Weaving in Beauty

Berdina Charley with two of her weavings (left). Berdina's sister D.Y. Begay's weavings are at right

D.Y. Begay’s sisters, Berdina and Berdine are getting serious about their weaving and brought some of their work to this year’s Indian Market.  Berdina’s work, seen above in the two pieces in the left of the picture has strong graphic impact and a contemporary focus.  Every time I look at the pictures, I find that I like Berdina’s designs more.  Her weaving skill is phenomenal too, but she’s got good genes.   Berdine was away from the booth when I was here, but I think you can see one her weavings at the lower right in the picture above.   I’ll have to catch up with her at another show.

D.Y.’s Shadows of Cota is to the right of Berdina.  It’s dyed in many shades of Navajo tea, which is also called cota or greenthread.  The color produced depends on the mordants used, the length of time in the dyepot, and maybe a little bit on how much tea you pour into a pitcher for later before you start using it for dye.   There’s a somewhat closer view below and a close-up of the weaving detail that shows D.Y.’s unique weaving style and the fine gradations of color that she uses.  What may look like pixelation in your monitor is actually rows of color carefully chosen to achieve the visual effect that D.Y. is looking for.

D.Y. Begay with Shadows of Cota

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Shadows of Cota detail

My coffee cup is empty and there are rugs to be washed and fixed.  Let’s visit with more weavers tomorrow!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

TahNiiBaa Naataanii's Dragonfly Cross study is an elegant blend of contemporary and traditional design.

Every year, TahNiiBaa Naataanii seems to grow more proficient and creative as an artist and craftsperson.  Each piece that she had displayed this year reflected a unique composition united by TahNiiBaa’s skill in the realization of her vision.   She has been working with shaped weavings for several years and wore one of her creations as a shoulder wrap.  The other shawl shaped piece was dedicated to Spiderwoman, once again incorporating traditional and contemporary elements.  The fringe was added after the piece was woven.   You can see the piece below at the left.

TahNiiBaa Naataanii's homage to Spiderwoman

Displayed in this perspective, TahNiiBaa's Chief Blanket study appears to be nearly three dimensional.

At the right is a Chief Blanket study that TahNiiBaa chose to display at a perspective about 90 degrees from the expected.  The color palette is also a departure from tradition and the woven crosses seem to float in space.

TahNiiBaa’s breadth and mastery are even more impressive considering her busy life as a mom and her work assisting her mother Sarah Natani with weaving classes and demonstrations.    TahNiiBaa expects to be at this year’s Sheep is Life Celebration and I’ll try to talk with her further about her work and her progress as an artist.

Just before I left, I got a picture of TahNiiBaa in front of her Chief Blanket.   You can also see her great fashion statement with that off-shoulder wrap.  Jo nizhóní (how beautifully done)!

TahNiiBaa Naataanii

52nd Annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, 2301 N. Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004-1323. (602) 252-8848. Premier event for all Native American art forms, includes many textile artists. This event gets very crowded, especially in the afternoon, so go early if crowds bother you. Say hello to your webmaster Mary Walker if you see her. She’ll be the bilagaana with the camera. General admission is $15. The quality of the weavings is very high and this is a great opportunity to meet some of the top weavers and purchase items directly from the artists.

I’m trying out a new picture processing plug-in called PicLens. Once I have things working correctly, you’ll be able to see a full screen slide show of any post with pictures. Since I have some great ones from the Heard Museum Indian Market, I thought that this would be a good time to try it. You’ll need to install a free plug-in for your browser to fully use PicLens. Please let me know if you like this functionality or whether it’s just not worth the trouble.

I usually have to teach on Saturday, so I didn’t get to the show until Sunday morning. There was a line to get in, but it went quickly. I visited with Marilou and Martha Schultz first. Marilou reports that she’s not teaching as many classes this year so that she can finish some projects. She is doing quite a few of what she calls her computer rugs, which have patterning that resembles a circuit board, a very very complex circuit board. Here’s a picture of Marilou with her mother at left. They were both spinning and I wanted to sit down and join in, but if I had, I wouldn’t have gotten to see as many people as I did.

I visited with Roy Kady next and both his mother and niece Tyra were also in the booth. Roy had woven a full set of tack for a horse including a felted saddle pad, saddle cinch, bridle and saddle blanket. We both agreed that any horse blessed with this ensemble would look really good. I will add a better picture in the morning, but you can click on this one, or use the PicLens arrow to launch a full screen image or see a slide show. If you do, you’ll see Tyra, Martha and Marilou and Sallie Parker. I’ll be writing more tomorrow! In the meantime please try the PicLens slide show if you have a chance.