Hahastiin

Mary Redmustache Kealy's wel loved tools.

Thanks to all for the wonderful input regarding the line between admiration and appropriation.  My dear daughter sent me a link to this article which was most helpful.  The Navajo language is beautiful and mysterious but it is not my language and I won't name any work using it.

Hubs and I went back to visit the The Gregg Museum of Art and Design so I could show him a Navajo loom in real life.

Mary schooling Preston on her loom.

Mary's rug in progress

Preston's plan is to build me a traditional Navajo loom.  Mary showed her batten to him so he can make one.

The title of this post is the Navajo word for husband.  Dear hubs is my greatest enabler, maybe facilitator is a better word.  He created a dye spot for me in the garage.

It is awesome. I did some dyeing this weekend and how great to have a dedicated dye spot.

Horsetail, madder and the mystery fungus from Carolina Beach.  I placed this picture on facebook and ravelry last October seeking it's identity.

We never definitively settled on an answer but I think decomposed turkeytail is the most likely suspect based on these results.  1 refers to first skein and 2 refers to the second skein trying to exhaust the dye bath.

In the above picture are three skeins dyed in a small black walnut vat.  First, second and third dip.  I love natural dyeing and really need to do more research.  I would love to explore a variety of greens next.

Cultural Appreciation or Appropriation

The name of this blog is based upon a traditional Navajo weaving song.  I was drawn to Navajo weaving initally by the beauty and high degree of weaving skill embodied in the work.  Very quickly however I became fascinated by the culture and cosmology of the people and the central role weaving played.

I began to build my library of Navajo weaving books and reading everything I could get my hands on.  A trip to the southwest with my daughter in 2016 fed the passion.

I was visiting the places I had been reading about.  The landscapes and vistas were stunning.

The Hubbell Trading Post was just as I pictured it.

Fast forward to this week.  The The Gregg Museum of Art and Design had a demonstration of Navajo weaving and basket making.

The exhibit was small and informal which gave me the opportunity to watch and speak to the weaver,  Mary Redmustache Kealy.

Crystal Rug, a modified Two Grey Hills pattern 1955 - 1970. Handspun yarns

Wide Ruins Weaving  1920 -1950, vegetal dyes, primarily rabbitbrush.

Handmade weaving forks

My tapestry for the ATA show in Reno, The Biggest Little Tapestry Show.  Traditional wedge weave technique, with vegetal dyed wool using madder, osage orange, logwood and goldenrod.

Plus a bit of lurex for sparkle.  I would love to give this small piece a Navajo name but am conflicted.  The use of a Navajo name would be out of my love and passion for this culture and the art.  But I am not of the culture and do not want to appropriate what is not mine.

What would you do?