http://youtu.be/M5VqQdp_fEs
Navajo weaving is an art form passed on for generations. Branigan Cultural center recently brought in the spider rock girls for a demonstration, while holding an auction to raise money for the center. Sonner attended the demonstration and has more.
Larissa Blake has been weaving since she was a little girl. A tradition passed down in her family for generations.
“My grandma started weaving probably when she was young,” Blake said. “We’re the 4th generation weavers and we started weaving when we were probably about 8 or 9. But the youngest weaver is my little sister and she is about 5 years old.”
Weaving has helped her and her sisters pay their school expenses.
“My mom didn’t really help us with our school expense,” Blake said. “With our clothing, and our materials that we needed. So, we took on weaving and that really helped us, and helped my mom with the stress of providing things for us. That also showed us to be more independent as we got older so I guess we really rely on our weaving.”
Now she is using it to help her pay for her college education, like her older sister.
“My older sister is doing the exact same thing,” Blake said. “She has been going to school. And she also has kids of her own, and I have a son myself, and she weaves and still provides for her family and still goes to school. So she is like my role model and I am just following into her footsteps.
Usually, they get the most money for the rugs at auction like the one held at Branigan Cultural Center. Weavers receive 80 percent of money from the sale. With the other 20 percent going to the organization hosting the fundraiser. Sherry Burnham, President of R.B Burnham and Company Trading post says the rugs come from many different sources
“We bring Navajo rugs from different sources, could be from the weavers, could be from consigners,” Burnham said. “And we bring them from the reservation and we bring them to a location such as a Navajo cultural center. And we feel it is really important because it brings attention to the fiber arts, especially in the Navajo community. You might find old rugs, new rugs. But our emphasis is really on the Navajo weavers and helping them market their items.”
Auctions help to spread knowledge of the art of Navajo weaving.
“A lot of people might think Navajo weaving is a lost art, and it is really not,” Burnham said. We are just trying to help the Navajo weavers find a marketplace to sell their items. So there is a lot of contemporary weavers that are weaving actively today. They could be children, my age, young women, older women, and a lot of male weavers as well.”
Blake says she likes when weaving demonstrations are held with auctions because it shows the work that goes into weaving a rug.
“There is the looming,” Blake said. “You have to be warping, there is the yarn dying. And then you have to set it up, and then starting from the bottom all the way till when you finish is probably going to take about 3, 4 months.”
The spider rock girls also taught weaving to those who wanted to learn during their demonstration.
