Weaving in Beauty

Gilbert Begay at the recent Heard Museum Guild Indian Market

Tempe, AZ   Happy Birthday(!) to one of the most talented, kind and generous people I know: weaver Gilbert Begay.  In addition to working full-time at Safeway, Gil is an accomplished weaver who just finished demonstrating twill saddle blanket weaving at the opening of They Wove for Horses: Diné Saddle Blankets.   The exhibit contains examples of Navajo saddle blanket weaving from 1860 to 2002 and is on long-term display at The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 710-708 Camino Lejo, off Old Santa Fe Trail on Museum Hill in Santa Fe.

You can see Gilbert with some of the work that he showed at the recent Heard Museum Indian Market and there is almost always something by Gilbert in the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile.   Gilbert is very innovative and he has developed a knack for coming up with pieces that blend contemporary utilitarianism with traditional patterns.  His purses are very popular and also has also added horse cinches and most recently scarves to his offerings.  The scarves  are worn like a liturgical stole or are draped over one shoulder.  It’s easy to imagine  his weaving as part of a high-end fashion portfolio.   It would look great on the catwalk!  

Have a great day, Gilbert!   Happy, happy birthday shi(my) buddy.  

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

This Chief Blanket Variant shows off Marilou Schultz design talents and her adventurous use of yarns. Hover your mouse over the picture for a closer look.

Click to see a high resolution image.

 Phoenix, AZ    I thought that we were doing pretty well in getting you a visit with all of the weavers that I saw at the Heard and then I had to rebuild the hard drive on my laptop.   Fortunately, I had backups but it took awhile to get everything back to normal.  I’m sorry for the interruption! Anyway, I promised you a look at Marilou Schultz‘ Chief Blanket Variant.  That’s Marilou at left, carding wool for her mother, Martha, to spin.  

Marilou is also a skilled spinner and dye master as well as a weaver.  She works with both aniline and natural dyes and mixes hand spun and commercial yarns, which is no easy feat.  If the yarns aren’t evenly matched, they weave at different thicknesses and require constant filling in.  Marilou’s unique sense of design and bold use of yarn are evident in the Chief Blanket above, where she’s used traditional elements in a contemporary zoned design.  She incorporated some dramatic silver and red/black variegated yarns that really make the design sing.   A detail of the weaving is below.  

Hover your mouse over the picture for a closer look.

 Weaving from scratch is a time honored tradition in Marilou’s family and her mother, Martha Schultz, graciously allowed me to photograph her draw technique.  She skillfully transfers just enough twist to the carded to wool to draw it out to arm’s length.  She then adds more twist and attaches more carded wool, continuing until the spindle is full.  When that happens, she spins the resulting roving into yarn or warp, re-spinning it two or three times to achieve the desired results.   You can view high resolution pictures by clicking on the images or see the pictures as a slideshow. You’ll also get a nice look that other beautiful weavings in Marilou’s booth. If you have a hip spindle, by all means give this technique a try, but you’ll probably find out that Martha is making it look a lot easier than it really is! 

[Show as slideshow]

Jason Harvey in his booth at the Heard Museum Indian Market

 Phoenix, AZ   Although the Heard Museum Indian Market is huge, returning artists are often given in the same space year after which makes it easier for visitors like me to find artists.   Glancing to my left after I talked Michael Ornelas, I saw the unmistakable work of Jason Harvey.  Jason is a master weaver who combines traditional patterns with a fabulous sense of color and weaving skill.   He also does quite of bit of vegetal dyeing to get the colors that he wants.  The Storm Pattern and the Saltillo Diamond dominated his work (although the Yei Bi Chei at top right in the picture below is also a showstopper). 

Hover your mouse over the picture for a closer look.

Jason is also using a new diagonal single outline augmentation that I hadn’t seen before. A single separate thread is added to the outside line of the diagonal which adds a subtle dimensional effect and an opportunity for more color play.  Any horizontal base thread is woven in, but the diagonal thread just follows the angle without turning on any of the warps. There’s a detail of the technique below and if you hover your mouse over the picture, you will also appreciate Jason’s weaving skill and color sense.

Hover your mouse over the picture for a closer look.

Looking ahead, we’ll stop next to chat with Marilou Schultz, who is always ready to try new designs and yarns. Wait till you see her take on the Chief Blanket!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Michael Ornelas with his framed miniatures.

Phoenix, AZ   Walking out of the F area tent and turning left will bring us to weavers Lola and Melissa Cody and the Ornelas family (Barbara, Michael and Sierra).  Michael was the only member of the Ornelas group in the booth when I dropped by, but he had four of his 100+ weft count framed miniatrues on the table and we talked about his design inspirations.  He calls the two pieces on the right his Pokemon designs.  The two on the left are inspired by his work on the database of historic Navajo textiles at Arizona State Museum in Tucson.   If you have never seen the work that Michael’s family is famous for, it is hard to believe how incredibly fine it is.  The weft (pattern) threads are literally like sewing thread and the patterns are absolutely perfect symmetrically, with row counts that are never off.   We’ll be back by the booth a little later when Michael’s mother, Barbara Ornelas, gets back from visiting with some friends.  

Lola Cody had a small loom set up in her booth and did a little weaving demonstration for you.  First you’ll see her with the rugs that she had for sale.  You’ll see that she’s got several smaller pieces so that her customers have a variety of items and patterns to choose from.    Hanging from left, you see a Wide Ruins, Single Diamond Burntwater and Double Diamond Two Grey Hills.   Other patterns, including a rare two-sided weaving are on the table and a fine Burntwater Pictorial is at the back of the booth.  And Lola works full time.  At another job. 

Lola Cody weaves in her booth

Lola let me shoot some pictures over her shoulder so that you could get an idea of the motion of her hands as she is weaving.  In the picture below at left, she is opening what is known as the pull shed.  Notice that the keeps her weaving comb in her hands in all of these pictures.  Weavers are encouraged to learn to weave without putting the comb down because it’s more efficient.  You can click on any of the pictures to see them in a larger size. 

Lola places the batten into the pull shed.	Lola works with the pattern threads.
Click on any picture for a closer view

Tomorrow, we’ll talk with Jason Harvey and you’ll see his interesting variation on outlining designs.  

P.S. Also at the Arizona State Museum’s web site, you can create your own simple rug design, which has nothing to do with the Indian Market but is a lot of fun.  Just don’t complain to me about how late you stayed up trying it out!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

The Spider Rock Girls: from left, Larissa Blake, Alyssa Malone, Emily Malone and Laramie Blake. Missing is LaVera Blake who had to return to school in Utah.

Phoenix, AZ   The 52nd Annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Market concluded about 90 minutes ago.  The Market enjoyed the kind of weather that caused Major League Baseball to locate some of their spring training here and people were really taking advantage of the fabulous sunshine and 80+ degree temperatures.   La Niña winters are dry and warm and this particular year has been a classic.  We’re all rooting for the rains to show up, but it’s not a bad place to be while you’re waiting.   I have been working with the pictures that I took and trying to figure out how to frame the articles.   I don’t have any favorite weavings from the show; I have a pile of them.  I think that the best way to do this is just to see the pictures in the order that I saw and visited with the weavers until we’re done.  At the end of the week, I’ll put up a link to the entire gallery of pictures and you can go through the whole show as many times as you want to.  

I saw the Spider Rock Girls first because I had some things that they needed for their booth.  The “girls” are members of the extended Yazzie/Blake/Malone/Whitney family whose ancestral home is near Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly.  Emily Malone and her daughter Larissa are the instructors at the Spider Rock Girls Boarding School weaving class and one of Emily’s other daughters, Laramie is kind of my foster daughter while she attends college here in Phoenix.  Emily’s oldest daughter, LaVera, was at the show yesterday but had to leave to go back to college in Utah, where she’s finishing up a nursing degree.  Getting that many family members to a show and making it work financially is no small feat and Emily and family had woven several small pieces to help round out their inventory.  You’ll see that strategy used by several weavers as we go through the Market.   Like many weavers who are successful at this level, the family also has a pattern that is identified with them and gives their work a recognizable style.   The Spider Rock rug is their trademark pattern, but they also had both large and small Burntwater design rugs.  A Burntwater is a bordered single or double diamond pattern that is woven using wool that has been vegetally dyed.  

Emily said that they had sold several pieces and rumor has it that even nine year old Alyssa had sold a small rug to an appreciative Market attendee.  OK, the buyer was one of my friends and I saw it on Facebook.   I believe that this is third rug that Alyssa has woven.   

Spider Rock patterned rugs woven by Emily Malone

Detail of Burntwater pattern weaving next to Spider Rock rugs

I’m having breakfast with the girls tomorrow before Emily, Larissa and Alyssa head back home, so I’ll have information on any rugs that they have left over.  They will also be participating in the Smoki Museum Auction in Prescott, Arizona on March 17th.  The girls don’t sit around!  

Tomorrow, we’ll visit with Lola Cody, who will show you some weaving technique on the small loom that she had set up.  We might get a chance to say hello to Michael Ornelas too who has some interesting design inspirations to share.  

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker