Weaving in Beauty

Tour vehicles head into Canyon de Chelly.

Window Rock, AZ A very deep and welcome snow pack in the Chuska Mountains has led to historically high water in Canyon de Chelly, about 67 miles from Window Rock.  The canyon was even closed to tours during late April, but the waters have receded enough in the last week or so to allow people to venture back in.   There is  still a lot of water and Thunderbird Lodge was using their large amphibious vehicles for most tours.  There were also plenty of tour guides using standard SUV’s in the canyon, but the open top of the Thunderbird Lodge trucks makes for some great sightseeing.  We returned to Window Rock through Tsaile and spied the guard llama below near the Snake Rocks north of Navajo, New Mexico.  In Navajo, the llama is called tł’izi bida’i (the goat’s uncle).

A guard llama (tł’ixi bida’i) at the Snake Rocks near Navajo, NM.

Depending on the weather, we’ll either be heading for Gallup or doing some work with natural dyes tomorrow.

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

Alyssa Malone tries to locate her grandmother's hogan on the floor of the canyon.

Window Rock, AZ We had a wonderful day at Canyon de Chelly.  We took the half day tour and then met Spider Rock Girls Emily Malone, Alyssa Malone and Laramie Blake at the Thunderbird Lodge for lunch.  Emily brought along some of the rugs she and the other girls had just finished abd several are going home with our students.  Emily still has the Ye’i rug in the picture below and it’s priced at $700.  Contact Emily for more information.  No, she wasn’t standing as close the edge of the canyon as it looks in the picture.

Emily Malone with her just completed Transitional Ye'i design rug.

We’re off to do natural dyes with Rose Dedman in the morning.  I can’t believe that tomorrow is Thursday!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Niccole Cerveny studies some of the rock art at the Canyon.

Window Rock, AZ Our weaving classes in Window Rock are fairly intense, so many students like to take a break in the middle of the week and spend the day at Canyon de Chelly, about 60 miles away.    We take the half day tour offered through Thunderbird Lodge.   It’s one of the larger tour companies operating in the canyon and are able to handle the size of our groups.  They do a great job, but if you’re in the area with your family or a smaller group of people, there a many tour guides that you can hire at the visitor center or through your hotel.   You’ll find guides offering tours on horseback, SUV and on foot.  Except for a self-guided trail to the White House Ruin, non-Navajos are not permitted into the Canyon unless they are accompanied by a Navajo guide.

David Benally of Thunderbid Lodge talks about the canyon, his playground as a boy.

The sandstone cliffs consist of windblown dunes that are about 235 million years old and are similar to the Coconino Sandstone found west of here at the Grand Canyon.   Inhabited for at least 2000 years, the canyon has been home to the Anasazi people, the Hopi and the Navajo.  The conquistadors searched for El Dorado here, and U.S. troops commanded by Kit Carson employed scorched earth methods to force the Navajo people from the canyon prior to the Long Walk.   A visit to the canyon is a blend of geology, history, ecology and shopping.  Some of the best artists in the Chinle area sell their work in the canyon and the canyon is home to 100+ families for at least part of the year.

The Anasazi built many dwellings, kivas and other buildings and you can see the remains of these throughout the Canyon.   Some of them are 100 or more feet off the floor of the canyon and nearly all of them are perfectly situated to provide passive solar heating, hugging the south facing canyon walls.  In places, you can still see the foot and hand holds that were used to access these buildings and you can marvel at the agility and strength that these ancient people must have had.

An Anasazi rock art painting at Canyon de Chelly

One of the most interesting aspects of the tour is the variety of rock art.  Every group that has lived in the canyon has left behind some expression of their sojourn on the rock walls.  Some of the art is painted on, some is incised into the rock, some is drawn on, and some images appear to have been formed by spraying colored liquid clay through some kind of pipe.    Calendaring devices are chiseled into the rock by the Anasazi, and the incursion of the Spaniards was recorded by the Navajos.    In some places, like Antelope House, the paintings of the Anasazi appear among paintings done by Navajo people 700 years later.

Because there is water in the canyon or near the surface for much of the year, it’s a place where families maintain summer gardens of corn, squash and other vegetables and you’ll see small orchards of peach, cherry, apple and other fruit trees that are tended by families who have land allotments within the canyon.  People who live there do without electricity, phone service or paved roads.  Recently, some residents have expressed the hope that some conveniences, particularly electricity, might become available in the future and there’s sentiment in favor of returning the canyon to tribal control.    For both the people who live there and the people who visit, there is a sense of how special and unique this place is and of the obligation to protect it for the future.

Irving and Lorna Stone admire the beauty of Canyon de Chelly

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Yesterday, our group did a field trip to Canyon de Chelly for the morning tour.  It was cold enough that the tour guide offered us blankets and they were welcome during the first part of the trip out to Antelope House.  We took many pictures of the Anasazi ruins in the canyon, and we marveled at the hardy people who lived here 1000 or more years ago.  Modern day Navajos still use the canyon as a summer home, grazing their livestock and raising peaches, apples, apricots, corn and alfalfa without electricity, paved roads or running water.   The picture below shows two horses who were grazing in the canyon.

Horses graze in Canyon de Chelly.

After our tour, we met Emily Malone, Lavera Blake and Rose Yazzie of the Spider Rock Girls for lunch at the Thunderbird Lodge. Here’s a picture of our students with the girls.

From left, Lisa Ward, Emily Malone, Rose Yazzie, Lavera Blake, Debi Ward, Cindy Henry and Diana Frawley in front of one of Lavera Blake's Burntwater rugs at the Thunderbird Lodge.

Finally, we just received word from our first October session student Jan Souders completed the rug that she started in Window Rock.  Jan used the session to learn outlining of interlock joins.  It looks great, Jan!

Jan Souders with her completed rug, which features outlined interlock joins.

Today, six members of our class went to Canyon de Chelly for a half-day tour. The weather was perfect and we had a great time guided by David Benally, who has been taking people through the canyon for 29 years. You can see David pointing out some of the features of the canyon below.

Thunderbird Lodge guide David Benally in Canyon de Chelly.

The canyon is a wonderland of rock formations, rock art and Anasazi ruins that is also the summer home of many Navajo people.  Some of the rock art depicts the canyon’s history through the eyes of the early Navajo inhabitants.  You can see a close-up of the Spanish mural below.  This mural depicts the arrival of Spanish soldiers who would massacre many of the Navajos living in the Canyon in the early 1800′s.

The Spanish Mural in Canyon de Chelly was painted by Navajo inhabitants and is thought to depict the arrival of Spanish soldiers who would massacre many Navajos.

We drove back to WIndow Rock via the north rim of the canyon and arrived back in Window Rock at about 4 PM.  Diane Craig and Mary Falzone, who had stayed in Window Rock with Jennie Slick have been working hard and we found them well into the last third of the their weaving.  Below, you’ll see Mary’s piece in the late afternoon.

Mary Falzone's weaving was moving into it's last third this evening.

Diane Craig is working on her last half inch of weaving and will probably complete her rug tomorrow, which is a record for our classes.  She was inspired by a Nellie Glasses handspun rug and is planning to use the completed project as a pillow cover.

Diane Craig works on the last two inches of her weaving.

Jennie Slick is also finishing a small weaving on her portable loom and you can see her below with Cheryl Griffin.

Jennie Slick (left) is also finishing a piece on her C-Cactusflower loom. Cheryl Griffin works on her loom at right.

You’ll see pictures of the completed weavings tomorrow!