Weaving in Beauty

Where: Quality Inn Navajo Nation Capital, Window Rock AZ

When: Second Thursday of every month, 6 PM to 9 PM

Cost: $15 for first class, $10 for subsequent classes

Looms, wool and tools available for purchase.

Everyone is welcome.

Contact Mary Walker to register.  We cannot guarantee you a loom or a seat if you do not contact us before the class.

A young volunteer studies the auctioneering techniques of Wayne Connell (center) and Delbert Autry (right)

Crownpoint, NM This month’s Crownpoint Rug Auction was well attended by buyers and weavers.  While not all of the rugs were sold, an estimated 75% of them did.  The Spider Rock Girls had a booth in the crowded hallway outside the auction and reported that they sold everything that they brought, but most went for their reserve price.  That result was fairly typical for the evening.  There was a gratifying show of first time auction attendees and I overheard several say they were planning return visits, which is a good “leading indicator” for the coming year.

Notable pieces in the auction were the Ganado Red and Klagetoh Red rugs by Frances Burghorn (whose name I hope I’ve spelled correctly), a weaver whose work I hadn’t seen at Crownpoint before.  Frances’ work has the quality that you’d expect to find at higher end trading posts, but is coming into the auction venue as traders have slowed their buying and are offering less when they do buy.  You can see Frances’ rugs below.  Both sold at around the $1000-$1500 mark, a bargain for the quality of the weaving.

Klagetoh Red by Frances Burghorn

Ganado Red weaving by Frances Burghorn

In all, auction manager Christina Ellsworth estimated that there were about 200 rugs in the auction, which ended at around 9:15 PM.   I was able to purchase three rugs for the Mercantile: Alice Van Winkle Thompson’s Ram’s Head Moki design which is pictured below (Mercantile price: $630), one of Nellie Glasses handspun rugs (Mercantile price: $390) and a small Rena Robertson Faces piece (Mercantile price: $350).  I’ll get those listed later today or tomorrow morning.   The next Crownpoint auction will be on  Friday, January 14th.  Previews start at 4 PM and the bidding begins around 7 PM.  The auction accepts cash, personal checks drawn on U.S. banks and travelers checks.  I’ve in included a few more pictures from the auction in the gallery below.

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I’m going to take advantage of the near 80 degree weather to get some rug washing done, so I’ll let you enjoy the pictures and see you later.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Jennie Slick works on a student loom at our December local class in Window Rock.

Window Rock, AZ It’s our last local class in Window Rock for 2010.  One of our students is working on the last half inch of her rug and should be done by the time we quit at 9.  Our next class will be on Thursday, January 13th, 2011 at the Quality Inn in Window Rock.  We’re going to be doing some advertising, so please contact me if you plan to attend so that I can make sure that we have enough equipment and instructors to help you.  The first session is $15 and subsequent classes are $10.   Everyone is welcome regardless of age, gender, tribal affiliation or lack thereof.  Come and learn to weave in 2011.

Herman and Lula Brown stopped by before class to drop off some new miniatures that will be going into the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile.  Their daughters Sandra and Chantelle were with them and we had a nice visit.  Lula’s outdone herself again with a 3.5″x3.75″ miniature with five trees of life and twenty four birds.  At $140 that’s less than $6 per bird.  You can see a close-up of it below.  It will be in Lula’s section of the Mercantile soon, but you can click here if you can’t wait.

You can click on the picture to see a larger verson of Lula Brown's Five Tree of Life Cross

Here’s a look at the other pictures from the evening.  Tomorrow, I’ll be at the Crownpoint Rug Auction and Saturday, I’m coordinating a gallery walk in Scottsdale.  I’ll be writing quite a bit in the next few days so I won’t wear out my welcome any further right now!

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Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Tempe, AZ Joe Newman, who sent us the information on Alice Thompson’s weavings last week, has also sent us a beautiful image of the work of another weaver who is now selling her work directly to collectors.  Above, you can see Caroline Dick, who lives in the Tuba City area of Arizona,  with one of her signature works, an elegantly designed version of the Tree of Life.   The intricate band designs made even more graphically striking because of the painstaking outlining of the design elements.  Caroline also vegetally dyed most of the yarn with native plants.

The weaving is 25″x45 or 7.8 square feet.  It is priced at $2500, or about $320 per square foot.  You can contact Caroline for more information or pictures.   We hope to see more of Caroline’s exquisite work in the future!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

A Moki Variant weaving available directly from Alice Van Winkle Thompson

Tempe, AZ One of the great challenges in the marketing of Navajo textiles is finding exposure for them in the broad market for fine crafts.  The Navajo Nation is about the size of West Virginia, which means that it is larger than nine of the fifty states, but there are fewer than 20 places that are actually on the Navajo Nation where a weaver can sell work.  This leads to a large supply of textiles and other artwork in being offered to trading posts in “border towns” like Flagstaff, AZ and Gallup, NM.  You don’t have to be an economist to see that it’s a system that tends to minimize the price paid to the weaver.   In saying this, I’m not trying to criticize traders.  Many of the traders I know do their best to give weavers and other artists the best possible price and I know that some of them occasionally wonder where the money for the next rug, basket or piece of jewelry is going to come from.  On the other side of the counter from the trader there is often a weaver who is desperate to sell a rug to raise cash and doesn’t see any alternative to accepting the best price obtainable from a trader.   It’s no wonder that weavers are seeking other marketing venues and are selling directly to collectors where possible.

Alice Van Winkle Thompson is one of the weavers who is taking this route and the weaving above is available directly from Alice.  It’s 16.5″x19″ of pure Navajo weaving excellence.  Alice’s work is immaculately executed with razor straight sides and perfectly straight joins that are as flat as western Kansas.  She uses Brown Sheep sport weight yarn that is re-spun to provide exactly the design definition and canvas-like hand that her work is noted for.  Alice’s price on this weaving is $500 ($233 per square foot).  You can contact Alice by phone at (505) 567-8308.  In case you can’t reach Alice, you can contact her husband,  Donald, at   (505)  713-1156.  Donald’s email is alten96@hotmail.com.   I don’t have any financial interest in this transaction at all, and Alice isn’t paying me anything for this article.  I just think that she’s a great weaver with a wonderful rug and (unless I win the Powerball) I can’t buy them all.  If you buy the weaving, please let me know about your experience.  This type of sale is very much on the cutting edge of marketing in Navajo weaving.

Alice has just started on a new piece, a complex Teec Nos Pos design.  There’s a picture of it below and I’m sure she would be pleased to discuss it with you.  Alice also does commission work.

A complex Teec Nos Pos design by Alice Van Winkle Thompson on the loom.

Thanks to weaving aficionado Joe Newman for forwarding the information on Alice’s new weavings and for providing the great pictures!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker