Weaving in Beauty

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

Lynda Teller Pete demonstrates weaving at last year's Southwest Indian Art Fair

Tucson, AZ Just a quick post to let you know that the Desert Diamond Casino, owned by the Tohono O’odham tribe, has stepped in to reschedule and sponsor the previously cancelled Southwest Indian Art Fair.   Information on the event and artist applications are available by clicking here.  Thanks to Mary Weinzirl for letting me know!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Have looms, will travel. See you at Convergence 2010!

Registration for Convergence 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico has just opened up today and you’ll find Jennie Slick and I will be doing three seminars and a two-day workshop. Our schedule and the class numbers are below.

Thursday, July 22, 2010 (1:00-4:00) SS206 Navajo Warping and Weaving Demonstration:  Jennie do will a complete small warping and demonstrate weaving.  This will be a nice refresher or introduction for those interested in Navajo techniques.

Friday, July 23, 2010  (9:00-10:30) S308 Weavers and Traders: The Ganado Red Rug: An in-depth discussion of the development of the Ganado Red rug and the history of the Hubbell Trading Post.

Friday, July 23, 2010 (1:00-2:30) S409 Navajo Rug Reunion: Think you’ve got a national treasure like the First Phase Chief Blanket on the Antiques Road Show?  Bring it to the rug reunion and find out!  I’ll do a brief description and give you a high level appraisal

Saturday, July24, 2010 and Sunday, July 25, 2010 (9:00-12:00 and 1:00-4:00) WB219 Navajo Weaving Boot Camp The fastest and most intense Navajo weaving class west of the Pecos.

We’re very pleased to be included in the Convergence schedule and we’re looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. If you have any questions about any of the sessions, please contact me and I’ll try to answer them for you or I’ll find someone who can.  I’ve had questions from a couple of people regarding what process we would use to select the students and my answer to that is that if it’s up to us, it’s carbon based life forms on a first come, first warped basis!

See you in Albuquerque!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

The 2009 Gathering of Weavers attracted a large group of weaving enthusiasts. The 86 degree ideal weather didn't hurt either.

Phoenix, AZ The Heard Museum held their second annual Gathering of Weavers yesterday.  It’s a one day event dedicated to weaving and weavers held on the first Saturday in November.   The event is held outdoors in the museum’s courtyard and allows buyers to purchase rugs directly from the weaver.  The museum handles the sales through their shop, allowing the weavers to take credit cards, something that most of them do not do.   I can’t remember exactly what percentage the weaver receives, but I believe it is 80% or more and there was no charge for table space, a big help for the weavers.   Weavers at the event included well known names like Brenda Spencer, Lola Cody, D.Y. Begay and Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas, but newer and weavers who have not had as much public exposure like Monica Glasses, Nathan Harry and Loretta Tahe were also there.   I’ve culled a few pictures from my embarrassingly large assortment so that you can get an idea of the artists and their work.

Loretta Tahe shows her feather rug design.

Loretta Tahe of Hardrock, AZ weaves this distinctive pattern that she calls a Feather Rug.  Each feather has a different design.  Loretta usually sells her work at the Crownpoint Rug Auction and generally weaves one rug each month.   A detail of the expertly woven center feather area is below.

Here's a detail of ther center five feathers in Loretta's rug.

Gilbert Begay wears his handwoven vest.

Gilbert Begay of Crownpoint, NM is a familiar person to many of you who have visited the site before.  Gilbert is a prolific and creative weaver who often stops by when Jennie Slick and I are doing classes in Window Rock.  Although he works full time for Safeway in Farmington, NM, Gilbert spends a lot of his spare time weaving small format rugs and specialty bags like the one seen below.  The wool used in the bag is some that Gilbert and I dyed during our annual Cochineal Cookoff  in Window Rock this August.  Gilbert had used the yarn for the bag below and a small mat.  I purchased one of Gilbert’s bags at a recent auction and will be putting it in the Mercantile later today or in the morning.

One of Gilbert Begay's small bags. The wool in this weaving is dyed with cochineal.

Brenda Spencer shows her latest Wide Ruins design

Brenda Spencer of Dallas, TX and her sister Geneva Shabi of Sanders, AZ were just across the aisle from Gilbert.  Brenda has incorporated a unique wave pattern that is occasionally seen in very old textiles and that we’ve been working on duplicating for the last four years or so.   Brenda has incorporated this element masterfully into the Wide Ruins design that you see above and in a detail below.  The technique is an optical illusion of a curvilinear pattern created by careful manipulation of diagonal lines and weft counts.

Here's a detal of the wave design in Brenda Spencer's Wide Ruins rug.

Geneva Shabi with one of her prize-winning Wide Ruins rugs.

Geneva Shabi, Brenda’s sister also had rugs displaying her dazzling mastery of the Wide Ruins design idiom.  Geneva works for as a relief postmaster when she’s not weaving.  Although you can see that Brenda and Geneva share some influences in their work, Geneva’s take on the Wide Ruins design is very much her own.  You can see a detail from the striped section of her smaller weaving in the picture below.   Look at the immaculately clean lines, the virtuosity of the color choices and the arrangement of the lines to form an absolute symphony of elegance and beauty.  And these are the stripes.

A detail of a striped area in a Geneva Shabi Wide Ruins rug.

Let’s stop here for today, and wander further down the courtyard tomorrow.  I think I can see D.Y.  Begay, Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas and Lola Cody down there.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

A medicine bag by Morris Muskett (photo courtesy of Morris Muskett)

Tempe, AZ Weaver/silversmitth/artist/engineer(!) Morris Muskett (who doesn’t ever seem to sleep) will be at the Wheelwright museum’s Case Trading Post August 20-23, during the upcoming Indian Market in Santa Fe.   Morris will be participating in a round table discussion on Thursday, August 20 and will be part of a group demonstration on Friday, August 21.  He’ll also be demonstrating at other times throughout the weekend.  Morris’ work is always evolving, so every time you see him, you’re find him working with new materials, new media  or trying a completely new genre.  The medicine bag above is an example of one of his newer pieces.

See Morris’ web site for more information.  Be sure to stop by and say hello!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

A view of one of the rugs on display at Toadlena's centennial exhibit

Toadlena, NM The Toadlena Trading Post is celebrating 100 years in business with a new exhibit that documents the weaving genealogy of the Bear Clan.  Trading post owner Mark Winter has gathered rugs representing Bear Clan weavers who are in the living memory of the present generation.   Each matriarch and her descendants are documented in detail and many of the rugs are  hung over murals showing the red rocks and turquoise blue skies of the Southwest.  Among the prominent weavers who are descendants of Bear Clan matriarch Sagebrush Hill Woman are Daisy Taugelchee and Julia Jumbo and the exhibit includes panels of both their work.  You can see a composite picture of the panel showing the weaving of Daisy and her close relatives below and you can read the description of the weavings displayed by clicking on the picture at the bottom of the article.

A composite photo of the Toadlena panel depicting the work of Daisy Tauglechee and her close relatives.

The Toadlena Centennial celebration will last until June 20, 2010, so you’ve got time to plan a trip to the trading post to soak of the history of the place to take in the Shash Tso exhibit.  Plan to spend at least two hours and if you can, try to meet trader Mark Winter during your visit.  You’ll never forget your day at Toadlena.

Please click on the picture for a full sized summary of Daisy Taugelchee's panel.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker