Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Navajo rugs

While at Rose's her daughter in law Leba showed us her weavings she's working on. She weaves with hand spun wool that was Rose's mothers.

This is Leba with her 2 year old son. I was excited to buy this piece from her. This is a "protection" rug. The four dark corners represent the 4 Sacred Mountains, the light brown is lighting, the white with gray tips water bugs and they all are protecting the center which represent the home. A very old tradition is to weave in a "spirit line" near the end of your weaving so your spirit does not become trapped and you can weave another rug. Leba puts these in hers but I'm not sure you can see it here.

Another of Leba's rugs she is working on, I love the details on it, near the bottom is a big mother spider (black with white tips) and running along the bottom are her baby spiders.

One of Rose's granddaughters showing some of the dresses Rose wove for them for important occasions. Their called "biil" dresses.



On Friday night Mary took us to the Crown point auction. The natives bring in their weavings (of all sizes) to be auction off. The auctioneers keep it moving fast. Everything is displayed on the tables before the auction for people to look over. We learned so much from Mary.



This piece was a crowd favorite. Not everyone does this type of weaving.


This was a beautiful piece, it reminds me of an old style weaving.


I didn't buy a weaving at the auction but bought this piece (before we went) from LaVera. Her family, the "Spider Rock Girls" are well known for their top quality weavings. I was happy she had one available for me to buy. Up by her left hand you can see where she "signed" her weaving, it the symbol for squash blossom. She also weaves in a spirit line. Her little sister is with her. There's quite of few girls in the family and they all weave.






2 comments:

t said...

These rugs are beautiful. So much in them and stories too. They are amazing..
xt

Deb Hardman said...

Wow, the weavings are amazing! It's so nice that you were able to buy some!

How are you displaying them?

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