Acoma Pottery Shard Necklace

Pottery necklace was by Acoma Potter Karen Miller. Cost $44

Turquoise and Chile

Turquoise and chile intermingle freely and often here in the Native American Jewelry Capital of the world. Sandy and I met one day last week at Genaro's, a very popular Gallup luncheon hot spot, for some tongue scorching red and green chile entrees. While we dined we had 7 different Navajo vendors stop by our table. Sandy, bare-necked and hungry on arrival, left the restaurant sodium repleted, gut warmed, and neck adorned. It's all part of the good life in Gallup, New Mexico. Total cost: meal, drinks, necklace, tax, and tip--$98.36.

Hopi Weavers

Mary-Russell Colton, an original founder of the Museum of Northern Arizona, recorded 213 Hopi weavers in the 1930's, all were male. Today, textile weaving among the Hopi people is now a fading memory. So once again, it is historically refreshing to see the work of Edward S. Curtis who in the very early years of the past century captured this image of a Hopi man weaver at work on his loom.

Navajo Rugs at Datil, New Mexico

Russell Lee's images of American life during the Great Depression cemented his place in history as one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century. His documentary work as a Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographer at Pie Town, New Mexico centered on the lives of a group of 1930's Dust Bowl refugees. "Jigger at Pie Town" as shown below is from that body of work and is perhaps his best known image. His interior picture of the upscale tourist summer resort hotel, the Navajo Lodge, at Datil, New Mexico located 21 miles from Pie Town was taken around the same time. The remarkable Navajo rug collection there was undoubtedly the focus of his attention. Both images are from the year 1940.

Images from the Library of Congress

A Ceramic Greenware Lizard from Acoma

Sandy and I first met Lilly Salvador, a celebrated potter of Acoma, at a Native American art show in Santa Fe, New Mexico this year. She has a delightfully quaint little studio house across the street from the very modern Acoma cultural visitor center that sits just beyond shadow range below the ancient pueblo settlement now commonly referred to as Sky City. Francisco Vaquez de Coronado's army visited Acoma in the year 1540 when he and his soldiers became the first Europeans to enter the adobe village. He recorded, "One of the strongest ever seen, because the city was built on a high rock. The ascent was so difficult that we repented climbing to the top. The houses are three and four stories high. The people are of the same type as those in the province of Cibola (Zuni) and they have abundant supplies of maize, beans and turkeys like those of New Spain."

We had agreed to buy one of Lilly's pottery necklaces in progress when and subsequently made two trips to her home studio to fetch the completed work. Both times we failed to catch her, but one trip we salvaged in fun by pleasurable dining at the visitor center restaurant and by taking the guided tour of Sky City. However, we repented one trip for it is a long looping asphalt diversion from the Interstate. Last Saturday we finally caught up with Lilly at the Dancing Eagle Casino Art and Music Festival. Besides securing our much anticipated pottery necklace, we also bought the handsome pottery lizard pictured above. She crafted it from commercial greenware and mold. This divergence from tradition began in the 1980’s when some pueblo potters began to use commercial greenware and mold to make their pottery. These newer methods help meet demand, lower prices as compared to traditional pottery creations, and have been accepted by respected dealers and discriminating buyers. Lilly told me this 10x7 inch lizard would be priced about 5 fold greater or approximately $325, had she created it in the time honored ways of her ancestors.

Sandy's Storage Unit Treasure Discovery

I do not specifically remember purchasing this ten inch clown kachina by Hopi carver Hugh Smith, Jr. in the year 1979 from the Hubbell Trading post for what now seems a very bargain price of $80, but its origin and price are clearly marked under the tree stump. Sandy located it in an old packing box in her recent clean out of our storage unit. He wears a metal bracelet on his right hand and a mollusk and leather bowguard. I was most intrigued by the wrapped blanket bundle under his left arm. This little textile discovery has prompted me to begin researching Hopi textile history; relevant blogs are sure to follow.

Navajo Blankets, Friends, and Ponies

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Early 1900's by William Pennington

Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Cave Real Estate on the Navajo Reservation

This cave front property is located only a short walk from the red mesa property shown in the last blog. These caves are easily accessible from the road. They appear to have been ravaged by time and pillage. Again, no rug or jewelry acquisitions, but interesting scenery made the day.

Navajo Real Estate

Sandy and I went traveling through reservation land in Arizona one day last week in search of Navajo rugs. We had a dry run, but we did get a shot of this eye-catching red mesa front property. I'm always looking for traditional pentagonal hogans and I see many, but most are not picturesque and many are abandoned. This home is typical of modern reservation housing.

Rug Weaver at Her Loom in 1873

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This stereo image by Timothy O'Sullivan was taken during an expedition authorized by the United States Congress for the purpose of mapping that portion of the nation west of the 100th Meredian. O'Sullivan, who first gained prominence for his images taken during the Civil War, was the official trip photographer for the ambitious exploratory survey under the supervision of George M. Wheeler. O'Sullivan's images are among the first ever to reveal the landscapes and inhabitants of Navajo country.

Pottery Bolo

I bought the picutured pottery bolo, the first I have ever encountered, in the gymnasium hallway at the Crownpoint Rug Auction last week. Marilyn Ray, one of the famed five sister potters of Acoma, made the eye catching clay gem. Price $59.

Navajo Rugs & Blankets & Children

Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library
CREATED/PUBLISHED
[between 1904 and 1932].

Navajo Rug Design Beadwork Necklaces

Two Grey Hills, Ganado Red, Wild Horses, Tree of Life, Burntwater

click for detail

Navajo Dennison Billy of Arizona created these beautiful beaded necklaces based on well known rug patterns. I bought them on the recent grip to the Crownpoint Rug Auction. Price $179 each with matching earrings.

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Good Rugs at Navajo Summer Hogan

The first Spanish record of Navajo weaving dates to 1706 when the Governor of New Mexico at the time, Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdez wrote of the Navajo, "They make their clothes of wool and cotton, sowing the latter and obtaining the former from the flocks which they raise." The oldest Navajo weavings that can be dated with certainity are from 1805. The image above was taken between 1910 and 1920.

Photo credit: Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Crownpoint Auction Rugs

Deanna Todechine

Dennehatso

24 x 36 inches

$325

Annette Bahe

Pinon

34 x 54 inches

$1200

Rita Attekeii
Smoke Signals

28 x 40 inches

$600

Linda Howe

Two Grey Hills

13 x 16 inches

$600

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The Beauty of the Navajo Loom

The Navaho-land blanket looms are in evidence everywhere. In the winter months they are set up in the hogans, but during the summer they are erected outdoors under an improvised shelter, or, as in this case, beneath a tree. The simplicity of the loom and its product are here clearly shown, pictured in the early morning light under a large cottonwood.

EDWARD S. CURTIS

Original photogravure produced in Boston by John Andrew & Son, c1904. / Northwestern University Library, Edward S. Curtis's 'The North American Indian': the Photographic Images, 2001

The Crownpoint Navajo Rug Auction

About 3pm or a little before, food vendors start igniting their fires and Navajo weavers begin queuing up to register their rugs at the Crownpoint Elementary School House each month on rug auction Friday. Buyers need not arrive before 4pm; that's when the rug viewing officially starts and bidder card numbers are set out for pickup. Since there are no restaurants or lodging facilities in Crownpoint, it is a good idea to pack a picnic lunch or better still to just chomp down on some hearty Navajo quick cuisine from one of the several food booths located on the school grounds near the entrance to the auction. Sandy and I selected our sustaining supper from the Navajo family that offered the menu shown here. We found the burger a bit lacking, but the warm fry bread was highly refreshing.

Happily enough, the school gymnasium hallway was packed with Native art products. We bought one artist's entire table of magnificent rug-design beaded necklaces. And we were delighted to meet up once again with Marilyn Ray, a renowned Acoma potter who specializes in traditional handmade Acoma storyteller creations. Sandy insisted on collecting the storyteller pony (price $500). It was actually made by Marilyn Ray's sister, Judy Lewis. They are two of five close Acoma sisters all of whom produce pottery in the traditional manner of their ancestors without resort to modern shortcuts such as employing the use of commercial paints and pigments or electric kilns. Instead, they dot their palettes with their own color formulations derived from local natural products and they fire their pottery in outdoor pits fueled with sheep, cow, or horse manure unlike many modern day Pueblo pottery artists who now rely on the electric kiln and commercial paints. Around 7:10 the auction began and continued for the next two and one-half hours. It took us two trips to haul our rugs to the car, but we were finally on our way by 10pm for the 60 mile trip home back to Gallup. We yearn to return.

The Allure of Tʼiistsʼóóz Ńdeeshgizh

Roadway into Crownpoint

Tʼiistsʼóóz Ńdeeshgizh is a census-designated place on the East side of the Navajo Nation. This community commonly known as Crownpoint, New Mexico is not photogenic, but the surrounding landscape vistas delight the eye in raw and primitive beauty. With the exception of the second Friday of each month, Crownpoint is rarely a point of destination for outsiders. Since 1968, the Crownpoint Rug Weaver's Association has hosted one of New Mexico's grand cultural events, the Friday night Navajo rug auction which attracts bidders from around the world who converge with weavers throughout the Navajo Nation in the Crownpoint elementary school gymnasium. Buyers have the opportunity to purchase rugs via auction directly from weavers who receive 85% of their rug's selling price payable immediately on completion of the auction. Sandy and I attended for the first time tonight. Our joy of participation is now visibly manifest as 27 rugs strewn about our living room and we are already contemplating return trips.

Cave-studded sandstone mountain landscape near Crownpoint

The Natural Fiber Art of Two Grey Hills

These two trading post signs along the two lane highway 491 (formerly 666) mark the turnoff to an unforgettable and very unique world class shopping experience. This remote, rugged, and hostile appearing desert area of the Navajo Nation is the birth place of the much celebrated Two Grey Hill rug. These were first woven in the early 1900s, and are now internationally recognized as the pinnacle of the art of Navajo weaving. There are several well recognized regionally based classification of Navajo rugs, examples include, the Klatogh, Wide Ruins, Ganado, Hubbell, and Chinle styles. But the Two Grey Hills rugs are commonly distinguished as the Cadillac. Two Grey Hills rugs are available throughout the Southwest and in high end outlets throughout the world, but there is no better place to buy one of these than at the two old historic trading posts long grounded in the Two Grey Hills landscape. Both are charming and are run by dedicated trader-owners. The posts are very contrasting, but complimentary. Both proprietors deserve credit for keeping the art and tradition alive and well. The Toadlena unit has a marvelous museum display that pulls in heavy traffic and tour buses. A visit to the region is not complete without a stop at both places and the acquisition of at least one rug. They range in price from around $50 for a small work then steeply upward well into the five figure price range for the large rugs or very tightly woven supreme quality tapestries.

Churro sheep graze free range over field and road in this area of sun parched austere pasture, sandstone mesas, and massive rock formations, but the land gives way to some seasonally green bear and elk country which begins in the foothills of the background Chuska Mountain range where the Toadlena Trading Post is located.

The lush grey rug wool from this Churro sheep has already been harvested for this year.

We concluded our own purchase pondering with the acquisition of this Two Grey Hills classic rug by master weaver Helen Begay. The 19 x 28 inch rug was completed in February of this year. Price $395.

Where Does The American West Begin?

Just where does the American West begin? Several cities lay claim, but none so tenaciously as Fort Worth, Texas. For them the pivotal point is their own cultural bull's eye--the city's much prized historic stockyard. I prefer the spot identification that award-winning American author Tony Hillerman (1925-2008) pinned in his own hand, now preserved in a plastic sheath on location.

The Two Grey Hills Trading post is authentic, one of the few remaining on the reservation. The post was established in 1897 and has passed through a series of owners. Les Wilson, the present owner, moved to the Navajo reservation from San Diego right after high school graduation to fulfill his ambition of becoming a trader. Sandy and I met Les and his wife Irma about a decade ago. For awhile Sandy made several long trips back to the area where Irma and a few of the area of weavers taught her to spin the wool sheared from their prized Churro sheep. Much to our disappointment both Les & his wife were out today, but we consoled ourselves by purchasing a Two Grey Hills Rug, one of the world's most coveted textiles, from his vault. We concluded our work day with an a la carte picnic of savory mutton ribs, 2 each, from T&R Market just outside of Gallup.

Silver Stars at Window Rock

Today, Sandy and I attended the Silver Stars exhibit at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. The gallery show featured sample works of some of the most elite Navajo Silversmiths. Most of the jewelry represented was created by living artists. One notable exception was Harry Morgan who died in 2007. He was a highly respected fifth-generation silversmith who was credited at the exhibit for the revival of the classic old style Navajo jewelry in the 1970's when bright shiny Navajo pieces dominated the market. The show was purely exhibit, no sales. I took this picture of the well known giant Window Rock sandstone landmark before heading deep into the reservation to buy a new rug at Two Grey Hills.

Dry Run to Acoma Pueblo

Sandy and I traveled to the Acoma Pueblo for a second time in the past three weeks to buy a pottery necklace we agreed to purchase when finished. But alas, the famed potter who has probably completed the piece by now was once again not to be found at her home. This visit, however, we took time to ascend the 357 very vertical feet to the top of the Sky City mesa to explore with a tour guide. The inhabitants of this ancient village, continuously occupied since the 12th century or earlier, have no running water. Some is collected in natural cisterns, but the rest is carried up nowadays mostly in plastic water bottles. The image below shows a parched natural cistern. I was attracted to the cracked mud in the middle lower section. Perhaps I can return in the tadpole season, only two months away, to compose a comforting wet view.

(click for enlargement)

Jewelry at Canyon Overlook

As I regularly scour the Southwest in search of Native American arts to collect and for images worth recording, I often reflect historically on the century old words of legendary Santa Fe merchant J.S. Candelario who wrote in one of his catalogs, "Owing to the well known fact that the Indian goods will soon be a thing of the past, as the new generations are adopting our habits and abandoning those of their ancestors..."

It is very hard to predict what changes the next 100 years will bring, but what I recorded today on a lovely picnic outing to Canyon de Chelly suggests that in some respects times aren't a changing that much. I could not resist presenting this canyon view overlook photograph of a tidy beaded jewelry and sandstone art display in the Edward S. Curtis way. (click for enlargement)