Celebration of Art & culture
Ganado weaver takes Ceremonial Best of Show

Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial art judges James King, Eunice Kahn and Robert Kasal look over Navajo Sand Paintings during the judging on Sunday. Visitors can view entries in the art exhibition this Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Grace Nez, a Navajo rug weaver from Ganado, did it again.

For the second time in less than four years, one of her creations won Best of Show at the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial.

Some 30 arts and crafts experts from across the Southwest converged on Red Rock State Park, Sunday, and spent the afternoon judging thousands of craft items that were submitted for this year’s Ceremonial’s competition .

“The items this year were fantastic,” said Kent McManis, the owner of Greydog Trading Co., in Tucson and the author of books on everything from Zuni fetishes and Navajo weavings to Hopi kachinas.

A Ceremonial judge for more than 15 years, McManis said he was impressed with the number of entries this year, as well as their quality.

“The basketry category last year was almost nonexistent,” he said. “This year we had five times as many entries.”
He added that while the more entries made it more difficult for the judges, it also made it more fun. “If you don’t have anything to look at, it’s not much fun,” he said.

The judging for Best of Show was also competitive this year, with various judges at first having their own picks but in the end, the judges overwhelmingly felt that Nez walked away with the top prize for her magnificent Klagetoh rug done with variegated dyes.

These are dyes that show different ranges in color. “This was done in the old days and is very difficult to do,” said McManis, “but some contemporary weavers are going back to it.”

The judging went pretty fast this year, he said, with no controversies or major arguments among the judges as had happened at some previous judging.

There also does not seem to be a problem this year in pricing.

Ceremonial rules require that anything that was submitted for judging had to be for sale, but some dealers, wanting to keep winners in their stores, had priced items that they thought would win so high that no one would want to purchase them.

“I am not aware of that happening very much this year,” McManis said, adding that he thought the Ceremonial association managed to get rid of that problem. Some judges in the past said when they saw a dealer doing this, they took it in consideration when they selected their top winners.

After their task was done, the judges drove over to Martin Link’s house for dinner and a debriefing. Link, a Ceremonial board member, has been working with the judges for years.

The debriefing, McManis said, consists of discussions of what to categories needed to be added in the future and which ones should be eliminated. “We also discuss ways we can improve the competition.” McManis said.

Visitors to the Ceremonial will get their first chance to see the winners and all the rest of the entries at the Ceremonial’s preview Wednesday night, which is the unofficial start of this year’s event.

There is no admission to attend the preview, which begins at 6 p.m. and goes until 9 p.m. at Red Rock Park, but there will be a $20 admission to attend the wine-tasting event that is being held in connection to the preview.
This year, 12 different New Mexico wines — up from three last year — will be available for tasting. People will also be able to buy the wines by the glass, bottle or case.