Weaving in Beauty

Join us for a class online or in Window Rock

Tempe, AZ Cyber weaving enthusiasts, the wait is over.  It’s online weaving class time again.   This time, we’ll start on September 12th, with additional class sessions on September 19th and 26th.  Then, we’ll take a one week break on October 3rd (but you can check in with the class in Window Rock) and have a session on October 10th and we’ll finish on October 17th.   This time, the earlier session (at 2 PM EDT, 1 PM CDT, 12 Noon MDT and 11 PM PDT) will be reserved for students who are beginners in Navajo weaving techniques or who just want to start from scratch.  The later session (at 4:30 PM EDT, 3:30 PM CDT, 2:30 PM MDT and 1:30 PM PDT will be for students who feel competent with their basic weaving and would like to build on that knowledge.

Here’s the syllabus for the beginning class:

• Week one: warping a Navajo style loom
• Week two: basic weaving techniques and stripe weaves
• Week three: the turned join and diagonal lines
• Week four: continuation of diagonals and the interlock join
• Week five: finishing technique

Click here to register for the Beginner Class.

The intermediate class will cover:

• Week one: warping larger pieces, use of side selvage cords, loom modifications to support larger pieces
• Week two: planning larger designs, gaining control over design execution, sectional weaving
• Week three: problem solving with larger pieces and increasing graphic impact with outlining and color
• Week four: introduction to raised outline
• Week five: introduction to wedge weaves

Click here to register for the Intermediate Class.

Students need to have access to a computer with a web cam, microphone and a high speed Internet connection.   The charge for either  class is $75 and includes access to online materials and a private page here on the web site for the duration of the class so that it’s easy to post pictures and communicate with me or other classmates.  If you are wondering if your computer is up the challenge, you can contact me so that we can set up a test session before the class starts or before you register.

I’m also pleased to let you know that Jennie Slick and I are doing four hour classes once a month at the Quality Inn in Window Rock.  These are open to anyone and run from 5 PM to 9 PM Mountain Daylight Time.   The fee for each session is $15.  You can register online or on the night of the class, but it’s really helpful if you let us know that you’ll be there and what you’re hoping to learn at the session.    Our session for September is scheduled for the evening of the 16th.  At least one of the students will be working with a diamond twill weave.  If can’t make it in September, we are planning to continue holding these classes on the second Thursday of each month, the evening before the Crownpoint Rug Auction.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Yarn dyed with copper solution, sage, wild carrot, ground lichen, walnut hulls and rabbitbrush dries on the fence in Ft. Defiance.

Window Rock, AZ Today, Rose and Henry Lee Dedman helped us to dye some wool in the Navajo way, over an open fire.  We collected ground lichen, sage and rabbitbrush on the Defiance Plateau and used walnut hulls and wild carrot that we had harvested last year and stored.  One of the students brought a copper penny solution that dyes wool in the color of a light green copper patina.   The most challenging plant to collect is the ground lichen, which grows in small clumps on the higher elevations of the reservation.  Once you learn to recognize the plant, finding more is a thrilling hunt.  It produces a beautiful burnt orange color that is quite beautiful and colorfast.  We carefully took only as much as we needed, leaving more to propagate for the future.

The day turned out to be too windy for a post dye session barbeque, so we invited Henry and Rose to have lunch with us back at the Quality Inn in Window Rock.  Since this is the first Thursday of the month, the menu featured the popular mutton buffet.  Rose said that it was delicious!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Tour vehicles head into Canyon de Chelly.

Window Rock, AZ A very deep and welcome snow pack in the Chuska Mountains has led to historically high water in Canyon de Chelly, about 67 miles from Window Rock.  The canyon was even closed to tours during late April, but the waters have receded enough in the last week or so to allow people to venture back in.   There is  still a lot of water and Thunderbird Lodge was using their large amphibious vehicles for most tours.  There were also plenty of tour guides using standard SUV’s in the canyon, but the open top of the Thunderbird Lodge trucks makes for some great sightseeing.  We returned to Window Rock through Tsaile and spied the guard llama below near the Snake Rocks north of Navajo, New Mexico.  In Navajo, the llama is called tł’izi bida’i (the goat’s uncle).

A guard llama (tł’ixi bida’i) at the Snake Rocks near Navajo, NM.

Depending on the weather, we’ll either be heading for Gallup or doing some work with natural dyes tomorrow.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

This 1920's vintage Ye'i is at the Toadlena Trading Post.

Window Rock, AZ Today we went to the Two Grey Hills area, about 70 miles northeast of Window Rock.  We took a spectacularly beautiful route along Indian Route 12 and crossed Narbona Pass on New Mexico route 134, stopping to visit the abandoned Crystal Trading Post, where J.B. Moore helped to extend the market for Navajo textiles by pioneering the idea of selling Navajo textiles through a catalog.  Moore’s catalogs, issued in 1903 and 1911, established styles that are still influential today.

As we came down the east side of Narbona Pass, we could see the San Juan Mountains and Sleeping Ute Mountain in Colorado and we had a view out into the Bisti Badlands that seemed to go on forever.  Turning back toward the Chuska Mountains, we arrived at the Toadlena Trading Post and toured the weaving museum there with trader Mark Winter.  Mark allowed us to examine a 120+ wefts per inch Daisy Taugelchee tapestry and I was drawn to the vintage bordered Ye’i weaving shown above.  The figures reminded me of Yanapah Simpson’s work, but this weaving is from a period about 20 years after Yanapah’s career ended.

At the Two Grey Hills Trading Post, trader Les Wilson graciously allowed us free access to his rug room and we were really taken by the contemporary runner below by Rose Blueeyes.  Rose’s design work is very original, using commercial wool.  The traditional motifs take on a fresh and contemporary, almost electric look in Rose’s skilled hands.

Rose Blueeyes used commercial wool for this distinctive and exquisitely woven runner.

I need to close so that I’m up and ready to head for Canyon de Chelly in the morning.   This week is really flying by.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Rena Robertson holds the latest in her Faces series of weavings. Here's she's done a Faces variation of the Storm Pattern

Another Rena Robertson Faces rug.

Tempe, AZ One of my New Year’s resolutions is to attend the Crownpoint Rug Auction every month if at all possible.  So far, I’ve been able to make the trip and I’ve been rewarded by the opportunity to get to know some weavers better and to make new friends.  When I went to the auction in January, I was really impressed by a rug woven by Rena Robertson of Hardrock, AZ.  It was somewhat similar to the rug at right, another of Rena’s pieces that I purchased last month. The style is reminiscent of a now-rare pattern called a Hopi Figural rug, but Rena has updated the designs and colors and has integrated many elements significant in both the Navajo and Pueblo cultures.  The most striking elements are the serene stylized faces that drew me immediately to the weaving.  Although they are somewhat similar to both Ye’i and Katsina faces, Rena sees them as the faces of nature, animals, people and homes that are all around us, so the style might be called Faces of the World, or Faces of the Glittering World in honor of the Navajo view of this incarnation of the world that we live in.   I’m pleased to offer both of them in the Weavings for Sale section of the Mercantile.  The single Faces piece is sold but you can click here for another picture and more information.  The Storm Pattern Faces piece is priced at $595.  Click here for more details and the purchase link.

Rena’s friend, Lena Tahe had been bringing Rena’s work to Crownpoint, which is about 200 miles one way, but persuaded Rena to come this month and her husband, Martin Whitehair, who is also a weaver, accompanied her.   Martin is the brother of weaver William Whitehair.  Morris Muskett and I enjoyed discussing designs, weaving and silversmithing with Rena and Martin after the auction.

We also ran into Gilbert Begay, who had two of his popular bags with him, had being the key word here.  One is an over the shoulder 7″ square bag and the other is a clutch style that is 9 1/2″ x 6″ and is vegetally dyed.   Both have been sold, but please contact me if you’d like to order another one from Gilbert.

Two Grey Hills (left) and vegetally dyed (right) bags by Gilbert Begay

I’m working on finishing up the book that I’ve been working on with Liz Munk and Jennie Slick, so I haven’t been posting as much as usual.  I think the book’s at a point where I can safely steal a little time to catch you up on some of the things that have been going on in my part of the Navajo weaving world.  Tomorrow I’ll be posting an update on our teaching high touch with high tech experiment and putting up the schedule for further online classes.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Marie H. Yazzie (left) and her daughter Marilyn demonstrate weaving and spinning at the Scottsdale ArtWalk

Scottsdale, AZ The busy Heard Museum Indian Market weekend kicked off on Thursday, March 4, with the weekly ArtWalk giving special attention to the many Native American artists and craftsman who were in the Phoenix area for this large annual event.  Both artists and attendees travel thousands of miles to be at the market, so I felt very fortunate that it’s near my home.

Mark Winter, the trader at  Toadlena Trading Post, in Toadlena, New Mexico, had even rented a storefront on Scottsdale’s Main St. for the weekend and I enjoyed chatting with weaver Marie H. Yazzie and her daughter Marilyn, pictured above.  Marie does not speak English conversationally, so I got to practice a bit of Diné bizaad (the Navajo language).  Marie said I did pretty well for a bilagáana (white person).  At least I think that’s what she said.  Marie weaves handspun Two Grey Hills designs and also does round Sandpainting pieces as you can see in the picture below.  The larger rug is a depiction of Mother Earth and Father Sky, which has always been one of my favorite sandpainting images.

Round weavings by Marie H. Yazzie among other Two Grey Hills style work

I asked Mark how he was doing on his much anticipated Master Weavers book, the culmination of over 20 years of work with Two Grey Hills weavers and he told me that he expected to have it done by summer and possibly by May, in time for the opening of an exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum.  I’ll certainly keep you posted on that.   Jackson Clarke II of the Toh-Atin Gallery in Durango, Colorado stopped by as Mark and I were talking and I got a nice picture of both of them, which you’ll see below.

Jackson Clarke (left) and Mark Winter (right)

I also stopped at the Old Territorial Shop and Turkey Mountain Traders during the evening, so we’ll stroll there next, but it might be Saturday or Sunday before we get there!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker