Weaving in Beauty

Pamela Desanto admires the selection of Burntwater and Tree of Life styles at Perry Null's

Tempe, AZ We’re all home now, so I’ll catch you up on some pictures that I took of our students during our latest class.  Although I do an entry on our general activities during the class, I wait until after the session is over to post pictures of the students.

Day one of the class is dedicated to getting the warps done.  The better the warp is, the more fun you’ll have with your weaving.  We do our warps in teams so that everyone gets to do two warps.  It helps us bond as a class and going through the process twice helps to fix it in the students’ minds.   It takes most of the morning to do, especially since I had to bring all of the looms and equipment out of storage that morning since I’d gotten to Window Rock just as the access to my storage unit was locked the before.   The group was great about helping out and we had everything set up in short order.

Pam Ober checks out the Gallup throws. These are special type of Navajo weaving for the tourist trade.

Our field trip for the day was a trip into Gallup to visit with some of the traders and to get a close look at some contemporary and vintage weaving.  We started at Richardson’ Trading on Historic Route 66.  The Richardson’s have been trading in the Southwest since the 1870’s and at this location in Gallup since 1913.  Their rugs are spread through five different rooms, and they have the distinction of being the largest rug room in the world.  It’s a great place to talk about different rug styles and talk we did.  I think it took us over an hour go through the rooms and even then, we were just scratching the surface.  We also visited Gallup favorites City Electric Shoes,  Navajo Spirit and Glenn’s Bakery before ending our shopping day at Perry Null’s Tobe Turpen Trading Post.

One of the items that Perry Null stocks in quantity is the Gallup Throw.  This specialty item was developed for the tourist trade at the time that the Fred Harvey Company began bringing massive numbers of tourists into the area on the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.   The throw is warped in the traditional way with a continuous warp, but usually cotton is used instead of wool for economic reasons.  Then, the weaving proceeds to just below the halfway point and the warp is flipped over and the weaving again proceeds toward the center from the other end.  As the weaving gets difficult, it is cut in the center and knotted rather than being finished in the traditional way.  The weaver now has two rugs to take to the train (or the trader).  Often the rug was thrown up to the train as the money for it was thrown down.  That’s a Gallup Throw!   They’re still done today, and are often woven with handspun vegetally dyed yarns because they’re the least expensive yarns if you look at things the way the weavers who produce the throws do.  From their point of view, if you’re sitting around and not doing anything, you might as well be spinning, collecting plants, getting some dye work done and weaving a throw so you’ll have something to trade when you go to town.   I’m not sure how economists would explain this, but it’s a shining example of the Navajo work ethic that I admire greatly.

Ann Hornby with a Wide Ruins rug woven by Anna Clyde

Although Perry’s is a great place to see the Gallup Throw, he also has some of the finest Navajo textiles in Gallup.  The Wide Ruins rug that Ann Hornby is holding above is not only beautiful, but it’s a blanket-like weave that reminds me of  the Late Classic and Transitional pieces of the 1870’s and before.  Anna Clyde, Myrtle Frances, Erma Francis and other members of their families in the Wide Ruins area are master of this very distinctive interpretation of the Wide Ruins pattern.   These weavings look wonderful as a bed covering.

After we left Perry Null’s, we had a great dinner at Earl’s Restaurant and drove back to Window Rock to dream of rug designs.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Why do we seem to ignore the resources that are close to home?  Well, I’m busy and I have a business to run plus um, ah aren’t most of the Native American galleries  in Scottsdale dealing mostly in jewelry?  I was shaken out of my ignorance last year while I was helping a friend try to track down some rugs that had been stolen.  Since I live in the Phoenix area, I  covered the galleries in Scottsdale (in the afternoons, in August, but that’s another story).  I hadn’t been in any of them for years, and I was shocked.  Every single gallery had some wonderful textiles, the gallery owner or manager was glad to talk about the textiles and they were very willing to have a small group of weaving enthusiasts drop by.   I organized a class through the Fiber Factory in Mesa, and we did our first gallery walk last Saturday.  It won’t be the last one I can tell you that.

Our first stop was at the Old Territorial Shop 7077 E. Main St. #1, Scottsdale, 480-945-5432, a wonderful store filled with both vintage and contemporary weaving.  The owners, Alston and Deborah Neal, trade with Mark Winter at Toadlena and they have what is arguably the best selection of fine Two Grey Hills weavings in the Phoenix area.  If you interested in Navajo weaving and haven’t ever seen a tapestry grade Two Grey Hills, you owe yourself a stop here.  We also looked at some wonderful vintage pieces, some dyed with indigo.  Old Territorial Shop also carries a nice selection of pottery, basketry and jewelry.  Alston and Deborah are knowledgeable in everything they carry and really enjoy visiting with their customers.

Alston and Deborah Neal of the Old Territorial Shop with a vintage Ye'i weaving.

Next, we took the short walk to the River Trading Post, 7033 E. Main St., 102 (480-444-0001).  Some people get excited about sports cars, some people get excited about big screen TV, but I get excited about rare rugs.  When I walked into the River, there were two rugs that immediately grabbed my attention.    First, there was an early Ye’i of about 1915 vintage.  It reminded me of another rug that I wrote about in an earlier post.     It’s the one on the left in the picture below.

Both these weavings are beautiful, but the Ye'i is a very early example of this design.

The River has two examples of this style in their current inventory.  I wonder if they’re by the same weaver or weavers who were related to one another.  That would be an interesting textile analysis.  Has anyone developed a framework of points of comparison that would help determine that?  I’ll have to look into that…..  The second weaving that I couldn’t take my eyes off at the River was a J.B. Moore catalog rug.   It’s a version of Plate XXIV of Moore’s 1911 catalog,  The Navajo.  Moore, along with C.N. Cotton and Juan Lorenzo Hubbell was largely responsible for the development of Navajo weaving as a floor covering.  The River has a wonderful display space that really shows the textiles off as you can see in the picture below.  That’s the J.B. Moore rug that you can see framed in the doorway.

A J.B. Moore catalog rug at the River Trading Post

From the River Trading Post, it’s another short walk down the street to Turkey Mountain Traders at 7008 East Main St in Scottsdale (480-423-8777).   Turkey Mountain concentrates on vintage textiles, and we were able to examine a fine and striking Teec Nos Pos Sunday Saddle Blanket dating back to the early 1900’s.  By this time, we were pretty parched and Turkey Mountain’s manager kindly offered us some mugs of cold water and the comfort of chairs for a little more rug discussion.  They also have a nice space devoted mainly to textiles and were very gracious about sharing their knowlege with us.  A picture of the Turkey Mountain textile display is below (photo courtesy of Turkey Mountain Traders).

Turkey Mountain Traders textile area (photo courtesy of Turkey Mountain Traders)

It was past four in the afternoon when we headed for last stop, John C. Hill Indian Antique Indian Art, 6962 E. 1st Ave, #104, 480-946-2910.  As the gallery name implies this is another business which deals in vintage rather than contemporary work.  The big attraction here was a spectacular wedge weave probably woven in the 1890’s.  The wedge weave technique, which purposely distorts the angle of the warp threads by weaving on the bias, fell out of favor when rugs were introduced.  Wedge woven pieces produce a scalloped edge that isn’t the best for a floor covering, and the weave can also produce surface ripples.   The technique is still used today, but very seldom in Navajo weaving.  Here’s a picture of the blanket, courtesy of John C. Hill.

A Transitional Wedge Weave at John C. Hill Antique Indian Art (photo courtesy of John C. Hill)

We’ll be doing another gallery walk in early 2009, possibly in connection with a weaving demonstration at one of the galleries.  Please come along if you’re in town and do stop by these galleries if you’re in Scottsdale!

Mary Walker

Cortez, CO I came straight to Cortez when Jennie Slick and I returned from our Boston workshop to attend the Southwest Traders Rendezvous. This event is sponsored by the Cortez Cultural Center and provides a venue for traders to discuss their stories and the past, present and future of the trading business.  As you might imagine, there were some great stories and I’ll post some of those in the next few days.  I need to get back to Phoenix, but I thought I’d post a couple of quick pictures while I’m having a second cup of coffee here in Cortez.

The picture below is a group photo of many of the traders and their families.  I’ll try to identify the people that I know and I’ll fill in the details on the others as I get them.  First row from left, Camy Begay, Kira Simpson, Grange Simpson, Georgia Kennedy Simpson, John W. Simpson, Minnie Malone, Bill Malone, Steve Getzweiller.  Second row from left: Clarenda Begay, Steve Simpson, John D. Kennedy, Claudia Blair, Mrs. Steve Hassler, unidentified, unidentified, Virginia Burnham.  Third row from left: Harold Burnham, Jim Blair, Vonda Blair Garland, Elijah Blair, Larry Tanner, Hank Blair, Larry Tanner, unknown, Bruce Burnham, Jeff Burnham.  Fouth row from left: unidentified, Joe Tanner, undentified, Steve Hassler, Mark Winter, Jackson Clarke II.

Yesterday, the Rendezvous concluded with a rug auction and I purchased a piece by 17 year old weaver Cheyenne Flatrock.  Cheyenne has combined some traditional elements in a fresh and contemporary way that I really like.  Here she is with the rug.

Cheyenne Flatrock with her contemporary weaving. That's an 1880's blanket in the background.

Everyone says that you shouldn’t send people straight to other websites, but I think that you’ll really enjoy listening to Bruce Burnham tell you a short (1 minute and 13 seconds) story about the development of the Storm Pattern rug.  I do the Burnham’s web site and this discussion got started when Bruce said the rug below was a Storm Pattern variant.   Listen to Bruce tell the story.

Bruce Burnham contends that this is an early Storm Pattern vairant, and he's got an interesting story that ties into that opinion.

Teresa J. Wilkins of the University of New Mexico, Gallup has taken up the highly charged subject of the relationship between weavers and traders in her new book, Patterns of Exchange: Navajo Weavers and Traders. I’m just getting started reading it, but I like Dr. Wilkins approach, which analyzes the complex ways in which both weavers and traders gained from the process.

Many people believe that the trader holds all the power in a system designed to exploit and manipulate the weaver.  As Wilkins points out early in her work, this view assumes that weavers lack the will and initiative to attempt to overcome any inequities.   A trader can be so integral to a community that if he leaves a trading post, it’s front page news.  As one of my friends wisely observed, “it can be hard for outside people to understand how a trader balances his books”.

I’ll write a more thorough review when I complete the book.  It’s available from Amazon if you want to purchase a copy.