Weaving in Beauty

Laramie Blake wears a traditional biil dress and leggings for her graduation portrait. The dress is woven in two pieces and sewn together.

Tempe, AZ You can find Spider Rock Girl Laramie Blake’s graduation album on her page at the Spider Rock Girls web site.  There are 29 pictures in the album.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Spider Rock Girl Laramie Blake will graduate from Chinle High School on May 22nd.

Chinle, AZ Spider Rock Girl Laramie Blake will be graduating from Chinle High School on May 22nd and I was honored to be asked to take her graduation pictures.  We spent about two hours at the Spider Rock overlook at Canyon de Chelly today, taking about 125 pictures that we browsed through over dinner at the Thunderbird Lodge cafeteria with Laramie’s mother, Emily Malone and her little sister Alyssa.  One of Laramie’s favorite portrait shots, above, appears with her permission, and more will be posted in the next couple of days at the Spider Rock Girls web site.    A second picture that we both like appears below.  Laramie is wearing a traditional bííl dress, a Zuni needlepoint squash blossom necklace, bracelets and earrings and traditional moccasins with deerskin leggings.  Laramie has paid her educational expenses with her weaving since she was in middle school.

Laramie plans to major in business at Diné College in Tsaile starting in the fall.

Laramie Blake, Chinle High School Class of 2010

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Weaver and silversmith Morris Muskett is offering classes in Navajo and allied weaving techniques.

Albuquerque, NM Master weaver and silversmith Morris Musket is beginning to offer classes in Navajo and other indigenous weaving techniques.  He is currently working with one private student and will work with you to arrange classes in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area.  He’s also willing to do combined class/tour events and will travel to your area by arrangement.

Morris is extremely knowledgeable in the history and breadth of Navajo techniques and incorporates ideas and influences from other creative traditions into his very original work.  He is a wonderful ambassador for and interpreter of the Navajo culture and his willingness to teach creates a powerful new opportunity for students to both expand and deepen their weaving experience.   You can read more about Morris’ thoughts on teaching at his web site and you can contact him for more information on the curriculum that he’s developing. Pssst, he’s offering you the chance to meet Noel Bennett and Ramona Sakiestewa!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

From left, exhaust cochineal, madder, first bath cochineal, osage orange, indigo over osage orange and indigo.

Mesa, AZ It’s April and the thermometer in the Valley of the Sun is in the 90 degree range.   It’s indigo weather!   Add some cochineal bugs, munjeet (a type of madder) and osage orange sawdust and you’ve got a rainbow in the making.   Cochineal and indigo color some of the yarns used by Navajo weavers in the 19th century and some of fine artists among Navajo weavers, like D.Y. Begay, Roy Kady and Morris Muskett continue to work with them as well as some of the other dyes that I taught students how to use yesterday and last Saturday at the Fiber Factory in Mesa, AZ.

Working with these dyes helps you to develop a profound appreciation for both history and chemistry.  The sources of these colors span the globe and they are integral players in the flow of events from the earliest times.  There are textiles found in Egypt dyed with madder, the Aztecs exacted tribute in cochineal and the Scots dyed their faces blue for battle with woad, an indigo bearing plant.   These are colors of the finest of the Chief Blankets, the Late Classic Blankets, the British red coats and Bayeux Tapestry.  By manipulating the properties of their vats and baths, dye masters developed proprietary formulas and methods that were guarded every bit as closely as the design of the next iPhone.    It’s a real privilege to be able to teach their use and legacy to others.   I have to go rinse some yarn…..

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Tempe, AZ There are a lot of people stopping by here on a regular basis who are interested in learning to weave Navajo style.  Back in December, one of the more avid students and I engaged in some conjecture about whether it would be effective to do an online class, and we came to the conclusion that it was worth a try and would effectively help to use up any spare time that I was contemplating having.  I bought a subscription to WebEx, a new version of Adobe Acrobat and a really swell rolling computer stand.   I developed a syllabus that was roughly similar to what we do in a week in Window Rock and put the class on the site one Saturday morning at 8 AM.  I took off for the Fiber Factory to teach a class for them and by noon, the online class was full and I had an a lot of email from other prospective students who wanted to give the virtual class a try.    I was totally unprepared for that level of interest, but it was certainly better than getting a cosmic shrug!

The eight intrepid students, my writing partner Liz Munk and I started the class on January 31.  We originally planned five sessions, but we weren’t really tied to a particular timetable.  I tried to use streaming video to demonstrate the weaving and we quickly found that we had real problems with screen freezing assaults on bandwidth.  We also had to work through some severe audio feedback issues and I was really unsure that the format was one that would allow the students to learn effectively.   Still, the students were positively encouraging and we started working on some changes in the format that allowed students to access the video on demand and evolved a session agenda that blends a discussion and slide show of the technique being covered that week, a review of each student’s progress and work on solving problems and answering questions.

At the end of our session, everyone agreed that the class had helped them to succeed and progress on some level and so I’m pleased to announce a new session of the class as well as a private class option for those who can’t make the meeting time or who would prefer one on one attention.  The multi-student class will begin on May 16th with follow-on sessions on May 23, May 30, June 6 and June 20.   The two week gap will hopefully allow students enough time to get to the finishing point in their projects.  Students should expect to spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours in each session.  To limit issues with bandwidth, we’ll meet in two groups.  The early group will meet at 2:00 PM EDT, 1:00 PM CDT, 12:00 PM MDT, 11:00 AM PDT.  A second group will meet at 4:30 PM EDT, 3:30 PM CDT, 2:30 PM MDT and 1:30 PM PDT.  Each group will be limited to four people.   Students need to have access to a computer with a web cam, microphone and a high speed Internet connection.   The charge for the class is $75 and includes access to online materials and a private page on my web site for the duration of the class so that it’s easy to post pictures and communicate with me or other classmates.   You can register for the early class time  here and for the later time here (update: the later session is full).

The private class tuition is $125 and scheduling is subject to my textile conservation business requirements and other class commitments.   Got a friend who wants to learn with you?  You can register for a two student session at $100 each.   You should expect to spend two hours in the first session and one hour to 90 minutes in the following sessions.  Private students must complete their session within eight weeks unless my schedule does not permit it.  My generally available hours are 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM MST on weekdays, and 7:oo PM to 9:00 PM MST on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Saturday and Sunday scheduling is possible depending on other commitments that I have.  If you’re interested in doing this, please contact me before you register so that we’re sure that the scheduling will work.   If you can’t get in touch with me prior to registering, I’ll immediately refund your tuition if we can’t find a mutually agreeable time to meet.     I’m going to limit private student enrollment to four students or teams right now, with potential class sessions starting on May 11.  You can register here for a singe private student slot and here for a two student session.  If you want to participate in a two student session, it’s your responsibility to find and coordinate with the second student.  The course is geared toward five fingered carbon based life forms who live in the Cygnus Arm of this galaxy, but as long as your fellow student can meet the computer requirements, you’ll find I’m pretty flexible.

Please comment or contact me if you have questions!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Rena Robertson holds the latest in her Faces series of weavings. Here's she's done a Faces variation of the Storm Pattern

Another Rena Robertson Faces rug.

Tempe, AZ One of my New Year’s resolutions is to attend the Crownpoint Rug Auction every month if at all possible.  So far, I’ve been able to make the trip and I’ve been rewarded by the opportunity to get to know some weavers better and to make new friends.  When I went to the auction in January, I was really impressed by a rug woven by Rena Robertson of Hardrock, AZ.  It was somewhat similar to the rug at right, another of Rena’s pieces that I purchased last month. The style is reminiscent of a now-rare pattern called a Hopi Figural rug, but Rena has updated the designs and colors and has integrated many elements significant in both the Navajo and Pueblo cultures.  The most striking elements are the serene stylized faces that drew me immediately to the weaving.  Although they are somewhat similar to both Ye’i and Katsina faces, Rena sees them as the faces of nature, animals, people and homes that are all around us, so the style might be called Faces of the World, or Faces of the Glittering World in honor of the Navajo view of this incarnation of the world that we live in.   I’m pleased to offer both of them in the Weavings for Sale section of the Mercantile.  The single Faces piece is sold but you can click here for another picture and more information.  The Storm Pattern Faces piece is priced at $595.  Click here for more details and the purchase link.

Rena’s friend, Lena Tahe had been bringing Rena’s work to Crownpoint, which is about 200 miles one way, but persuaded Rena to come this month and her husband, Martin Whitehair, who is also a weaver, accompanied her.   Martin is the brother of weaver William Whitehair.  Morris Muskett and I enjoyed discussing designs, weaving and silversmithing with Rena and Martin after the auction.

We also ran into Gilbert Begay, who had two of his popular bags with him, had being the key word here.  One is an over the shoulder 7″ square bag and the other is a clutch style that is 9 1/2″ x 6″ and is vegetally dyed.   Both have been sold, but please contact me if you’d like to order another one from Gilbert.

Two Grey Hills (left) and vegetally dyed (right) bags by Gilbert Begay

I’m working on finishing up the book that I’ve been working on with Liz Munk and Jennie Slick, so I haven’t been posting as much as usual.  I think the book’s at a point where I can safely steal a little time to catch you up on some of the things that have been going on in my part of the Navajo weaving world.  Tomorrow I’ll be posting an update on our teaching high touch with high tech experiment and putting up the schedule for further online classes.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker