The Annual Navajo Weaving Sale and Silent Auction will be Saturday June 10, 2017 at the Museum of Natural History of Utah in Salt Lake City, Saturday.

I grew up watching Roy Rodgers, Gene Autry and every other Western television star that could be found on the three stations we received on our black and white television.

One of the most interesting periods in the history of Navajo weaving began in the 1880s and went through the first decade of the 1900s. It is called the Transitional era because it marked the switch between the weaving of wearing blankets by Navajo women to weavings intended for sale.

The evolution to the commercial marketing of Navajo weaving actually began in 1882 when the railroad reached Gallup. For the first time there was a way to transport goods back to the East. The trading post owners were quick to realize the economic benefits that would accompany this potential new market for Navajo weaving.

We have, without any question, the best customers on the planet! To all of you who follow our newsletter and make it possible for us to share the great works of Native and Southwestern artists, we say "Thank You!"

The number of weavers has dropped dramatically over the years, but the quality you can buy today is amazing! When we started doing this fund raiser, 31 years ago, we knew we would be raising badly needed funds for the CU Museum to restore and preserve textiles. What we didn’t really think about then was that we would be providing the opportunity for hundreds of weavers to continue their work. It has been a great partnership with the Museum and all of their great volunteers!

Towards the end of the1800s, the Navajo had begun to adopt the clothing worn by the traders and settlers in the Southwest. The Navajo women moved from wearing the woven dresses and blankets that came from their looms and adopted the long velvet skirts and blouses that they were first exposed to by U.S. Army officer's wives while the Navajo were kept in captivity during the Civil War.

If you have been following our newsletter a while, you know the story of the Burnham weavers. In a chapter house area south of Shiprock and across the road from Two Grey Hills, a group of five sisters, Anna Mae, Marie, Helen, Alice and Sandy, began creating unique Navajo weavings in the 1970s.

Ruth Teller was one of the finest Two Grey Hills weavers. She lived in a small place not to far from Newcomb on what used to be Highway 666. My dad used to stop and see her and I went with him a couple of times.

She had three daughters that also were amazing weavers. Two of them, Roseann Lee and Barbara Ornelas worked together to create a large Two Grey Hills tapestry that won the Best of Show at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 1987. It was the first Navajo weaving to win the award and it set a record price for contemporary Navajo weaving when it was sold.

We have received a lot of credit for being the traders who developed the Burnham area Navajo weaving designs. That, of course, is not true. The weavers from the Burnham area, specifically the Begay and Barber families, did not need anyone to help them create these wonderful pieces.

The Harvey family lives north of Window Rock, Arizona, the Navajo Nation Capital. I don’t know when my Dad met them, but I don’t think I remember a time when he wasn’t buying weavings from Esther Harvey, the mother and head of the family.

Toh-Atin Gallery will be in Santa Fe, for Indian Market showing the largest selection of Navajo weaving in town! It’s the biggest week in American Indian art as thousands of artists, dealers, collectors, museum directors, art lovers and more than a few crazy people, descend on this Northern New Mexico town!

One of my favorite events is when someone walks in the gallery and says something like, “Do you have any real Navajo rugs?”