Weaving in Beauty

Weaver and teacher Sarah Natani spins at the Heard Museum Indian Market in 2009

Tempe, AZ The listings for Sarah Natani’s 2011 weaving workshops have just been added to the Where to Learn Indigenous Techniques page.  Sarah will be offering classes in Mendocino, California (June 13-17), at the Taos Wool Festival (September 26-30), at her home in Table Mesa, New Mexico (September 19-23) and at the Hill Creek Fiber Studio in Columbia, Missouri (November 13-18).  Tuition for each class varies by venue.

At its core, Navajo weaving is totally self-sufficient, produced only with the materials and skills already in the possession of the weaver and students in Sarah’s classes will experience a glimpse of the full range of skills and activities that encompass weaving in that Navajo sense.   From Sarah’s viewpoint, the process of weaving begins when a lamb is born and continues until the finished product goes on to the people who will ultimately use it.  Sarah is a wonderful guide for that process.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Tempe, AZ I’ve completed an update of the class listings on the Where to Learn Indigenous Weaving Techniques page.   These represent all of the in person classes that I know about, have heard rumors about or think might be going on with as much contact information as I can find.  Mark Deschinny, for instance, hasn’t done a class offering on his site for awhile, but the last time I talked to him, he was available to do private sessions by prior arrangement.  Lynda Teller Pete and her sister Barbara Teller Ornelas are adding classes in Dragoon, Arizona and Ojai, California this year and Lynda is teaching several classes in the Denver area, where she resides.  Leslie Smith Jackson of Wild West Weaver will be offering a workshop at the Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, New Jersey and don’t overlook the workshops at the Sheep is Life Celebration in Tsaile, AZ.   Classes offered during the Celebration include Basic Navajo Weaving with Ilene Naegle, Sash Belt Weaving with Gilbert Begay and Horse Cinch Weaving with Roy Kady.  You’ll find classes listed in Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas.

An on site class with a good instructor can really move you up the learning curve and expand your horizons.  If you know of classes that I’ve missed, please let me know.  Class listings are free of charge and based on the information that I’ve received or researched.  Please contact the organizer for details and registration.  If you take a class, consider doing a guest article on your experience!  You’ll get fame, glory and possibly a Weaving in Beauty tote bag.  Who said freelance writing doesn’t pay?

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Learn to weave!

If your New’s Year’s Resolution involves learning how to weave Navajo style, we’re expanding our class offerings to help you achieve that goal. We are adding two additional weeks to our Weaving in Beauty Textile Tour schedule. The first session is June 16-23 and is being offered in partnership with the Currier Museum in New Hampshire. Four seats are currently open in that class. This class concludes on the Thursday of the Sheep is Life Celebration, so there are some nice opportunities to include that event in your learning experience.  The second week that we’re adding is September 15-22 and should include a visit to the Friends of Hubbell Native American Arts Auction if they maintain their current schedule.   You can read more about the Weaving in Beauty class and register here.

Registration is also open for the next session of our online classes in beginning and intermediate Navajo weaving techniques and for next year’s Camp Weave-Alot Advanced Seminar.  Camp Weave-Alot has been expanded to include spinning and natural dyes.  I know that you might not think that’s weaving, but it is in the Navajo context, so we’ll stick with our kitschy class title for the time being.

Since I  seem to be working my way into spending my whole summer in Window Rock, if you don’t see a class that fits your schedule or needs, it may show up soon.  At any rate, let me know what you’re looking for and we may be able to arrange it!   Don’t forget, we also have a three hour class in Window Rock every month on the Thursday evening before the Crownpoint Rug Auction.  The first session is $15 and subsequent classes are $10.  Everyone is welcome, but contact me to register so I can plan for instructors and equipment!

As Stella Cly of Monument Valley would say “With the comb, you are not only putting a design together, you are also chasing away the evil spirits of poverty!  Learn to weave!”

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Mary with loom set up for twill weaving

Window Rock, AZ Jennie Slick and I are starting to do a monthly weaving class for people who live in the area around Window Rock.  Many of  our local students are Navajo and know the weaving basics, but are interested in learning advanced techniques the their family members aren’t familiar with or that they haven’t had a chance to try before.  Tonight, one of our students wanted to learn a diamond point twill.  With twill, the standard pull shed and stick shed are replaced by a stick shed and three pull sheds, creating a four harness loom.  It had been awhile since I’d tried doing a twill,  but it all came together.  You can see our student, Mary, who lives in Round Rock, with the loom set up above and there’s a detail of the weaving below.  The twill pattern that we wove is detailed in Caroline Spurgeon’s Weaving the Navajo Way, How to Create Rugs, Miniatures and More.

Detail of diamond point twill on a Navajo style loom

Our next local class will be on Thursday, October 7 from 6 to 9 PM.  Please contact me if you would like to join us.  The cost for the class is $15 psr session and the classes are open to anyone.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

	Click on any picture to see it in full size
Emily Malone isnt sure what Pam Root's next weaving move should be...	Emily moves in to help, but Pam's wondering what she was thinking then she signed up for this....	All's well that weaves well, and with Emily's help, Pam decision is looking very wise!

Tempe, AZ The day after our visit to HGA’s Convergence 2010 ended, Jennie Slick and I started a week long class in Window Rock.  What lunatic schedules these class marathons?  Me, that’s who.  It seemed to make sense last year when I put it on the calendar, and thanks to a great group of students, it turned out to be another wonderful week of weaving on the Navajo Nation.  Our students came from as far away as Australia for this session.  We had our share of beautiful rainy weather that we dodged pretty successfully by taking our field trips in the morning and watching the weather reports.  We even made it into Canyon de Chelly on the last day before the weather closed the tours there down for a couple of weeks.

The Spider Rock Girls came by for a visit and so did Gilbert Begay, Nathan Harry, Herman and Lula Brown,  and the wonderful and encouraging members of the Navajo community who came through the classroom with stories about the ways that weaving has been part of their lives and still is.  You can see the impromptu consultation that Spider Rock Girl Emily Malone did with class member Pam Root in the triptych of pictures above.   Pam finished that rug by the end of the week, too.   Of course, there may be some magic in the yarn that we get at R.B. Burnham and Co.!

We had a wonderful visit with Mark Winter and Linda Larouche at the Toadlena Trading Post and with Shirley Brown at Two Grey Hills.  By the time that we all said good-bye on Sunday, two weavings had been completed, multiple weavings had been purchased (along with no small amount of jewelry) and we were reveling in the spirit of a class that to the Navajo way of thinking will go on as long as there is anyone to remember it.  You can see our class picture below, and you can click here to view the full picture gallery of 38 pictures.

Our July, 2011 class. From row from left are Mary Walker, Pam Anderson, Patricia Whitney, Pam Root and Jennie Slick. Back row from left, Teri Taylor (and Rowdy), Paula Pavlovic, Ana Pavlovic, Bonnie Rangel and Linda Marie Golier

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Rose Yazzie works with a traditional hip spindle during the Friends of Hubbell Native American Arts Auction

Window Rock, AZ All of the students from our May class have headed home and most of them are already there.  I’m still in Window Rock to take care of a few errands and I’ll be heading back to the Phoenix area today.  I’ll be writing about the class this week, but I wanted to say thank you to the students and to the many, many members of the Navajo Nation who dropped by to say hello while our class was in session.

Our class ended with a trip to the Friends of Hubbell Native American Arts Auction at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.  It’s one of the largest Native American auction events in the country and is held twice a year (the next auction will be on September 18, 2010).  Spider Rock Girl Rose Yazzie sat with our group and gave us a hip spindle demonstration as she watched the auction.   I thought that Roses’s picture would be a good one to leave with you as I head home.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker