Description
Sprawling vistas at sunset. A spider's web at dawn. Such images of natural beauty, which provide rich inspiration for Native American artisans, are portrayed eloquently in Woven by the Grandmothers: 19th Century Navajo Textiles. Celebrating the art of Native American women weavers, this stunning program captures the rhythms of Native life--the wind, the drums, the whirl of the loom--through stories, songs, photography, and archival footage. Viewers explore the 19th-century Navajo textiles collection of the National Museum of the American Indian, and learn how contemporary weavers sustain their communities' economies and culture. Following D.Y. Begay as she shears her prized ram and picks plants for making dye, we see, hear, and feel how the Navajo nation has reconstructed its major art form and is saving its cultural heritage.
Amazon.com
While focusing on beautiful examples of 19th-century Navajo blankets that were part of an exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., this program narrated by Buffy Sainte-Marie is rich with historical details. Between 1840 and 1880, these blankets were worn by the Navajo, and the patterns were woven so that they would match in front, like two sides of a patterned coat. When their commercial value was recognized, they were sold as rugs in trading posts. The weavers, who were women, began making rugs for commercial purposes. The Navajo way of life and belief system are also examined in this documentary. As a matrilineal society, it's primarily the women who own property such as the sheep that are the source of wool for the blankets. The looms are vertical, in a duplication of the human world, where things grow out of the Earth toward the light or sky. Particularly fascinating is watching contemporary weaver D.Y. Begay sheer her ram, spin wool yarn, dye her yarn with native plants, and weave on her loom. This half-hour program of the PBS affiliate WETA makes one yearn for more. --Anne Barclay Morgan
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