Weaving in Beauty

Melissa Cody with her colorful contemporary Germantown design	Marilou Schultz spins under the watchful eye of her mother, Martha Schultz
From left, the tapestry weaving family of Michael Ornelas, Barbara Teller Ornelas and Sierra Ornelas
Click on any picture for a closer view

Phoenix, AZ The Phoenix Chamber of Commerce cranked up some of the best weather in memory for the 52nd Heard Museum Indian Market, which concluded yesterday.   It was warm, but not too warm, there were breezes but it was not windy and it was blessedly free of rain.  As you might expect, by afternoon the crowds were getting thick.  By arriving when the gates opened, I was able to get time to chat with many of the weavers there before other shoppers arrived.

The Market tends to put artists in similar locations each year, which helps to locate people without depending too much on the brochure.  Morris Muskett’s booth was my first stop and he had a selection of jewelry and small weavings that were very, very tempting.  Photographs of Morris work are shown exclusively on his web site, so be sure to visit him to see what he’s been working on.  Just don’t get too fond of that red spiny oyster pendant because I have my eye on it.

D.Y. Begay shared a booth with her twin sisters, Berdine Begay and Berdina Charley.  Each has a distinctive style that is eye catching and contemporary.  D.Y. uses her own vegetally dyed yarns for her work.  Her dye materials range from plants native to the Southwest to black beans from WalMart.  D.Y. has been traveling extensively in Central and South America and is trying to get the time to organize her pictures and other materials from her journeys.  You can see Berdine, Berdina, D.Y. and their work in the gallery below.

Marilou Schultz and her mother Martha were in the booth next to D.Y. and her sisters, so that was an easy stroll.  Marilou is not one to sit in a booth without doing something and she was busy spinning as her mom looked on (center picture above).  Marilou had a great assortment of handspun rugs and her variegated yarns.  You can also see more of Marilou’s work at her website and in the picture gallery below.

Last year, rain prevented me from getting a clear picture of Melissa Cody’s contemporary version of the Germantown Eyedazzler.  This year, she graciously posed with one of her smaller pieces as you’ll see at the upper left.  Melissa does a kind of blocking of the somewhat fluffy Germantown yarns that she uses by winding them into tight balls that she keeps under tension for up to a year before she uses them.   She had sold a larger piece that was more complex than the one that she is posing with.  Melissa is part of the growing group of younger weavers who pursue their weaving as fine artists while maintaining a full time career in other fields, in Melissa’s case in the allied field of museum curation.

Sierra Ornelas, Barbara Teller Ornelas‘ daughter is also part of this two career trend, living in Los Angeles and working as a writer for a television show.  Brother Michael, however,  is weaving full time and doing detailed framed small pieces.  Almost every weaver that I stopped to talk with had small “recession rugs” that reflect the effect of the economy and the determination of the weavers to adapt to it.  The Ornelas’ reported that they’d had a very good market and had very few pieces left on Sunday morning.

Leaving the Ornelas family, I stopped by Linda Taylor’s booth and she had some time to chat about her detailed tapestry work as well as her work as an illustrator.  Linda did the drawings for the book Wisdom Weaver by Jann Johnson.  The story details the process of weaving a Navajo rug and the love between a young girl and her grandmother.  The tale is told both in English and Navajo and is published by Salina Bookshelf, which specializes in books for the Navajo market.  You can see Linda with the book in the gallery below.

I went on to visit with Geneva Shabi, Brenda Spencer, TahNiibaa Naataanii, Phil Singer, Gilbert Begay, and Jason Harvey and I’ll write more about my visits with them on Wednesday.  I’ll leave you with the full gallery of the weavers and their work and we’ll have more of an in depth visit with each of them in  part two of this article.

[Show as slideshow]

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.