens coming shortly. 

Traditional Weaving Forks by Gary Tsinniginnie (Navajo) Click on any picture for a closer view.

Weaving forks are very personal and some people believe that your fork and all of your tools should be made by a family member or someone that you know well.   For most of us, that’s not an option.  All I can say is that these tools have been made by people who are very nice and very skilled and have been handled by people who really, really like them.  Contact me if you need advice on selecting a fork. 

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Hover your mouse over the picture for a closer look.

Tempe, AZ   The art of pictorial weaving lends itself to this time of year and Louise Bia is one of the top practitioners when it comes to Christmas pictorials.  Everything here is beautifully proportioned, and the twin Santa figures have their own personalities that reflect Louise’s weaving skill.  This rug was woven at a 90 degree angle to the display, meaning that everything was woven sideways.  Louise does one or two of these per year.  Although these are Christmas figures, I hope that they will brighten whatever you are celebrating.   

Have a happy and meaningful holiday season!  

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Laramie Blake with her Christmas Club Burntwater

Tempe, AZ    If you’re a regular reader, you may remember that 20 year old fourth generation weaver Laramie Blake  has been attending college in the Phoenix valley and has just completed her first semester.  Laramie has been weaving to finance her educational expenses and thought that she had the piece she’s holding in the picture above sold.  Well, it just didn’t work out, so she’s offering it here at $150.   Weaving in Beauty isn’t getting any part of the money and we’re absorbing the credit card fees for this item.   We’ll also make sure that Laramie gets the money the same day that the rug is purchased.   Update:  Laramie’s rug has been sold, but she is happy to take orders for small weavings.   Please contact me for details. 

Laramie’s weaving is 12″x14.5″ and would look great on a wall or a table.   The Burntwater design is one that’s often woven by Laramie’s family and consists of geometric patterns woven with yarns that were traditionally vegetally dyed.  Laramie’s little piece is woven with commercially dyed Brown Sheep yarns and she wove it in between her classes and homework along with several other small pieces.   As is traditional for a young weaver, Laramie’s mother Emily Malone still does her warps for her and sends them down to Laramie.  

You can see more pictures  on this page.   

Yá’át’ééh Késhmish!  (Merry Christmas)

Mary Walker

Tempe, AZ   Teec Nos Pos (T’iis Nasbas or Cottonwoods in a Circle) is in northeastern Arizona near the Four Corners Monument and many people drive through on their way to Monument Valley, Mesa Verde or Canyon de Chelly.  Teec Nos Pos is one of the 110 chapters that comprise the Navajo Nation, and the current chapter president is master weaver and Navajo-Churro shepherd Roy Kady.  The regional pattern that bears the area name goes back to 1905 when Hambleton Noel came into the area and convinced the residents that he would be just the person to serve the community in the role of trader.  Noel’s brothers had established the trading post at Two Grey Hills in 1897 and Hambleton looked to the rug designs that his brothers were marketing to provide the area weavers with a sense of what he wanted to buy from them.  At the time, Oriental rugs competed with Navajo textiles for the consumer’s dollar and so it was natural for traders to encourage the production of something familiar to the rug buying public.  It was just natural for the weavers to adapt that new geometry to their own culture.  A close look at a Teec Nos Pos rug will show you what I’m talking about.  

People will often comment that Teec rugs “look different” from other Navajo rugs without being able to put their finger on exactly why.  A Teec is different from other regional styles.  In fact, those closest relative to a modern Teec Nos Pos rug is a Two Grey Hills rug woven before 1940.  Teec weavings are known for their very complex multiple borders and their dense and dazzling single panel designs.  In most Teec weavings, no one design element has more visual weight that any of the others.  With a Teec, your eye is drawn into the central panel rather than into a central design element.  When you look closely at those design elements, you’ll begin to understand that this design is tied as closely to the Navajo culture as many Ye’i rugs. Weavers may have been told “Weave this”, but they took the rough geometry of the design and made it their own by using objects and motifs that reflected their world and their vision.   This is easiest to see in the feathers that are frequently part of the pattern.  More difficult to see are rainbows, arrows, bows and even Ye’i faces.  In fact, there is what many Teec weavers call a Ye’i face in the beautiful Eileen Littleben Teec that you see above.   Can’t see it?  I’ll help you out.  Do you see the two maroon triangular elements?  Good.  Now turn one of  them vertical and you may begin to see two stylized eyes and a mouth.  Can’t make it out?  Look at the detail below.  Let me know if you see it.  The trader might have wanted and gotten a Teec Nos Pos to sell, but he also got a design that had a lot of what the weaver wanted to weave.   

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker