Art Masterpiece: 6th Grade, Lesson 5 (April)

Navajo Weaving

Art Style: Weaving Art Terms: Textile, Weaving, Warp, Weft Activity: Loom Weaving Medium: Assorted Yarn Meet the Artist

The Navajo or Dineh (din – ay) are a tribe of Native Americans who live in Arizona and Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

They are the largest single tribe in the United States. Originally they were hunters and gatherers. After coming into contact with

the Spanish explorers, they adopted farming and herding of sheep and goats.

They spun and wove the sheared wool into clothing and blankets for personal use and for trading.

Art Style Weaving

Navajo women have been weaving for hundreds of years. Early Navajo weavers used wool, dyed with native, natural dyes, as well as a rewoven thread from Bayeta (bright red wool of flannel consistency from England). They unraveled other blankets and clothing and, by adding these materials to their own homespun wool, developed a beautiful variety of colors and styles.

Navajo textiles were originally utilitarian blankets for use as cloaks, dresses, saddle blankets, and similar purposes. In 1680, Navajo weaving included designs from baskets, stepped triangles and diamonds, serrated patterns, and colorful stripes. By the beginning of the 19th century, Navajo weaving was in demand, mostly by other Indians — Navajo, as well as Utes and Cheyennes.

Toward the end of the 19th century, weavers began to make rugs for tourism and export. Typical Navajo textiles have strong geometric patterns. They are a flat tapestry-woven textile produced in a fashion similar to kilims of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

Traditional Navajo weaving used upright looms with no moving parts. Support poles were traditionally constructed of wood; steel pipe is more common today. The artisan sits on the floor during weaving and wraps the

finished portion of fabric underneath the loom as it grows. The average weaver takes anywhere from two months to several years to finish a single rug. The size greatly determines the amount of time spent weaving a rug.

So how long does it take to make a Navajo rug? Quoting from Gilbert S. Maxwell, author of Navajo Rugs, Past, Present and Future: “A dealer friend of mine once placed an expert Navajo weaver on his payroll for $1 an hour. For her, he bought handspun vegetable dye yarns. He told the woman to do two pieces of weaving: a better than average, twill weave, double saddle blanket (30 x 60 inches), and a 3 x 5 foot quality rug. The saddle blanket was completed in 140 hours and the rug in 238 hours! And this I would remind you was straight weaving time — not spare time.”

Use of traditional motifs sometimes leads to the mistaken notion that these textiles serve a purpose in Navajo religion. Actually these items have no use as prayer rugs or any other ceremonial function, and controversy has existed among the Navajo about the appropriateness of including religious symbolism in items designed for commercial sale. The financial success of purported ceremonial rugs led to their continued production.

There are fewer weavers today, as a percentage of the Navajo population, than 90 years ago; tomorrow there will be even fewer than today. The reason, of course, is economics. Although the prices of rugs have increased enormously, the amount of time involved in weaving one still makes the art much less than cost-effective. This is not true for the well known, award winning, weavers that dot the reservation. For them, the art is rewarding and, for those aspiring to greatness, these rewards are very attainable. For this reason, Navajo weaving is not a dying art; rather, it is becoming a very selective, highly competitive one.

Art Terms Weaving

Weaving is a textile craft in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced to form a fabric or cloth.

Textile A textile or cloth is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or

artificial fibers often referred to as thread or yarn. Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting, crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibers together (felt).

Warp and Weft In any sort of loom weaving, the threads which run lengthways (vertically)

are called the warp and the threads which run across from side to side (horizontally) are the weft or filling.

Activity Loom Weaving – Assorted Yarn Supplies Cardboard looms (one pre-strung loom per child is provided) Assorted yarn (yarn in bags is precut and is for use as your WEFT) Scissors Tape Popsicle sticks (one per child) *Additional support material – photo printouts (There is no art print available for this lesson so you will need to use the 8 1/2” x 11” printouts of Navajo weaving in the supply bin.) ** Art Guide Notes** Be sure to start the weaving as soon as possible. We have pre-strung the looms so that you will be able to focus on the actual weaving. Encourage the students to think creatively with color...they don’t have to use a whole piece of string. It can be cut short at any point and tied in a knot with a new piece of string in order to start a new color. Students may become discouraged when they weave too tight and their woven piece begins to narrow. Encourage them to loosen up the string if possible – but to just continue weaving regardless. They will still end up with a neat piece. Remember to have them stop the weaving about 15-20 minutes prior to the end of their lesson, in order to begin knot tying.

Weaving along with the students may help. There will be color copies of the photos in the lesson bucket. These can be placed on the overhead projector for use in explaining how to weave. It’s not as hard as it looks – but you may want to arrive early for your lesson to practice first. This might help you answer any questions that arise from the students. Directions (Photos detailing each step are provided below)

1. Start by giving each child a loom, a popsicle stick, and a piece of tape. 2. This lesson may take the full hour, so you might want to teach your lesson

as you are handing out supplies. 3. Because the looms will be pre-strung in the interest of time, color

selections will be limited for the WARP yarn. Remind students that the WEFT yarn will be the most visible color anyway, and to not get “hung up” on the color of WARP yarn on the pre-strung loom.

4. Have the students pick 2-3 pre-cut pieces of yarn in various colors. You may have them line up at a table or pass out individually, whichever you feel works better.

5. Have the students tape the end of one piece of WEFT yarn to the end of a popsicle stick: You’re ready to start!

6. Explain the “over/under” concept while guiding the students through the first few weaves.

7. Pull the yarn through all the way, leaving about 2” or so of a tail loose at the end.

8. Continue the over / under weaving for several more rows.

9. As they continue weaving, remind them to push their weft rows up towards the top with their fingers or the stick to create compact rows.

10. When the students reach the end of their pre-cut piece of yarn, have them tie a new piece of yarn to the old one.

11. The students may weave too loose – OR – too tight. Explain that they should pull the string fully through, but don’t pull too hard either. You can correct this when you notice it, but it’s all part of the learning process, and it will be just fine in the end even if they weave incorrectly.

12. About fifteen to twenty minutes before the end of your art lesson, have the students finish up their last piece of yarn. Just like at the beginning, leave a tail about two inches.