This week's rug is a beautiful pictorial by Mae Tso entitled Mesa Birds. What is most striking to me is the color palette used in this weaving. The warmth of the hues evokes a strong feeling of the southwestern landscape which has a more literal rendering as well. The presence of birds and corn help bring life and hope to this evocation of one of the most beautiful areas on earth.
Mae wove this rug, and several similar ones, in the spring of last year as her husband Askie was terminally ill. Weaving these rugs, which also contain a variety of personal and family symbols, helped give Mae the strength to survive this challenging period in her life.
Mae is an Elder from Big Mountain which is the first area served by ANE food runs. In the 1980's There was great turbulence here because of the Hopi-Navajo land dispute which ultimately resulted in 10,000 Navajos being displaced from their traditional homelands. Many resisted these attempts to be relocated. Mae was one of those resistors and even spent time in jail for her efforts to remain on her homeland.
Here Mae is seen at the Big Mountain food run in May 2011. She is holding a similar, but somewhat smaller pictorial, 7004, which is also still in the catalog.
Notes: Every effort has been made to photograph and present the rugs with as accurate rendition of color as possible. It's not possible, however, to be certain that your computer won't show some variance. Where two prices are listed in the catalog, the higher represents what the weaver hopes to receive and the lower, the minimum she will accept. As has always been the case at ANE all the proceeds of every rug sale go entirely to the weaver. Prices are set by the weaver, and since there is no "middleman" they are typically very reasonable.
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