Above: Trader Bruce Burnham discusses weaving with our May 2008 class. The rugs in the background are by Mae Clark.
I’ve just finished posting our Weaving in Beauty classes for 2009 and they are now open for registration: The classes we’ve scheduled are
Weaving Class and Tour (May 9-16)
Advanced Weaving Seminar (August 8-13)
Natural Dye Retreat (August 13-15)
Weaving Class and Tour (August 16-23)
Weaving Class and Tour (October 3-10)
All the classes are taught on the Navajo Nation by Navajo instructors Jennie Slick or Rose Dedman. The Weaving Class and Tour and Natural Dye Retreat are appropriate for any level of expertise and no prior weaving or dyeing experience is assumed or required. The Advanced Weaving Seminar is an opportunity for concentrated and uninterrupted study of weaving and students are required to know how to warp independently and should be comfortable with the basics of weaving.
The cost of the classes has (sigh) gone up for next year for reasons that all of us probably understand all too well. I have tried to hold the costs to a minimum while maintaining the quality of the experience and providing an appropriate level of compensation for the instructors.
You can read more about each of the classes and register at the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile, our online store. Please contact me or leave a comment if you have questions about the classes, which I’ve been coordinating for (I can’t believe this) 10 years.
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.
Have you ever had a design just come into your mind nearly fully formed? That’s what happened to me with this weaving. I completed it recently as a gift for my friend Grace Diane Calderone, who is holding it in the picture at left. With my rug repairs, teaching and the web sites that I maintain, I don’t do a lot of my own weaving compositions, but I’m very drawn to the Burnham style of weaving. It’s a style that comes from the Bisti Badlands near Kirtland, NM and involves the use of pictorial elements. It gives the weaver a lot of creative leeway because it doesn’t have a set color scheme or geometry.
Grace Diane and I called the design Our Lady of Blessed Weaving. It incorporates both Navajo and Christian elements and places the figure among the Navajo four sacred mountains and four Spiderwoman crosses. The yarn is Burnham’s Trading Post #2 that I dyed with indigo, cochineal, osage orange and wild carrot. It took about six months to weave and I had to diagram the figure because I couldn’t wrap my head around weaving her sideways.
Here’s a picture of the weaving close up. I hope that Grace Diane enjoys owning it as much as I enjoyed weaving it. I’m going to try four figures in my next piece!
Chuska Mountains, NM We’ve received a note from Jane Ginn telling us about a Youtube videothat she’s released showing an interview with weaver and shepherd Irene Bennalley. We’ve embedded the video above for your viewing pleasure! At the end of the video there are some details on a healing retreat that Irene will be hosting in August 3 -10 in the Chuska Mountains near Toadlena, New Mexico. The retreat includes classes on Navajo weaving technqiues, sheep tending, nature walks, sweatlodge ceremonies, talking circles and lessons in traditional Navajo open fire cooking. The cost for the retreat is $875 and you can sponsor a Navajo weaver to attend for $850. For more information and to register, please see the Toadlena Trading Post web site. Please contact Irene at 505-793-8038 if you have questions.
Mark Deschinny has just sent the details on two workshops that he will be holding toward the end of the this month at his home in Oak Springs, AZ. You can find the registration link at www.geocities.com/deschinny/WEAVING_AND_DYEING.html.
Diné Dyeing
July 21, 2008 9am - 5pm
Instructor: Mark H. Deschinny
Cost: $100/participant
Go on a Field Trip in the beautiful backwoods of Oak Springs or local areas to pick plants and minerals. Prepare plants and minerals; Learn the different applications of Dine colorants on different materials such as Navajo-Churro wool, other sheep wool, horse hair, buckskin, mohair, alpaca, sumac stems and paper; Keep samples of dyed fiber, materials and recipe; Receive a copy of Isabel Deschinny’s dye book, “NATIVE PLANT DYES, Series I: INTRODUCTION” (c) 1984.
- All supplies, dye booklets, tools, fibers, buckskin and mordants provided
Diné Sash Belt Weaving
July 22 - 25, 2008, 9am - 4pm
Instructor: Susie Kahn-Begay
Cost: $250.00 / participant
Learn all the intricacies of Diné sashbelt weaving under the guidance of Mrs. Begay. She will teach you how to re-spin yarn, how to string up your loom and make various designs. The loom, all the weaving tools including spindle, yarns and other supplies are provided and YOU KEEP!
If you have questions or need more information, contact Mark Deschinny at deschinny@yahoo.com or (928) 871-5587.
Phoenix, AZ The Heard Museum Shop has scheduled its first ever Gathering of Weavers Marketplace for November 1, 2008. The event will be held at the Heard Museum’s Steele Auditorium. Weavers may sell their work without any booth or participation fees, with 20% of the purchase price going to the museum to defray the cost of the event. Sales will be rung through the Museum Shop, and each weaver making a sale will receive a check after 3 PM on the day of the sale.
Weavers are encouraged to register for the marketplace in advance by calling Bruce McGee or Lynn Bullock at 800-252-8344.
The Gathering of Weavers will also feature demonstrations and discussions on Navajo textile collecting and promises to be a wonderful day for both weavers and collectors. We’ve already got the date marked on our calendar! See you there.
At left: Weaver Jennie Slick (right) and her mother Anna Ashley show a Third Phase Chief Blanket that Jennie completed last winter.
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, 
Mark Deschinny has just sent the details on two workshops that he will be holding toward the end of the this month at his home in Oak Springs, AZ. You can find the registration link at 
Diné Sash Belt Weaving
