Weaving in Beauty

The Spider Rock Girls: from left, Larissa Blake, Alyssa Malone, Emily Malone and Laramie Blake. Missing is LaVera Blake who had to return to school in Utah.

Phoenix, AZ   The 52nd Annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Market concluded about 90 minutes ago.  The Market enjoyed the kind of weather that caused Major League Baseball to locate some of their spring training here and people were really taking advantage of the fabulous sunshine and 80+ degree temperatures.   La Niña winters are dry and warm and this particular year has been a classic.  We’re all rooting for the rains to show up, but it’s not a bad place to be while you’re waiting.   I have been working with the pictures that I took and trying to figure out how to frame the articles.   I don’t have any favorite weavings from the show; I have a pile of them.  I think that the best way to do this is just to see the pictures in the order that I saw and visited with the weavers until we’re done.  At the end of the week, I’ll put up a link to the entire gallery of pictures and you can go through the whole show as many times as you want to.  

I saw the Spider Rock Girls first because I had some things that they needed for their booth.  The “girls” are members of the extended Yazzie/Blake/Malone/Whitney family whose ancestral home is near Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly.  Emily Malone and her daughter Larissa are the instructors at the Spider Rock Girls Boarding School weaving class and one of Emily’s other daughters, Laramie is kind of my foster daughter while she attends college here in Phoenix.  Emily’s oldest daughter, LaVera, was at the show yesterday but had to leave to go back to college in Utah, where she’s finishing up a nursing degree.  Getting that many family members to a show and making it work financially is no small feat and Emily and family had woven several small pieces to help round out their inventory.  You’ll see that strategy used by several weavers as we go through the Market.   Like many weavers who are successful at this level, the family also has a pattern that is identified with them and gives their work a recognizable style.   The Spider Rock rug is their trademark pattern, but they also had both large and small Burntwater design rugs.  A Burntwater is a bordered single or double diamond pattern that is woven using wool that has been vegetally dyed.  

Emily said that they had sold several pieces and rumor has it that even nine year old Alyssa had sold a small rug to an appreciative Market attendee.  OK, the buyer was one of my friends and I saw it on Facebook.   I believe that this is third rug that Alyssa has woven.   

Spider Rock patterned rugs woven by Emily Malone

Detail of Burntwater pattern weaving next to Spider Rock rugs

I’m having breakfast with the girls tomorrow before Emily, Larissa and Alyssa head back home, so I’ll have information on any rugs that they have left over.  They will also be participating in the Smoki Museum Auction in Prescott, Arizona on March 17th.  The girls don’t sit around!  

Tomorrow, we’ll visit with Lola Cody, who will show you some weaving technique on the small loom that she had set up.  We might get a chance to say hello to Michael Ornelas too who has some interesting design inspirations to share.  

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

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.