One of my favorite times to be in the gallery in Durango is when a weaver comes in with a rug wrapped in a Blue Bird Flour sack. Older weavers seldom open up the package.  After we greet each other, they hand it to me, and I get the pleasure of unrolling it. It is just like opening an unexpected birthday present!

My Father loved Navajo pictorial rugs. Of course, he loved almost any Navajo rug, but the pictorials held a special place in his heart.

The wonderful thing about having so many informed readers of our blog is that I usually learn something every time I send one out. Last week’s post on the Trading Post Name Rugs was no exception.

Over the years, 259 documented trading posts were on or adjacent to the Navajo Reservation. I bet nearly all these posts had at least one Name Rug!

Over the years, we have seen Navajo weaving evolve from wearing blankets to the transitional and Germantown weavings, the early floor rugs, and the regional styles. I’ve been thinking about where we are today and would like to share some thoughts.

The two premier celebrations of Native Americans in the Southwest bring thousands of people to Gallup and Santa Fe during August of every year. The two events run back to back; both are wonderful and entirely different. The Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial ended on Sunday, and I want to share a little about it with you.

Back in the 1930's Sallie Wagner Lippincott and her husband, Bill, purchased the Wide Ruins Trading Post in Arizona. She was a young, dynamic woman who truly loved the Navajo people she worked with. But there was one thing she didn't like about how things were going at the trading post.

Sallie Lippincott and her husband, Bill Wagner, purchased the Wide Ruins Trading Post in the 1930s when she was only 28. They were the first traders on the reservation who required their weavers to use vegetal dyes.

We consider Navajo weaving one of America’s most important and wonderful art forms, and one of our favorite weavers is Geanita John.

On Friday, April 21, Mom was the first one at the Gallery. She usually has been for the past 40 years. She would unlock the building, get the lights on, fire up the computer, and get the Gallery ready for business.

J.B. Moore purchased the Crystal Trading Post on Washington Pass in 1896 and ran it until he left the reservation in 1911. Washington Pass was later renamed Narbona Pass in honor of the Navajo leader who defeated a Mexican Army detachment invading Navajoland in the 1800s.

During the 1970s, we began to see Navajo weavings with more than one pattern. Some would feature two or three or more Navajo weavings woven within the borders of the main rug.

Some, like the Burnham area weavings, would include parts of different design elements from multiple weaving areas.