This gorgeously illustrated book presents important information on Pueblo, Navajo, Rio Grande, and Northern Mexican weaving styles. Traditional and modern styles of blankets, clothing, and rugs are identified and explained in detail, with brief accounts of some of the old trading posts that sold them, along with discussions of family styles among weavers today.

A history and description of southwestern textiles along with a catalog of Pueblo, Navajo, Mexican, and Spanish American blankets, ponchos, and sarapes.

Debunks the romanticist stereotyping of Navajo weavers and Reservation traders and situates weavers within the economic history of the southwest.

According to the Navajos, the holy people Spider Man and Spider Woman first brought the tools for weaving to the People. Over the centuries Navajo artists have used those tools to weave a web of beautyÑa rich tradition that continues to the present day. In testimony to this living art form, this book presents 74 dazzling color plates of Navajo rugs and wall hangings woven between 1971 and 1996. Drawn from a private southwestern collection, they represent the work of sixty of the finest native weavers in the American Southwest. The creations depicted here reflect a number of stylesÑrevival, sandpainting, pictorial, miniature, samplerÑand a number of major regional variations, from Ganado to Teec Nos Pos. Textile authority Ann Hedlund provides an introductory narrative about the development of Navajo textile collectingÑincluding the shift of attention from artifacts to artÑand a brief review of the history of Navajo weaving. She then comments on the shaping of the particular collection represented in the book, offering a rich source of knowledge and insight for other collectors. Explaining themes in Navajo weaving over the quarter-century represented by the Santa Fe Collection, Hedlund focuses on the development of modern rug designs and the influence on weavers of family, community, artistic identity, and the marketplace. She also introduces each section of plates with a description of the representative style, its significance, and the weavers who perpetuate and deviate from it. In addition to the textile plates, Hedlund's color photographs show the families, landscapes, livestock, hogans, and looms that surround today's Navajo weavers. Navajo Weaving in the Late Twentieth Century explores many of the important connections that exist today among weavers through their families and neighbors, and the significant role that collectors play in perpetuating this dynamic art form. For all who appreciate American Indian art and culture, this book provides invaluable guidance to the fine points of collecting and a rich visual feast.

Explores the history and evolution of Navajo and Pueblo fabric arts, with 250-plus color illustrations of examples from the Southwest Museum's collection, 57 details of the works, and 49 historical photographs. Includes accounts of the early collectors and some of the colorful people who were involved in the founding of the museum and the shaping of its collection.

In 1984, while studying textiles in the collections of the School of American Research, Kate Peck Kent discovered a manuscript on Spanish-American weaving by the late H.P. Mera, curator of archaeology at Santa Fe's Lab of Anthropology. This forgotten manuscript describes the origin and history of the distinctive textiles woven by Spanish-Americans in New Mexico. Kate Peck Kent was professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Denver, a research associate at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a resident scholar at the School of American Research. Dr. Kent has also written Pueblo Indian Textiles and Navajo Weaving: Three Centuries of Change which describes and interprets the textile collections at the School of American Research's Indian Arts Research Center.

"With the inborn wisdom that has guided them for so long through so many obstacles, Hopi men and women perpetuate their proven rituals, strongly encouraging those who attempt to neglect or disrespect their obligations to uphold them. One of these obligations is to respect the flora and fauna of our planet. The Hopi closeness to the Earth is represented in all the arts of all three mesas, whether in clay or natural fibers. What clay is to a potter's hands, natural fibers are to a basket weaver."--from the Introduction Rising dramatically from the desert floor, Arizona's windswept mesas have been home to the Hopis for hundreds of years. A people known for protecting their privacy, these Native Americans also have a long and less known tradition of weaving baskets and plaques. Generations of Hopi weavers have passed down knowledge of techniques and materials from the plant world around them, from mother to daughter, granddaughter, or niece. This book is filled with photographs and detailed descriptions of their beautiful baskets--the one art, above all others, that creates the strongest social bonds in Hopi life. In these pages, weavers open their lives to the outside world as a means of sharing an art form especially demanding of time and talent. The reader learns how plant materials are gathered in canyons and creek bottoms, close to home and far away. The long, painstaking process of preparation and dying is followed step by step. Then, using techniques of coiled, plaited, or wicker basketry, the weaving begins. Underlying the stories of baskets and their weavers is a rare glimpse of what is called "the Hopi Way," a life philosophy that has strengthened and sustained the Hopi people through centuries of change. Many other glimpses of the Hopi world are also shared by author and photographer Helga Teiwes, who was warmly invited into the homes of her collaborators. Their permission and the permission of the Cultural Preservation Office of the Hopi Tribe gave her access to people and information seldom available to outsiders. Teiwes was also granted access to some of the ceremonial observances where baskets are preeminent. Woven in brilliant reds, greens, and yellows as well as black and white, Hopi weavings, then, not only are an arresting art form but also are highly symbolic of what is most important in Hopi life. In the women's basket dance, for example, woven plaques commemorate and honor the Earth and the perpetuation of life. Other plaques play a role in the complicated web of Hopi social obligation and reciprocity. Living in a landscape of almost surreal form and color, Hopi weavers are carrying on one of the oldest arts traditions in the world. Their stories in Hopi Basket Weaving will appeal to collectors, artists and craftspeople, and anyone with an interest in Native American studies, especially Native American arts. For the traveler or general reader, the book is an invitation to enter a little-known world and to learn more about an art form steeped in meaning and stunning in its beauty.

This ground-breaking book documents the weaving traditions and textiles of one of Asia's most ethnically diverse areas, placing them in a regional context. Based on more than a decade of first-hand study in the field, the authors record the traditions of Miao, Yao, Buyi, Dong, Zhuang, Maonan, Dai and Li weavers from Guizhou to Hainan Island. They describe the looms and techniques of these groups, including diagrams, descriptions and photographs of the weaving processes and woven structures. Each tradition is illustrated with outstanding examples of textiles, drawn from the He Haiyan collection in Beijing, including many 19th century examples.The authors present a novel analysis of loom technology across the Asian mainland, using techniques derived from linguistics and biology. They use these to chart the evolutionary history of looms in Asia, demonstrating that all the major traditions are related in spite of their apparent diversity. The results have far-reaching implications, for example shedding light on the development of the Chinese Drawloom and showing how key patterning features were derived from Tai-Kadai looms.The book is a visual delight as well as a resource for scholars, collectors and curators. The fieldwork in this book is a primary, while the looms and techniques will be essential reading for those interested in weaving and textile history, as well as contemporary weavers and designers wishing to learn how to reproduce traditional patterns and methods. The account of the development and links between weaving cultures will be a revelation for those interested in cultural evolution and the diversity of mankind.

Profiles a West Bengali caste specializing in producing painted narrative scrolls and performing songs to accompany their unrolling.