Weaving in Beauty

Gilbert Begay

Albuquerque, NM   One of Gilbert Begay’s handwoven bags, probably similar in design to the one above  has taken top honors at the New Mexico State Fair.  An ecstatic Gilbert posted on Facebook tonight  “I won First Place on my Handwoven bag and Second Place on my Navajo Sash Belt….. Bah Hozho Shi Dine’e!!!! For those who own my handwoven bags…. remember… they are Award Winning!! Cherish them… Weave in Beauty… I am very Happy… Enjoy your Evening….”   

Gilbert will also be entering some of his weaving at the upcoming Friends of Hubbell Native American Arts Auction.  His prizewinning bag is for sale through the New Mexico State Fair at $160, but watch out for the deep fried treats if you try to wear it home!   Gilbert has developed a great niche market for his small bags and it is really gratifying to see them getting this kind of recognition. 

Gilbert is from Crownpoint, New Mexico and learned to weave from his grandmother.  He works for Safeway in Farmington, NM and weaves prodigiously when he is not on his day job . 

I hope to see Gilbert at the Crownpoint Rug Auction tomorrow evening and for sure at next week’s Hubbell event.  Congratulations, Gilbert!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

GPS:  I’m headed for Crownpoint tomorrow and to Moab, Utah on Saturday for the Canyonlands Natural History Navajo Rug Auction.  Road trip! 

Happy birthday to weaver Gilbert Begay!  Gilbert works for Safeway in Farmington, NM and is also a prolific weaver.  Above you can see him with one of the small bags that he weaves.  In fact, he’s probably weaving one right now.   Have a great day, Gilbert!

Gilbert Begay Two Grey Hills Bag $185 Click here to see more pictures Click here to purchase	Emily Malone Spider Rock Bag $250 Click here to see more pictures Click here to purchase	Lula Brown Tree of Life Cross Miniature $140 Click here to see more pictures Click here to purchase
Click on any picture for a closer view Click here to see all of these items in the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile

Tempe, AZ I know it isn’t Cyber Monday, but now that I have a break in weaving classes, I have some time to add things into the Mercantile that you may find perfect for an upcoming gift giving opportunity, a reward for yourself or just fun to look at.  I’ve been doing quite a bit of buying lately because I did quite a bit selling over the summer and this fall!  On behalf of the artists that you’re supporting and myself, I want to thank everyone who is choosing to buy contemporary Native American crafts and all things that are hand made.

Today, you’ll find that I’ve added bags by Emily Malone and Gilbert Begay to the store.  There also several of Lula Brown’s most intricate and hard to find miniature weavings including one of her 60 bird miniatures, a Three Phase Chief Blanket set and a cross shaped Tree of Life miniature (the first I had seen).  I’ll be adding more items over the next few days and I plan to attend the Crownpoint Auction next week.

I’m also starting to add some jewelry and other items that are made by some of the talented Native American artists that I meet in my travels.  Today I added a unique set of fetish carvings of the Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo by Christopher McCabe.  The four small stone mountains in the set represent Sis Naajini (La Plata Mountain, near Alamosa, CO), Tsodziił (Mount Taylor, near Grants, NM), Dook’o'oosłííd (the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, AZ), and Dibé Nitsaa (Mount Hesperus, near Durango, CO).  Christopher has adapted the Pueblo practice of fetish carving to the Navajo culture and is a hard working and creative artist whose work I think you’ll enjoy seeing and possibly owning.  Take a look at the picture below and I think you’ll see what I  mean.  The weaving in the picture isn’t included in the set (but we can talk about it if you want it).  You can click here to see more pictures or click here to buy one of the three sets that I have.

The Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo represent the points of the Navajo compass. The East is represented by white clam shell, the South by blue turquoise, the West by yellow abalone and the North by black jet.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Laramie Blake graces the cover of the 2011 Weaving in Beauty Calendar

Tempe, AZ The 2011 version of the Weaving in Beauty calendar has just been added to the Publications page in the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile.  The calendar features Navajo weavers, weaving students, traders and trading posts and as many examples of the Navajo weaving art as possible.  This year’s cover features 18 year old weaver Laramie Blake, a member of the famous Spider Rock Girls family of weavers.   Also featured is work by Rena Robertson, Gilbert Begay, Nathan Harry, Verna Smith, Emily Malone, R.G. Sherman, Jennie Slick and Larissa Blake.   In addition to the standard holidays, the calendar shows the official holidays of the Navajo Nation and the dates of major auctions and other important events in the cycle of the weaver’s year.

The calendar photographs are selected from the 8000+ pictures that I take each year and the editing job always reminds me that I am one of the luckiest people on the face of the earth to be doing what I do for a living.  The calendar is priced at $15 per copy and you can click here to purchase a copy or click here to go to the Publications page in the Mercantile.

A preview of each of the months in the 2011 Calendar (please click for a closer view)

	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

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