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    Navajo Weavers of the American Southwest
    Navajo Weavers of the American Southwest
    Navajo Weavers of the American Southwest
    Ebook230 pages1 hour

    Navajo Weavers of the American Southwest

    By Peter Hiller, Ann Lane Hedlund and Ramona Sakiestewa

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    About this ebook

    From the mid-17th century to the present day, herding sheep, carding wool, spinning yarn, dyeing with native plants, and weaving on iconic upright looms have all been steps in the intricate process of Navajo blanket and rug making in the American Southwest. Beginning in the late 1800s, amateur and professional photographers documented the Diné (Navajo) weavers and their artwork, and the images they captured tell the stories of the artists, their homes, and the materials, techniques, and designs they used. Many postcards illustrate popular interest surrounding weaving as an indigenous art form, even as economic, social, and political realities influenced the craft. These historical pictures illuminate perceived traditional weaving practices. The authors' accompanying narratives deepen the perspective and relate imagery to modern life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 8, 2018
    ISBN9781439665497
    Navajo Weavers of the American Southwest

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      Book preview

      Navajo Weavers of the American Southwest - Peter Hiller

      US

      INTRODUCTION

      Traditional Diné narratives describe how the Holy People known as Spider Woman and Spider Man brought weaving and its tools to the Navajo people. (Diné is the indigenous name for the Navajo people and translates as The People. Generally considered interchangeable with Navajo, it is used here when traditional, philosophical, linguistic, and spiritual aspects of the culture are emphasized. Diné words appear first in italics.) The Holy People gave weaving to the Navajos to clothe their families and sustain them, as they say, with all the good things in life.

      The first Diné loom was an object of beauty and utility made from sacred elements such as sunrays, precious stones, and lightning. The upright loom’s structure and function closely relate to looms used for centuries by the Ancient Puebloan people (prehistoric societies known archaeologically and through oral histories) and by Hopi and other Pueblo communities (with cultures that are historically known and still vital today). Technical details in early Diné blankets, dresses, and shawls resemble those made by indigenous Pueblo weavers. Native fibers and cultivated cotton yarns preceded sheep’s wool, which arrived on the hoof with Spaniards beginning in the mid-1500s. Spanish reports attest to Diné weaving as well-established in the American Southwest by the 1650s.

      Navajo women were responsible for sheep, preparation of weaving materials, and creation of designs on their woven garments and blankets. Men constructed looms and hand tools—combs, battens, and spindles—as some still do today. Several Navajo male weavers were historically known, and this trend has grown, with several men playing strong roles in the weaving arts.

      Children helped with livestock, prepared wool, and performed tasks that led some to become weavers. Ramona Sakiestewa recalls:

      Children herded many flocks of sheep. At age 10, my Navajo aunt and her two younger brothers herded sheep from Window Rock, Arizona, over the Chuska Mountains to Crystal Trading Post. It took them most of the summer and they carried their own food. At the end of a day of herding, she made biscuits and bacon. Every ten days, her mother and father intercepted them in a buckboard to check on their progress and bring supplies. Beginning at age five, a Navajo friend was sent by bus from Shiprock, Arizona, south to the dirt road at the Two Grey Hills turn off. He was told to start walking west until his aunt met him in a wagon. He spent many summers herding sheep to Crystal with his cousins.

      Weaving blankets and garments continued through classic (1750–1850) and late classic (1850– 1875) periods, but was gravely disrupted during the 1860s by the United States’ forced transfer of Navajo families from their homeland to Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico. The so-called Long Walk and imprisonment at Bosque Redondo took a toll on human lives. Survivors who eventually returned home lost substantial livestock and livelihoods.

      The Navajos’ original homeland—Dinétah—extended across the Four Corners region, where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet. In 1868, the US government established the Navajo Reservation, with boundaries adjusted over time. Today, the Navajo Nation (see map on page 4) covers over 27,000 square miles and is home to more than 350,000 Navajo citizens.

      By the 1880s, with the arrival of the transcontinental railroad, the building of trading posts, a barter-cash economy, and increased access to manufactured goods, Navajo weavers switched from making utilitarian items, wearing blankets, and textiles for intertribal trade to weaving decorative rugs for outsiders. The railway also brought curious travelers and photographers. Trying to please East Coast and Midwestern consumers, weavers began using Oriental carpets and linoleum patterns as models, wove borders around their rugs, and combined natural colors with bright, sometimes garish, synthetically colored yarns. Thus, Navajo weaving began to become a driving force in popular culture and an iconic image of the West.

      The earliest photographs of Navajo people were taken during the Long Walk and incarceration at Fort Sumner during the late 1860s. At that time, photography was time-consuming and cumbersome. Cameras were large, the processing was technical, and the work primarily remained with professionals. Posing for a picture meant the model sat still in a contrived studio setting. The results were far from spontaneous or

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