The Weaving News
Our Natural Dye Retreat participants left Window Rock today and we put together a look at the samples that we dyed yesterday. The retreat is a time to reflect on knowledge that is slipping away today and to appreciate the bounty of the Navajo homeland. Today was also the beginning of the first August session…
Today, we collected the plants that we’ll use in a few hours to dye wool. We met with Rose Dedman and then went to the Defiance Plateau to collect sage, rabbitbrush, cliffrose and ground lichen. Then we headed out to Navajo, NM to collect Navajo tea, which can be used as an herbal tea as…
Today, we concluded our advanced weaving seminar, which has been newly dubbed Camp Weave-A-Lot, and we started our Natural Dye Retreat. We met at Burnham’s Trading Post in Sanders, AZ and got a look at some of the vegetally dyed colors that Marie Begay is able to achieve. We were also treated to a weaving…
WIndow Rock, AZ Master weaver Gilbert Begay stopped by to say hello today and we spent some time talking about the yarns used in weaving in this area. At least 95% of the rugs woven today are made with commercially spun yarns. About 80% of those are done with Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb…
One of the participants in our seminar completed her first rug today. Barbara Spelman is an accomplished fiber artist and a partner in Crone Craft Studios in Tucson, Arizona, which makes her a busy person. Once a year, Barbara comes to Window Rock to study Navajo techniques and has applied many of them to her…
Late this evening as we were finishing a discussion of the Teec Nos Pos rug style, our class was honored with a visit by 98 year old weaver Helen Yazzie and her granddaughter Lynelle Begay who happened to be having dinner at the Diné Restaurant next to the meeting room we are using for class. …
This was day two of our weaving seminar in Window Rock and we were pleased to have a visit with Morris Muskett who is an accomplished weaver and silversmith as well as a civil engineer with the New Mexico Department of Transportation. (Full disclosure: I also do Morris’s web site). Morris’s work encompasses an incredible…
Today was the first day of the advanced weaving seminar that I’m coordinating for my best friend, master weaver Jennie Slick. We’re using a meeting room at the Quality Inn in Window Rock and everyone is off to a great start with the their projects. The idea behind the class is provide participants with concentrated…
I’ve just learned from a reliable source (the owner of the rug) that Jennie Slick’s Third Phase Chief Blanket weaving has won a second prize ribbon at the 87th Inter-tribal Ceremonial currently underway in Gallup, NM. I’ll be attending the Ceremonial this weekend, so I hope to have more reports on the weavers and weavings…
Update on 11/07/08: If you’re looking for a broadcast time for Weaving Worlds, check with PBS at this link. PBS will be showing Bennie Klain’s Weaving World’s documentary this November as part of their observance of Native American Heritage month. The film was shown at this year’s Austin SXSW Film Festival and depicts the intricate…