Reservation Creation

“Your life is a work of art,” the answering machine of a professional artist friend reminds me when I call. Navajo rug weavers know this. They literally live it with every fiber of their being. On my return from California this week, I attended the Crownpoint Navajo Rug Auction on their reservation in the northwest corner of New Mexico. The day trip was offered through Oasis, which provides continuing education opportunities for adults over fifty throughout the United States.

I boarded the tour bus with thirty other people in cold, winter rain for the two-hour ride. The group leader explained how the auction would work, passed around a rug he previously purchased and explained the most desirable qualities of a hand-woven rug: tight weave, smooth surface, the same symmetrical design on both sides, straight edges, sharp corners within the design and creativity. He then showed a DVD about the Navajo culture and weaving.

Navajo women weavers literally weave elements of their lives into their rugs. Originally nomadic raiders, the Navajo, or Diné (“the people”) as they call themselves, became sheep raisers, grazers and herders in daily life. Wool sheared from their sheep is washed, carded, spun, in some cases dyed, and woven into rugs. Natural grey, white, tan, brown or black wool is commonly used. Rugs colored with vegetal, or plant-based, dyes are usually considered more valuable than those made with commercial, or aniline, dyes.

The Navajo Reservation, largest in the United States at nearly fifteen thousand square miles, can be divided into thirteen weaving regions, each producing a characteristic rug with a distinctive style, pattern and color. For example, black, white, grey and brown geometrically-designed rugs are woven in the Two Grey Hills area. Known for their fine quality and high thread count per inch, a piece twenty by thirty-two inches can be on the loom for fourteen months after forty-five days are spent preparing the wool before weaving begins. Patterns and designs are rarely diagrammed, and even the youngest weaver is taught to plan her designs and colors in her head – to visualize the complete product. Symbols for "falling rain," "rain far-off," "mountain," "turkey track," woven into the rugs connect their creations with their lives, to their land. It can be said the meditative nature of weaving grounds them and contributes to their peaceful nature. The Crownpoint Weavers website, www.crownpointrugauction.com, explains that Navajo weaving is constantly changing: “Frequently we see a swing away from the old ‘regional’ design concept. Serious weavers are doing their own thing. They don’t want to be bound by tradition and are creating new and marvelous designs. Vegetal weavers are working with colors. Pictorial weavers are creating new landscapes and whimsical settings.” Each handmade rug is unique, literally one of a kind.

Auctions are held the second Friday of every month. Rugs are available for inspection before the auction begins. Navajo women weavers of all ages line the back and side walls of the Crownpoint Elementary School gymnasium as potential buyers swarm around the rugs piled on cafeteria-style tables. The Crownpoint Rug Auction gives buyers the unique opportunity to purchase Navajo rugs directly from the weavers themselves, at prices well below retail. For a small weaving the size of a placemat, bidding will start at $30 - $50, and it will sell for $80 - $100. Room-sized rugs can sell for as much as $1900 – $2200 or more. The night I attended, most rugs sold in the $300 - $500 range. A Navajo blanket sold at auction by Sotheby’s in New York for more than $100,000 in 1983 and a chief’s blanket in 1997 for $350,000.

Election Day dictated that I return from my California trip three days before the rug auction, by Tuesday, November 6^th, so I could vote in person. Reflecting on both events, I see parallels between Navajo rug weavers, Americans collectively as a nation and each of us individually. For each, our lives are a work of art. We weave our own creations from the elements in our lives. Changing demographics in our country required embracing a diverse national coalition to create the next administration. Regardless of how we voted individually, collectively we have chosen a vision for moving our country forward. Our dream for our country and ourselves embraces all demographics, including youth, women, Hispanics, African-Americans, white males, blue-collar workers. Collectively we have chosen to move forward into the unknown, releasing what no longer works, letting go of our fears.

Individually, we accept our wholeness, all the diverse aspects of ourselves represented by those demographics. Outer form represents the consciousness within. What part of you is a dreamer seeking education? What aspect of you longs for freedom beyond borders, unlimited opportunity for self-expression? How is self-determination part of your heart’s desires? How will our individual lives reflect sustainable green energy that respects the Earth, improved healthcare? What part of our own infrastructure needs and awaits repair? How will we create inner energy independence? Adjust to climate change in our lives within? What must we do to balance our own budget – not just financially, but energetically, qualitatively? How do we move our life vision forward, create our grand design?

The past is gone. Collectively we’ve committed to the new, to inclusion, to diversity, to working together, to honoring our oneness, to realizing, or making real, our wholeness. What will that look like individually and collectively? We don’t know yet. We’ll create it. Our life is a work of art. We’ve taken the first step by saying we’re committed to it.