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.

Dean Haungooah has a unique Native background. His father, Art Cody (Haungooah), was a Kiowa/ Comanche who moved to New Mexico and married Martha Suazo, a Santa Clara potter.

Jeanette Dale and her husband Harry live on the Navajo Nation, about halfway between Gallup and Shiprock, off to the west of the highway near a beautiful rock formation. For about fifty years, she has been known to dealers in Indian jewelry as one of the best and least-known Navajo silversmiths.

Donald Vann is a full-blood Cherokee born near Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1949. He is a quiet man who grew up feeling very comfortable being alone. His grandparents were instrumental in teaching him the ways of the tribe and instilling in him an appreciation for the stories of his ancestors.

Everybody loved Orville! He and his wife, Darlene, were always surrounded by visitors and customers at their booths.They made beautiful jewelry and always had time for everyone. They lived in Shiprock, where they started a gallery that was a must-stop on any buying trip for shops from North America and Europe.

I tend to work into the late hours many nights. Days at the gallery are pretty busy. Phones are ringing, emails are flying, we get to meet great customers, and it is always special when one of the many artists we work with comes in. It's busy, and it's fun. But some things demand quiet, which happens for me in the evenings. And sometimes, it's just a time for reflection and spending time here.

If you have heard one of my lectures, I talk about how people walk into the gallery and ask, "Do you have any real Navajo rugs?"

Probably the most famous student of Dorothy Dunn, founder of the Studio School, which began the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, Harrison Begay (Haashké yah Níyá or "Wandering Boy") was born on the Navajo Reservation in 1917 at Whitecone, Arizona.

Many events in the world of Navajo weaving are coming up this year; we will keep you posted! The art of the Navajo loom is one of America's most significant expressions of creativity,  born of function and now recognized for the art it is.  

The Navajo and their cousins, the Apache, were known as the most accomplished mounted warriors in the Southwest. It wasn’t always that way.