Weaving in Beauty

Happy birthday to weaver Gilbert Begay!  Gilbert works for Safeway in Farmington, NM and is also a prolific weaver.  Above you can see him with one of the small bags that he weaves.  In fact, he’s probably weaving one right now.   Have a great day, Gilbert!

Not a hummingbird, not a thunderbird, he's a little of each with a good dose of attitude: The Humderbird

Tempe, AZ I finished this little weaving called The Humderbird last Saturday.  The design is derivative of work done by Mae Clark, Janet Tsinnie and Jennie Slick.  It’s woven in reproduction Germantown yarn from R.B. Burnham and Co on a C-Cactusflower Maxi loom.  It’s priced to not sell at $750,000.  Hey,  I only need to sell one.   Seriously, I either hang on to my weavings or give them to friends as gifts.   You can click on the picture above for a larger view, and if you hover your mouse over the picture below you can zoom in on the detail of the Humderbird.

Hover your mouse over the picture see the details close up.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary H. Yazzie weaves as her daughter Marilyn spins wool that will be used in the rug.

Scottsdale, AZ The century old Toadlena Trading Post is located about 20 miles west of U.S. 491 in the Four Corners area of New Mexico, far enough off the beaten path to be a place that’s not often visited even when snow and cold aren’t a factor.   That makes winter a good time of year for trader Mark Winter to pack the rugs up and travel.  Last week, Mark and partner Linda Larouche visited the River Trading Post in Scottsdale, AZ with weaver Mary H. Yazzie.  Mary likes to travel and with her daughter, Marilyn, she came along to share her weaving expertise with visitors.  As Mary weaves, Marilyn is in constant motion, carding and spinning the wool to keep up with her mother’s progress.

Although commercial wool has replaced hand spun yarn for most Navajo weavers, the laborious process of shearing, washing, carding and spinning is still the standard in the Two Grey Hills area.  Some weavers reduce the work load by adeptly matching their hand spun yarns with commercially spun black and white yarns (see the rug below by Rose Blueeyes), but others like Mary, Salina Dale and Edith Yazzie persist in producing an entirely hand spun textile, right down to the warp.   The added labor, which quadruples the time required for production, makes Two Grey Hills area weavings some of the most precious and expensive in the world and some of the most beautiful.  Below, you’ll see (left) a weaving by Rose Blueeyes (commercial and hand spun),  at center, a tapestry grade (80 wefts or more per inch)  hand carded and hand spun weaving by Edith Yazzie, and at right another hand spun and hand carded tapestry, this one with more of a contemporary design, by Salina Dale.

Click on any picture for a closer view
Hand spun and commerical yarns combine in this piece by Rose Blueeyes	Hand spun and hand carded tapestry grade weaving by Edith Yazzie	Hand spun and hand carded contemporary design tapestry by Salina Dale

There are always some pieces from Toadlena at the River Trading Post, so stop by and see them if you’re in Scottsdale.  They are at 7033 E. Main St in Old Town.  If you’re in the Four Corners area, be sure to visit Linda and Mark at Toadlena.  If you’re there on June 18th, at 1:30 PM, you can attend Linda and Mark’s wedding!  They’ll be tying the knot during the opening of their newest exhibit.   Congratulations!

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!

[Show as slideshow]

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Tempe, AZ For those of you contemplating raiding your 401k plan or selling your gold,  I just spoke with Larry Fulbright, and a sale is pending on the Pauline Yellowhair’s Anasazi Ye’i that I wrote about yesterday (please scroll down to the previous article).   This will also save several of us from buying lottery tickets.  Maybe I can get Pauline to adopt me.  At least I have the pictures, and you can click on the one at left for a closer view….

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Pauline Yellowhair's remarkable weaving, which she describes as an Anasazi Yei. You can click on the picture for a larger view.

Tempe, AZ My trader/auctioneer friend Bruce Burnham likes to encourage audiences to say “Yay!” whenever a Ye’i rug comes up for sale at one of his auctions, but everyone who sees Pauline Yellowhair’s remarkable weaving above just says “Wow!”  Pauline is a 72 year old weaver with a self-reported 67 years of weaving experience and she wove the rug above for her son.  Pauline calls the rug an Anasazi Ye’i, but it is truly unique and unlike any other Navajo weaving I have ever seen.  It was recently purchased from Pauline’s son by Richardson’s Trading Post in Gallup, NM.  Larry Fulbright, the rug buyer at Richardson’s told me that he had seen a similar piece woven by Pauline, but that it was much smaller.  Richardson’s was so concerned about the ownership of the rug that they insisted that Pauline give her permission for the sale.  “It’s my son’s rug”, she said and Larry noted that her son used some of the proceeds on his mother’s behalf.

It’s a large weaving, maybe 5′ by 7′ or larger and carried a price tag of $60,000. [Update]  The rug was sold the day after this article was posted, so it’s no longer at Richardson’s.  I’m hoping that Pauline may someday weave another.   I feel very privileged to have seen it.

There are two detail pictures of the Ye’i faces below and you can click on either picture for a larger view.  Wow.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker