Weaving Navajo Tradition

D.Y. Begay holds centuries of Navajo history in her skillful hands as she weaves earth-inspired designs on her wooden loom. Creating Navajo rugs and blankets is a way of life for Begay, who was born in Tselani, Ariz., on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

D.Y. Begay holds centuries of Navajo history in her skillful hands as she weaves earth-inspired designs on her wooden loom. Creating Navajo rugs and blankets is a way of life for Begay, who was born in Tselani, Ariz., on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Like her mother and grandmother who taught her the craft, Begay, 52, shears her own sheep, then cleans, cards, dyes and spins the wool before creating traditional and original patterns.

Following Navajo tradition, her family raises about 30 Churro sheep valued for their long and silky greaseless fleece, which is ideal for weaving. “The black Churro sheep are my favorites because of their dark lustrous wool,” says Begay, who returns to Tselani for shearing each spring from her home and studio in Scottsdale, Ariz.

After shearing the sheep, she begins the laborious process of cleaning the wool and carding it to straighten the fibers. She skillfully spins the wool into fine, even thread using a traditional wooden spindle. “The quality of a Navajo rug depends on how well the wool is spun, so spinning is an important part of the process,” Begay says.

As a child, she watched her grandmother collect berries, walnuts, bloodroots, cedar bark and prickly pear fruit to make dyes to color the wool. Later, her parents taught her which plants to pick, how to use insects, dirt and sand to produce the most desirable hues, and how to boil the natural materials with the wool to set the dyes.

As Begay developed her craft, she learned other dyeing techniques from books. Today, she experiments with natural materials she finds in the Arizona desert and in her travels around the world. “People say the desert is ugly and they think there’s nothing here, but the land where I grew up and live is full of lush beauty and richness from the earth,” Begay says.

Dyeing wool to achieve just the right intensity and color is an art that few weavers practice today, making Begay’s weaving popular with clients who commission her to create one-of-a-kind designs. Depending on its intricacy and size, a single rug or blanket can take several weeks or months to complete.

Navajo women have been weaving wool rugs and blankets since the mid-1600s. Today, an estimated 5,000 weavers live on the reservation—mostly women 45 to 60 years old with grown children—and that number declines each year, says Ann Hedlund, director of the Gloria F. Ross Center for Tapestry Studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “Although there is no such thing as a typical Navajo weaver, D.Y.’s work is distinctive,” Hedlund says, “and serves as a bridge between traditional Navajo craftswomen and modern, university-educated artisans.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts and art education from Arizona State University in 1979, Begay worked as an elementary school teacher in Tucson for four years. But she missed weaving and decided to pursue it full time. Today, she shows her work at American Indian markets, art shows and galleries, and has served as a consultant to museums and private collectors around the country. She currently is teaching her nieces how to weave.

Her most recent exhibit, titled Interpretive Landscapes, reflects the shapes and colors of the mesas near her high desert home. Her tapestries express a traditional Navajo love for the land. “My ultimate goal is to capture the natural beauty of Mother Earth and translate my personal vision into my work,” she says.

While her patterns are based on traditional Navajo designs, Begay innovates and creates new ones by introducing variations and new color combinations. “This work represents my aspiration to plant new ideas and expressions,” she says.

Visit www.navajo-indian.com for more information.

Kathy Summers is a freelance writer living in Cave Creek, Ariz.

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