Honoring Our Weavers - Rug Show Theme for 2014

by Linda Myers

This year will be the 25th anniversary of the Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program's annual rug show. We are very proud to have held this event successfully over this period of time. Some of our Elders have been attending the show every year since it first began. Because of the ages of many of our weavers we decided that this year's show should be a special celebration honoring our weavers, especially since we felt some wouldn't be with us for the 30th year. As a part of this honoring we created a photo of all the weavers who come and participate each year at the show.

Each year we choose a special theme for the weavers to do a special rug for the following year's rug show. I thought it would be nice if each of the weavers could weave a self-portrait of themselves at the loom. For inspiration we showed them pictures as well as beaded necklaces of weavers sitting at their looms. For weavers that have passed, we asked their families to bring their mother's last rug to display this year. Ten weavers who have attended the show have passed on now.

As we began to receive the theme rugs in early January, I was deeply touched by how each Elder perceived themselves. We sent a form asking them questions about what the rug show means to them and what activities they enjoy. It was good to hear their responses. Sometimes it's just a small thing we do that will help a weaver sell her rug. The rug show sponsors over 70 traditional Navajo weavers and gives them all proceeds from the sale of their rugs.

 

We are proud of carrying on the traditions of weaving. And we also celebrate all the support we have received from our volunteers as well as the weavers and their families and the many wonderful people who attend the show each year and buy the rugs.

It is a great honor to help them sell their rugs.

Weaving Winter Stories - Rug Show Theme For 2013

by Linda Myers

It’s a very warm summer day as my assistant, Wendy Sanborn, and I travel to the reservation.  As we head from Shiprock to Gallup, New Mexico, we stop at a small gas station trading post in Tohatchi.  We take a few minutes to look at the necklaces and rugs the Elders have traded for credit to buy food and gas.

There was a small selection of Pendleton blankets hanging on a wall. I loved a soft blue, brown and beige Pendleton that reminded me of aspen trees. I thought about how pretty the Elders’ rugs would be in these soft winter colors.

In late fall, when I was preparing for the Rug Show, I visited Doug Hollinger at the Park City Clothing Company.  As we talked, I noticed that he had the same beautiful Pendleton.  I bought it.  I decided to show the blanket to the Elders and ask them to weave winter rugs in these beautiful colors.

At the Rug Show in early November, I had a meeting with the weavers and told them that many people come to Park City to ski. I described how much snow falls in the winter and how everything is covered in white. I asked them to think about winter scenes of mountains. I pointed to a large picture of pine trees on the wall of the lodge at Deer Valley.  I suggested they think about snowflakes. We held up the Pendleton and showed the Elders the wintry colors.

By early January, the weavers began sending in their rugs.  Vina and Elvira Horseherder had taken brochures from the lodge that inspired their rugs of skiers speeding down mountains.

William Whitehair sent a beautiful snowflake rug into which he had woven silver threads that looked like crystal.

Helen Rose Lewis sent a cute little snowman rug.  The weavers sent many beautiful winter scenes.

We will be featuring two of our Elders’ rugs at the Rug Show auction.  Gloria Hardy has woven a unique elk rug which is bordered by a traditional snowflake design

Anita Jackson has woven a beautiful red snow flake rug, a design that she created after the loss of her daughter.

It is amazing to see the creativity and skill with which the weavers create new designs.  I am honored to have so much support from the Elders and their families as they create something new every year.

Weaving The Night Sky - Rug Show Theme 2012

by Linda Myers 

(Note: This post describes how the theme for this year's rug show evolved. Join us for the show at Deer Valley in Park City this fall, November 2-4.)

At the 2011 Rug Show, I had lunch with one of the Elders and her granddaughter.  The granddaughter had been struggling to stay in school and maintain positive family relationships.  Her grandmother explained that there is an order in life which was established from the very beginning when the Holy Ones made their plans for setting up the sky.  She said that when we go out in the evening and stand on Mother Earth we need to look up at the night sky and we will see the order above us.

The grandma said that there are star beings who watch over us.  She described how the moon changes at certain times, just like we do.  Sometimes we only show a little of ourselves, just like the quarter moon.  But regardless of the phase of the moon, its light is always there shining on us.  Sometimes when we have struggles with our families, we need to go outside at night and listen quietly to the stillness.  The stars teach us to be quiet and reflective.

She said that in traditional ceremonies people wait for certain stars to be above the hogan before starting and that different ceremonies are held during different seasons.  She said, “We always watch the night sky for guidance.”

As I listened to the grandma speak, I felt the faith she had in her beliefs and the strength of her connection to the skies.  There was such a beauty in the way that she talked about the stars.

Later, I met with all of the weavers to talk about the possibility of weaving the night sky for this Rug Show.  I asked them if they would be willing to share their traditional stories of the stars.  The Elders listened then discussed their perspectives.  Some said that they would weave rugs that represented the traditional star beings that appear in the sky when they weave their rugs.  Some said they would weave the stars in the skies over their homelands.

The special rug featured on the cover of this year's rug catalog was woven by Miriam Whitehair.  Miriam wove the rug to represent the sacred mountains at dusk.  The evening stars, represented by crosses, fill the sky.  The moon is shown with her feathers.  The corn stalk represents the sacredness of life.  A chief’s blanket at the bottom of the rug represents the male.  Miriam is a young weaver.  As we discussed her rug, I was touched by her knowledge of traditional teachings and their importance to her.

We received many rugs.  Some of the weavers even wove several rugs because they enjoyed weaving the stars.  Each rug has a story of sacredness associated with the design that brings me back to the grandma’s teaching to her granddaughter.

Weaving Wild Horses

by Linda Myers

(note: This piece was written for the September 2011 ANE newsletter. Weaving Wild Horses is the theme for this year's rug show to be held in Park City in November. The inspiration for the theme came from the Whitehair family who are described in this article.)

In the Native cultures, the horse has always been honored for bravery and grace. The horse is a soul mate and a comrade.

Most native cultures decorated their horses by beading bridles. The Navajo made turquoise and silver bridles as well as beautiful saddle blankets. In the early 1930's some of the weavers started making handspun rugs depicting the horses, sheep, and cattle. I began asking weavers about seven years ago if they had ever woven any rugs with horses, sheep, or cattle. Most of the Elders replied that they wove the more traditional designs.

When you meet someone like Martin Whitehair, you feel not only his love for horses, but a deep sense of the understanding and respect he has for horses. Has trained many horses.

His brother, Wayne, had a beautiful three-year-old golden mustang stallion he named Bucky. Martin felt deeply connected to this horse and began drawing pictures of Bucky and other horses.

Martin and his wife Rena had grown up riding horses and they taught their children to also ride at a very young age. The girls have participated in many horse races. They all seem to share their dad's love and respect for horses.

When I asked Rena and Martin if they could weave a rug with horses in it, Martin said he would draw a horse that Rena could weave into the center of a Chief's Blanket. The first horse rug had Bucky, the golden mustang in the center of the rug. Rena and Martin then began working on their horse rugs together. For the last few years, they have designed many different one-of-a-kind horse rugs.

Rena began weaving when she was about seven years old. Her mother, the late Sarah Robertson, taught her how to weave and also told her to weave for a living, not as a hobby. Sarah raised and supported ten children through her weaving.

She told Rena to think of her weaving as a full-time job. Weaving rugs is the only source of income for Rena and her family.

When her daughters were around six years old, she began to mentor three of them to weave beautiful horse rugs and other styles as well. Miriam and Marty have grown up weaving to help with the family's needs. Bobbi Joe is in her teens and likes to weave and help design the rugs, while Marklyn and Israel, her only son, are up-and-coming weavers.

I have great respect for Rena and Martin and their family. It is very challenging to carry on the traditional way of life in the modern world today.

Rena also weaves many other styles of Navajo rugs - Storm Pattern, Two Greyhills, Ganado, Pictorials, and the Tree of Life.

This last year she has been working on Blue Canyon design rugs that are very intricately detailed. One of the featured rugs that will be in the rug show is a beautiful Blue Canyon rug with a golden mustang.

 Each of the girls has been working on their own designs of horse rugs for the opening night of the show when several will be auctioned.

Martin and Rena are both very humble as they share about their work. Martin states, "We were not brought up to speak about ourselves or to share what our personal goals were. ". Each of these horse rugs they are weaving for the show comes from a deep place in their hearts.

It is very moving in my life to see what came from a desire to see horses woven into rugs again and to watch the rugs become beautiful stories of a family's love for horses.

Someone asked me once, "What is your most favorite rug? You've sold so many in the last 25 years." I have watched many of them weave rugs just to sell for food, but the rugs I enjoy most are the ones you feel are a deep part of their lives, and they hold it for a moment before they give it to you for you to take and sell for them. It has a story of their lives woven into each day, and you feel that release of themselves.

I want to thank Rena and Martin and their family for creating these rugs. And to all the weavers who are trying to weave horse rugs and make it a part of the show, I feel their trust and love and their desire to challenge themselves.

It has been a beautiful journey to this year's show.

Weaving World Peace - Rug Show Theme For 2010

by John Aldrich

Each rug show has its own theme, and each theme embodies the spirit of that show. For this years show, to be held November 12-14, the theme is Weaving World Peace.

The idea for this theme arose during the 2009 show. During recent rug shows an event has been held on Saturday afternoons called the Native American Idol Contest which is based loosely on the American Idol model. The Elders love to sing, and the idea here was to present them with a theme and let them improvise a song after being given a few minutes to prepare. In this case the theme was  What I Want Santa to Bring Me For Christmas.

Elsie Benale, a fine weaver from Forest Lake, sang about her wish for  World Peace. This started Linda thinking that this might be a good theme for the next rug show, and she presented the idea to all the Elders the following day. It was well-received, and the weavers were encouraged to create rugs based on this theme. Smaller rugs would be submitted to be used for rug show advertising and promotion and larger rugs could be presented later to be sold at the show.

World Peace seems like a very lofty goal for our organization, but it fits very well with the Program mission as well as with the tenets of Navajo culture and philosophy. The Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program is truly an international organization. We have supporters and donors from around the world and sponsors living in Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. A volunteer has come to the rug show from Holland for the past two years.

Rodger Williams points out that traditional Navajo prayers end with the phrase Hozhó Nahasdlii' being repeated four times. This is a plea for restoration of harmony and balance which can be interpreted at a personal level or at a more general level for the larger good.

Rodger relates that if you ask Navajos what World Peace means to them, you will find that they respond to you from a spiritual perspective. To the Diné (Navajo) peace is synonymous with the word K'é. This is a Navajo word which means relations and relatives or it could mean a peaceful state among all living beings. Thus we are reminded that we are all connected to one another through the Brotherhood of Man.

Here is a drawing created by Rodger as an illustration of this year's theme. Superimposed on an image of the world are elements contained in the Program logo. Hands from different cultures are seen coming together under a rainbow and sacred eagle feather. Differences are mended. World Peace is fostered.