Following the arts trail
Artists, visitors flock to Ancient Way over the weekend

Artist Carlos Laate works the clay with his hands at the Zuni Arts Center in Zuni as part of the Ancient Way Arts Trail on Saturday. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Adron Gardner

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

RAMAH — Over the last several years, an established fall festival and now a newer spring festival have helped promote Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo art in the Zuni Mountains along the Ancient Way Arts Trail.

Artists, craftspeople, musicians, and storytellers from Gallup, Grants, Ramah, and Zuni have joined together to sponsor arts festivals along New Mexico highways 602 and 53.

On Saturday, a group of Navajo weavers from the community of Pinehill joined the springtime Second Annual Ancient Way Festival as part of the group’s efforts to promote the traditional fiber art of Navajo people in the Ramah and Pinehill communities. Several members of the Ramah Navajo Weavers Association set up an outdoor rug market at the Cimarron Rose Bed and Breakfast on N.M. 53 for festival visitors.

Yin-May Lee, a community organizer from Pinehill who assists the organization, talked with an out-of-town rug buyer while Bernice Marie and Katie C. Henio carded wool and Sarah Adeky worked on hand spinning wool into yarn under the Cimarron Rose’s shady trees. In addition to using vegetal dyes like Navajo tea and the New Mexico walnut to create rich gold and brown dyes, the Ramah weavers use insect dyes like the cochineal beetle to make red dyes for their weavings.

Marie explained that she is a novice weaver with just three years of experience. She started to learn how to weave in the early 1980s, she said, but had to quit because of the demands of her job. Three years ago she signed up for a weaving class offered by an adult education program.

Although she still works in the afternoon and evening, Marie said she now spends her mornings weaving Navajo rugs, sash belts, and baskets. She’s motivated, she said, by an interest in traditional Navajo arts and crafts. Marie said she has woven a saddle blanket and four small textiles for her own family’s use.

“I’m not that good yet,” she admitted, but added she’s hoping to eventually be able to sell her work.

Henio is at the opposite end of the weaving spectrum.

According to Adeky, Henio’s daughter, Henio is a very experienced weaver who is currently serving as president of the Ramah Navajo Weavers Association. In addition to being one of five members over the age of 80 who continue to weave, Henio is the subject of an out-of-print children’s book entitled “Katie Henio Navajo Sheepherder,” written by Peggy Thomson and filled with photographs by Paul Conklin. The weavers association had a copy of the book on display for festival visitors.

Adeky, who lives and works in Thoreau, said she returns to Pinehill on the weekends where she assists the weavers association by acting as an interpreter and translator. While she talked about the organization, Adeky spun wool for use by students in two upcoming summer weaving institutes in Pinehill.

“All weaving is hand-spun, vegetal dyes, natural colors,” she said of the rugs produced by the members of the Ramah Navajo Weavers Association.

The organization was founded in 1984, she explained, and she has been involved since 1988. Goals of the association are to provide additional training for members, increase members’ skills, share weaving knowledge with younger community members, and establish cohesiveness among the weavers.

The group looks at weaving holistically, she explained, which includes an interest in related issues like raising the quality of wool, improving the health of their sheep, and caring for their land.

“From there it just works out to many different areas,” she said. As part of that holistic approach, Adeky said, there has been growing participation in reintroducing the Navajo Churro sheep into the Ramah and Pine Hill communities. According to Adeky, Churro fleece is long and coarse, and its two coat layers provide strength to yarn spun for weaving. Rugs woven from Churro sheep have a unique appearance and texture, she added.

Because they can command higher prices, members of the Ramah Navajo Weavers Association sell their textiles mostly through the association rather than through local traders, Adeky explained. Their rugs are generally sold through special art shows like the Santa Fe Indian Market and at museums, she added.

Through membership in the association, Adeky said Navajo women have learned new skills, earned extra income for themselves and their families, and even improved their lives emotionally and spiritually.

“There’s a lot of spiritual connection with what they do,” she said, adding that through the association, the women have provided support to each other and created a “faith-based” group rooted in Navajo culture.

Information: Ramah Navajo Weavers Association, P.O. Box 153, Pine Hill, N.M. 87357; (505) 775-3254