Weaving in Beauty

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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

Jennie Slick demonstrates Navajo weaving at Convergence 2010 in Albuquerque

Window Rock, Navajo Nation It’s been a whirlwind two weeks for Jennie Slick and me and a time that we will always remember.  Last week, we were at the Handweaver’s Guild of America’s Convergence 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico where we taught several classes, visited with old friends and met many, many new ones.  We were absolutely awed by the interest in Navajo textiles shown by the participants in our workshop and classes and by the people who stopped by our booth to watch as Jennie created a small weaving on a C-Cactusflower loom.   We saw several people who have attended our Weaving in Beauty classes here in Window Rock and one of them, Arlene Anderson even brought her finished class rug to show us.  You can see Arlene below with Jennie.  Other alumni stopping by were Marsha Herr and Jean Walbridge.

Arlene Anderson and Jennie Slick with Arlene's completed Weaving in Beauty class rug

Our Convergence experience included coordinating and teaming with Morris Muskett and Rose Dedman to teach a Navajo weaving class attended by a mind boggling 51 people.  The class was divided into three groups led by Morris, Rose and Jennie.  Volunteers Pat Thalhauser, Sarah Zapata and I circulated among all the groups  to provide extra support for the students.   Students used small looms made from heavy duty canvas stretcher bars and most took their looms with them.   As instructors, we were challenged and thrilled by the response of the students, who warped their looms, started the weaving process and headed home with their work in progress and new insights into the world of Navajo weaving.

Convergence also featured an exciting Navajo rug auction with auctioneer Hank Blair of R.B. Burnham and Co. Native Auctions.   There were 201 lots and about 75% of the items sold with competitive bidding.  Weavers Nathan Harry and Gilbert Begay stopped by to watch their work being sold.  Gilbert, an expert spinner, created yarn for a new weaving as one of his handspun bags found a home during the sale.   Because the Burnham’s were doing another auction the same day, they were short a bid spotter in their auction team so they got a short bid spotter: me.  It’s so much fun it shouldn’t even be legal.

The Convergence vendor hall was a wonderland of goodies for people like us, but we didn’t have very much time to take in the offerings.  Jennie and I realized on our way back to Gallup that we’d forgotten to check out the comfort footwear booth and I never got a chance to get back to see weaving tool makers Al Snipes and Jim Hockett.  So many people were going to C-Cactusflower loom maker Caroline Spurgeon’s booth after seeing Jennie weave that she stopped by with a nice gift for Jennie.  Thanks, Caroline!  Diné bé Iiná (Sheep is Life) had a beautiful booth featuring TahNiBaa Naataanii, Beverly Allen, Sarah Natani and other weavers and Marilou Schultz’s booth featured her incredible hand-dyed trading post yarns.

If you’re thinking that we had a good time in spite of doing a lot of work, you’re very perceptive.  Would we do it again?  Well, we might ask for one more day with those 51 students.  We might have changed a few details of a couple of things, but we’re already talking about a couple of fiber festivals that we might do next year.   After we catch up on our sleep and laundry.

We’re in the middle of two weeks of classes here in Window Rock, with one class leaving tomorrow and a our Camp Weave-A-Lot Advanced Seminar starting Monday.  I’ll catch you up on last week’s class starting on Monday.  I’ll leave with with a picture of Gilbert Begay, Hank Blair and Nathan Harry taken after the auction last Saturday night.    Thank you HGA for the opportunity to participate in this year’s Convergence!

From let, Gilbert Begay, Hank Blair and Nathan Harry after the Convergence 2010 Navajo Rug Auction

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

First ever Spider Rock bag by Emily Malone

Cochineal dyed Ganodo red bag by Gilbert Begay

Tempe, AZ There are two new bags in the Mercantile as of this afternoon.  I purchased these at the Pueblo Grande auction last month, but haven’t had a chance to add them to the store until today.  One bag is by Emily Malone and it’s the first ever bag done in the Spider Rock design.  It’s priced at $250 because I had to do some big time bidding to get it.  Emily was thrilled when she heard how much attention it got at the auction.  I’m sure that she’ll be doing more of these, but having the first of it’s kind has a kind of cachet doesn’t it?

The second bag is by Gilbert Begay and is woven with hand-dyed (my hands) cochineal red yarn.  The yarn has a really nice aubrash (color variation) effect and of course, it’s beautifully woven.  Gilbert is a master weaver and has developed special techniques for the fringe he uses so that you can add beads and charms to the bag as well as pins.   This bag is priced at $150.

Please contact me if you’ve got questions on either of these pieces.  I do have other weavings for sale and I’m working on getting them added to the store as quickly as I can.  If there’s something that you’re particularly looking for, please let me know.   I might have it!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

The 2009 Gathering of Weavers attracted a large group of weaving enthusiasts. The 86 degree ideal weather didn't hurt either.

Phoenix, AZ The Heard Museum held their second annual Gathering of Weavers yesterday.  It’s a one day event dedicated to weaving and weavers held on the first Saturday in November.   The event is held outdoors in the museum’s courtyard and allows buyers to purchase rugs directly from the weaver.  The museum handles the sales through their shop, allowing the weavers to take credit cards, something that most of them do not do.   I can’t remember exactly what percentage the weaver receives, but I believe it is 80% or more and there was no charge for table space, a big help for the weavers.   Weavers at the event included well known names like Brenda Spencer, Lola Cody, D.Y. Begay and Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas, but newer and weavers who have not had as much public exposure like Monica Glasses, Nathan Harry and Loretta Tahe were also there.   I’ve culled a few pictures from my embarrassingly large assortment so that you can get an idea of the artists and their work.

Loretta Tahe shows her feather rug design.

Loretta Tahe of Hardrock, AZ weaves this distinctive pattern that she calls a Feather Rug.  Each feather has a different design.  Loretta usually sells her work at the Crownpoint Rug Auction and generally weaves one rug each month.   A detail of the expertly woven center feather area is below.

Here's a detail of ther center five feathers in Loretta's rug.

Gilbert Begay wears his handwoven vest.

Gilbert Begay of Crownpoint, NM is a familiar person to many of you who have visited the site before.  Gilbert is a prolific and creative weaver who often stops by when Jennie Slick and I are doing classes in Window Rock.  Although he works full time for Safeway in Farmington, NM, Gilbert spends a lot of his spare time weaving small format rugs and specialty bags like the one seen below.  The wool used in the bag is some that Gilbert and I dyed during our annual Cochineal Cookoff  in Window Rock this August.  Gilbert had used the yarn for the bag below and a small mat.  I purchased one of Gilbert’s bags at a recent auction and will be putting it in the Mercantile later today or in the morning.

One of Gilbert Begay's small bags. The wool in this weaving is dyed with cochineal.

Brenda Spencer shows her latest Wide Ruins design

Brenda Spencer of Dallas, TX and her sister Geneva Shabi of Sanders, AZ were just across the aisle from Gilbert.  Brenda has incorporated a unique wave pattern that is occasionally seen in very old textiles and that we’ve been working on duplicating for the last four years or so.   Brenda has incorporated this element masterfully into the Wide Ruins design that you see above and in a detail below.  The technique is an optical illusion of a curvilinear pattern created by careful manipulation of diagonal lines and weft counts.

Here's a detal of the wave design in Brenda Spencer's Wide Ruins rug.

Geneva Shabi with one of her prize-winning Wide Ruins rugs.

Geneva Shabi, Brenda’s sister also had rugs displaying her dazzling mastery of the Wide Ruins design idiom.  Geneva works for as a relief postmaster when she’s not weaving.  Although you can see that Brenda and Geneva share some influences in their work, Geneva’s take on the Wide Ruins design is very much her own.  You can see a detail from the striped section of her smaller weaving in the picture below.   Look at the immaculately clean lines, the virtuosity of the color choices and the arrangement of the lines to form an absolute symphony of elegance and beauty.  And these are the stripes.

A detail of a striped area in a Geneva Shabi Wide Ruins rug.

Let’s stop here for today, and wander further down the courtyard tomorrow.  I think I can see D.Y.  Begay, Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas and Lola Cody down there.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Click on any picture for a closer view

From left, Nicole Horseherder, Edith Simonson, Kathy M'Closky, Lorraine Herder and Bonnie Benally-Yazzie at the Weaver's Day symposium.

Tempe, AZ As I planned to, I attended last Friday’s Dinéjík’éhgo ‘Atło (Weaver’s Day) at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rcok.  I thought that I’d probably write an article on the event over the weekend, but it took me a couple of extra days to distill the event, organize my thoughts and sort through the issues raised,  particularly at the symposium and in Bennie Klain’s documentary, Weaving Worlds (which is well worth your time to watch, by the way).

Jennie Slick (left) and her mother Anna Ashley visit with Isabel Deschinny (right)

The agenda focused on the economic difficulties that weavers face in marketing their work.   Today, by my count, there are fewer than 10 places that are actually on the Navajo Nation where a weaver can sell textiles.  The trading post system has been replaced by convenience markets that do not deal in craft items of any kind.  Weavers must look to traders in the “border towns” of Gallup, Farmington, Flagstaff, Cortez and Durango, try their luck with rug auctions like Crownpoint and Friends of Hubbell or travel to Phoenix, Albuquerque or even Denver.  Internet alternatives like Ebay or an individual web site can present daunting technical and linguistic challenges.  A very fortunate few weavers have developed channels to sell their work directly.

The concentration of weaving in towns like Gallup works to depress prices by aggregating the supply, and as trader Perry Null observes in Weaving Worlds “I just can’t buy every rug that comes in”.   Many would argue that traders don’t pay enough for what they do buy.   Further frustrating several of the weavers in the documentary and symposium is the under-appreciation of  handspun and handcarded work and grossly unfair competition from “knock off” copies of Navajo designs woven in other countries.

Gilbert Begay puts the finishing touches a strap for one of his elegant bags.

Since the event lasted only one day, there was scant time to totally define problems, let alone talk about solutions.  Several weavers in the audience discussed the possibility of forming an organization on the order of a weaving guild that could pursue the interests of the weavers and help bring the Navajo weaving community more into the mainstream of other professional handweavers.  Kathy M’Closkey, author of Swept Under the Rug,  noted differences in Canadian versus U.S. copyright laws that would help to protect indigenous designs from appropriation if adopted in this country.  TahNiiBaa Naataanii eloquently made the case for a return to the use of Navajo textiles by Navajo people, noting the cultural pride and appreciation that she receives when she wears the shoulder blanket that she wove on a cold morning at the Shiprock Fair.  I can only hope that TahNiiBaa’s words were heard and appreciated by the groups of young people who were in the audience.

From my point of view, Weaver’s Day represented a real step forward in establishing a format for naalyéhé (work that results in progress).  Char Kruger of the Navajo Nation Museum is looking into the possibility of doing the event annually, noting the need ” to educate our children, our people and visitors in how beautiful our Dine culture is….and how much people are hungry for culture”.   I support Char in this goal and in the goal of bringing the whole weaving community, weavers, collectors, educators, traders and students together to identify problems, work on solutions and to celebrate the richness of Navajo weaving.

From left, Colleen Biakeddy, D.Y. Begay, TahNiiBaa Naataanii and Berdina Charley at Weaver's Day

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker