Weaving in Beauty

Lula Brown came by today with her miniature loom.

Window Rock, AZ Lula and Herman Brown came by this morning to show us one of the small looms that they use to produce the Navajo miniatures that they’re famous for.  The small Tree of Life rug on the loom has an astounding 60 birds.  Lula also brought some of her newly finished rugs to show the students.   Below you can see her showing some of her pieces to Karen Mittleider.

Lula Brown shows some of her miniature rugs to Karen Mittleider.

This afternoon, the Generations rug exhibit opened at the Navajo Nation Museum, a short walk from our classroom.  Mark Winter has spent 20 years documenting the families of weavers in the Two Grey Hills Toadlena area, and he has assembled groups of representative weavings from all of them.  Mark addressed the group gathered for the opening, and his love and respect for the textiles and the weavers who produce them was obvious.  You can see one of the many exhibit panels below.  The exhibit features over 350 examples of Two Grey Hills weaving and will be at the museum for the next few months.

A panel at the Navajo Nation Museum's Generations exhibit.

This evening, the Spider Rock Girls came by to visit and have dinner with the class. Several of the students have purchased rugs from the girls this week, and it was fun to us learn more about how they go about producing their unique designs and how weaving fits into their lives.  One of them, LaVera,is about to graduate as a certified nursing assistant and will be combining her weaving with caring for elderly Navajo nursing home residents in Chinle, Arizona.   You can see LaVera below at the center of the picture.  That’s little sister Alyssa hugging her.  Larissa is at the left.  They’re talking with class participant Karen Mittleider.

Spider Rock Girls Larissa, Alyssa and LaVera Blake discuss weaving with Karen Mittleider

Several of our students are in the finishing stages of their weaving projects.  One of them, Barbara Nicodemus is working on the graphically striking piece below.   It’s a hit with many of our visitors.  Some of the students may finish their pieces tomorow and others hope to be done by Saturday.

Barbara Nicodemus nears completion of her weaving project.

We’re off to Canyon de Chelly tomorrow morning early, so it’s off to bed for me!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Sharon Granda displays a finished piece at a Telerana Study Group meeing last year.

The Navajo-Tapestry Study Group of the Teleraña Weaving Guild will meet tomorrow, May 2, 2009 at Mesa Community College, room SC29 from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.  This is a drop-in session for all experience levels, but it is not a beginner class.   There is no formal program; the aim of the study group is to provide an opportunity to socialize with other weavers and to progress in weaving skills.  Everyone is welcome and there is no charge, but persons requesting specific help (such as assistance with warping) are asked to pay the person who assists them $15 and to contact Sharie Monsam or Mary Walker so that we can be sure that there will be a person there who will be able to help with the specific issue you’re having.

The study group meets on the first Saturday of every month, so please attend a session anytime that you’re in the area.

Plans to build a small workshop loom are now available on the site.

When Jennie Slick and I began to teach classes in the Window Rock area, we wanted the looms and tools to be Navajo made.   Henry Lee Dedman in Ft. Defiance, Arizona, developed the  small workshop loom seen in the picture above.  We really like the loom and many students have used the plan for it to build looms for the Navajo Weaving Boot Camp classes that we teach.  I’ve added the plan to the site as a PDF file, and you can print or download it.   The plan is free for your personal use.  As you’ll see in the plan, there are also two books which discuss loom building.  These are Navajo Weaving Way (Bighorse/Bennett, chapter 4) and Navajo and Hopi Weaving Techniques (Pendleton, page 16)

This is part of a project that I’m working on to make resources for learning to weave Navajo style more accessible (yes, I’m still working on the book) and you’ll see regular additions to these under the Learn to Weave! link.    The link to the loom plan will also be there on a permanent basis.  Happy loom building!

Mary Walker