Art Literacy: Focus on Navajo Weaving & the Art of Andrew Wyeth

In April, Bonny Slope students created a small weaving design by threading colorful ribbon in a single layer. The Navajo people are famous for creating color weaving using bold geometric shapes to create rugs and blankets. The Navajo people are the second-largest American Indian tribe in the U.S., after the Cherokee. The Navajo live in a reservation in the southwestern United States. Their reservation spans across New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Anthropologists speculate that the Navajos learned to weave from Pueblo people by 1650. Pueblo Indians lived predominately in northern New Mexico and Arizona. The Spanish influenced Pueblo weaving by the time they shared their weaving skills with Navajo people. Spanish influence includes the substitution of wool for cotton, the introduction of indigo blue dye, and simple stripe patterning. While Pueblo weavers remained conservative, Navajo weavers learned that yarn did not need to be passed through each time, but rather, by stopping at whatever point they wished they could create patterning other than horizontal bands. These “pauses” in Navajo weaving are often seen as “lazy-lines” (diagonal lines across the horizontal yarn) in finished pieces. By 1800, weavers were using this technique to create terraced lines. Navajo weavers also demonstrated more willingness to use color than their Pueblo teachers.

The final artist Bonny Slope students will study this year is Andrew Wyeth. Wyeth was an American artist famous for his perfection of the dry brush technique. In watercolor painting, the dry brush technique is where the brush is just dipped in water and using a paper towel most of the paint is removed. The technique is used to create a variety of textured surfaces such as foliage, bark, stone, or clouds. Wyeth painted in both watercolor and tempera. Bonny Slope students will mirror Wyeth’s technique by creating a wonderful watercolor landscape.
Sources:

Navajo.” America the Beautiful. 2009. Grolier Online. 8 May 2009 http://atb.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?templatename=topics.html&assetid=atb093&assettype=t.

A Brief Social History of Navajo Weaving. www.collectorsguide.com/fa/fa064.shtml Accessed 5/12/2009.  

Elzea, Rowland. “Wyeth, Andrew.” Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2009. Grolier Online. 8 May 2009 http://gme.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0316200-0.