Weaving in Beauty

D.Y. Begay demonstrates natural dyes Navajo style. The wool she's holding is dyed with Navajo tea.

Phoenix, AZ Moving down the Heard Museum’s courtyard at the Gathering of Weavers last Saturday, I smelled Navajo tea and then saw D.Y. Begay with her dyepots.  Also called kota or greenthread, the Navajo tea plant is used to make a beverage as well as a dye for wool.  Depending on the type of pot used, the mordant applied and the amount of time that the wool is processed, the plant yields colors ranging from gold to burnt orange.  D.Y. was also processing some brazilwood and walnut hulls.  Weavers who do their own dyes are always exploring the color potential of various plants.  At a lecture that I attended on Saturday afternoon, Jackson Clarke told the audience about arranging to have Ella Rose Perry, a master weaver and dyer, do a demonstration for an event in Utah.  Grandma Perry was way overdue and when she arrived she explained to a worried Jackson that she’d been stopping at various elevations to collect plants that she just could not get at home!   A picture of a section of  one of Grandma Perry’s rugs appears below. The gold color in this rug is Navajo tea.  Look at how skillfully Ella Rose has used the Crystal weave in the striped areas of this rug.

A section of a Crystal Rug by Ella Rose Perry

Right behind D.Y.’s dye demonstration, Lola Cody was doing a warp the Navajo way.   If you look carefully at the picture below, you’ll see that she’s using her loom as a warping frame and that she’s ensuring that she her warp dimensions are even by using pipes rather than dowels.  What you can’t see as easily is that the warp is (now sit down) hand spun Navajo-churro wool. Fellow weavers, I am here to tell you that this warp was absolutely beautiful.  That warp was so strong and evenly spun.   Lola let me hold the ball  in my hand and I knew that the courtyard was too crowded for me to make a clean getaway, plus there were a bunch of people there who knew me and I want to stay friends with Lola.  I handed the warp back to her.  Yep, I’m going to try spinning my own warp.

Lola Cody demonstrates warping the traditional Navajo way with handspun Navajo-churro warp.

Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas was working on a matched set of four tapestry grade miniature Chief Blankets.  When it’s complete, the set will include two First Phase patterns, a second phase and a Third Phase.

Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas works on her set of four Chief Blanket miniatures.

You’ll want to see Barbara’s work and her loom set up in the picture below.  You’ll see that the First Phase blanket pattern (left) is composed of stripes and the Second Phase adds nine carefully placed blocks that would line up when worn.  The Third Phase piece will have diamond design elements in place of the blocks.  These small pieces will have about 100 weft threads to the inch.

We’ve worked our way down one side of the courtyard, but there are some new weavers for us to meet tomorrow and you’ll also be interested in some of the rugs that Jackson Clarke and Mark Winter discussed in their talks on Saturday afternoon.   Look for that update on Wednesday; I’m helping with a weaving class tomorrow weaving.  If you’re near the Fiber Factory in Mesa, AZ, stop by and say hello.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Two young fair visitors try their hands at weaving.

Tucson, AZ I spent yesterday (2/21/2009) at the Southwest Indian Art Fair, held on the grounds of the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona in Tucson.  The fair draws a large group of artists from the Southwest and beyond but is smaller and more accessible than the much larger Heard Museum Indian Market that will be coming up in two weeks.  The fair features a “Learn to Weave” demonstration tent that hosts several Navajo weavers and a group of volunteers and demonstrators from the Tucson Handweaver’s and Spinner’s Guild.   Visitors to the tent can try carding, spinning and weaving Navajo style.   For me, it’s a great reason to drive to Tucson, see old friends and meet some new ones.

Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas spins a fine yarn for her Two Grey Hills style weaving

Barbara smoothes the yarn and coaxes out any thick spots as she spins.

This year, Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas, her sister Lynda Teller Pete and their families were doing the weaving and spinning demonstrations.  Barbara’s using a wheelchair right now due to a nasty fall that left her with a broken ankle and 14 stitches in one of her knees.  That’s Barbara at left using a support spindle to do a final spin on some of the extremely fine yarn that is needed for the 100+ weft per inch Two Grey Hills tapestries that Barbara and her sister are famous for.   Here, she’s fully draws out the yarn and is getting ready to wind it on to the shaft of the spindle.   I suggested that we might try a spinning race, and she said “OK, but I’m going to win!”  She had a good point.  I’m not too bad at spinning for a bilagáana (white person), but you’ve got to know your limits.

At right, you can see Barbara working to smooth the yarn before she adds any additional twist that’s needed and winds it on to her spindle.   I should have taken another picture later in the day to show how much yarn she’d spun.  It was incredible how much she’d been able to do considering all the people who stopped by to chat and lean more about the process.

Barbara’s sister, Lynda Teller Pete, also attracted large groups of people to her loom (see picture below at right).  She is working on a very fine Two Grey Hills tapestry that has a weft count of over 100 per inch.

Lynda Teller Pete shows her weaving technique to some visitors to the weaving tent. That's Lynda's grand-neice weaving in the foreground.

Lynda Teller Pete manipulates the weft threads of her tapestry grade Two Grey Hills weaving.

Lynda uses a black back cloth to help her see the fine weft yarns and passes the threads through the warp with a sacking needle to avoid damage to the warp.   At left below, you can see a closer view of Lynda’s hands as she works on the tapestry.   Although it might look like Lynda’s nearly done with this weaving, she thought she would be working on it for several more weeks.

Also demonstrating was Barbara’s son, Michael Ornelas, who is a very active weaver in addition to being a full time student at the University of Arizona.    Michael is working on a tapestry grade red background piece that he hopes to have completed for the the Heard Museum show.  That’s an ambitious goal when combined with his academic load.  I didn’t get the dimensions of the weaving, but I think it’s about 18″ by 24″ and even an inch would take several hours to complete.  You can see the partially completed rug below at left.  At right, you can see one of Michael’s completed pieces, a Transitional Blanket design.

Michael Ornelas' tapestry in progress

A transitional style tapestry by Michael Ornelas.

The show was well attended and although the artists say the have certainly felt the effects of the economy, they are adjusting their offerings and working to maintain the quality of their work at a high level.

Mary Walker

Student Sue Dalton at a weaving workshop in Harvard, Massacusetts. Click on the picture for a large view.

A class with a competent instructor is one of the best ways to learn any weaving technique and Navajo techniques are no exception.  Even a brief workshop can save you hours of frustration and you’ll probably meet others in your area whose interest may help you progress with your weaving skills long after the workshop has ended.   In fact, the  most popular link on thisf site is Where to Learn Indigenous Weaving Techniques, a listing of all of the classes and workshops that I’m aware of.  I’ve just gone through the process of updating the information for 2009 with as much information as I can find at this point.    There will be more updates over the next couple of months, so be sure to check back occasionally to see what’s been added.   If you find a class that interests you, it’s a good idea to register as soon as you’re able to.  Some of the classes fill quickly or can be canceled if they don’t meet minimum requirements for participation.

There are some new offerings as well as some returning classes that have not been offered for the past couple of years.  Marilou Schultz will be returning to both the Split Rock Arts Program in Minnesota (June) and the Peters Valley Craft Center in New Jersey (July).   In California, Marilyn Greaves and Mel Silva will be offering Navajo weaving workshops in Bodega, Grass Valley and Auburn.   In northern New Mexico, Pearl Sunrise will be doing both beginner and intermediate/advanced classes for the Taos Art School.   Jennie Slick and I will be teaching a Navajo Weaving Boot Camp as a workshop at the Pagosa Springs Fiber Festival in Pagosa Springs, Colorado in May.

If you know of other classes that should be listed, please contact me or comment on this post and I’ll get the information added as quickly possible.  It’s even more important to leave a comment if you don’t see a class near you because there may be someone out there who would teach if they only knew!