New York’s Diné Textiles Come Out Of The Closet At Bard Graduate Center

Spider Woman (Na’ashjéii Asdzáá) brought the gift of weaving to Diné (Navajo) people. Dinétah, the traditional homeland of the Diné, provided the materials.

Situated in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest, four mountain peaks define Dinétah’s boundaries: Blanca Peak (Sisnaajinį́), associated with the color white; Mount Taylor (Tsoodził), associated with the color blue; the San Francisco Peaks (Dook’o’oosłííd), associated with the color yellow; and Hesperus Mountain (Dibé Nitsaa), associated with the color black.

Spider Woman visited the mountains, taking from each what was required to weave.

Blanca Peak provided wood for her husband, Spider Man, to construct a loom. Mount Taylor possessed plants necessary in making dyes. San Francisco Peaks offered design patterns from the thunder gods. At Hesperus Mountain, she learned the prayers connected to the weaving process.

This information is shared during the first exhibition showcasing the American Museum of Natural History’s (AMNH) historic collection of Navajo textiles. “Shaped by the Loom: Weaving Worlds in the American Southwest” can be seen at Bard Graduate Center five blocks north of ANMH in New York across from Central Park through July 9, 2023. A companion online presentation includes the first catalogue of the AMNH’s nearly 250 Diné textiles.

Pairing rare weavings from the AMNH—most acquired a century ago and many never before exhibited—with contemporary Navajo textiles and materials, “Shaped by the Loom” explore the processes, traditions and cosmologies underpinning Navajo weaving. Immediately made clear is how Diné weavings are more than mere physical, utilitarian objects.

“Spider Woman then wove the first pattern of the universe. With her patterns, prayers, and songs, Spider Woman gifted her weaving knowledge to the Diné so that they could integrate hózhó into their daily lives and keep their communities nourished for generations to come,” Danielle Weindling explains in the online exhibition. “In Navajo culture, hózhó is the harmony, balance, and local order established between the Diné people, or Earth Surface People (Nihokáá Diné), and the Holy People (Diyin Diné) through daily practices and ritual ceremonies.”

Diné Textiles from American Museum of Natural History

Guiding exhibition curator Hadley Jensen throughout the project were Diné master weavers Lynda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas. The pair authored the first book about Navajo weaving written by Diné weavers.

This is a Diné story. Jensen and the Bard do not tell the story, they act as the conduit through which it is told by those who live it.

Bringing together Diné weavers and visual artists with objects from AMNH, “Shaped by the Loom” positions weaving as “an art form, a cultural practice, and a lived experience,” according to exhibition text. The gallery exhibition features 25 Diné textiles dating from the mid-1800s to present day, as well as objects including images by Diné photographers, and historic and contemporary weaving materials.

The AMNH collection of Diné textiles, most of which have remained in storage since their acquisition via donation or purchase by the museum in 1910-1911, is one of the most historically significant in the world. The museum closed its Southwest Hall in 1960 and while a small selection of these textiles has been loaned to exhibits elsewhere, they haven’t had a permanent exhibition space since.

Ways of Knowing

Weaving is an essential practice for Diné in maintaining connection with their culture. Dating back to their origin, these ways of knowing have been passed down ever since.

“It is an art form that requires embodied knowledge of techniques, designs and patterns as well as a deep understanding of other aspects that guide textile production: sheepherding and wool processing; the harvesting and preparation of dye plants; the construction of looms and other weaving tools; and the cosmologies (creation narratives) that inform a weaver’s work,” Jensen told Forbes.com.

“Ways of knowing” is central to the exhibition. This concept relates to the knowledge systems embedded in the cultural items and artworks on display.

“Three key ideas run through the exhibition: objects as an index of place (as an expression of the relationship between people and place); objects as an archive (of materials, designs, and knowledge); and objects as a mode of storytelling,” Jensen explains. “In ‘Shaped by the Loom,’ I was interested in reframing these categories to be more reflective of Diné ways of thinking about weaving—as an art form, a cultural practice, and a lived experience. This exhibition is not about chronology or a progression of periods, designs, and styles, but rather foregrounds Diné knowledge and lifeways related to textile production.”

Those lifeways, the ecosystem of craft production–working with sheep, harvesting dye plants, producing fibers, the individual and communal rhythms of making, the songs, stories and prayers that inform the practice of creating textiles–are represented in every item.

“With this in mind, ‘Shaped by the Loom’ highlights the localized and land-based knowledge systems that guide the process behind the finished product,” Jensen said. “Rather than emphasizing the ‘object,’ this perspective invites visitors to think about the cultural practices that shape this art form, and that give it meaning and value.”

Do not view these items as mere decoration or for their practical uses. Their cultural significance, the stories they hold, the spirituality and knowledge woven into them, elevate Diné textiles beyond simply rugs and blankets.

“One of our aims was to provide new interpretation and documentation about these historical items which are considered to have a life force of their own,” Jensen said. “Many weavers speak about them as cultural belongings rather than inanimate objects, and I hope the way we have presented them to the public will reveal those insights and prompt a new way of seeing.”

As the leading research institute in the United States dedicated to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture, Bard Graduate Center has pioneered the study of objects to better understand the cultural history of the material world. Jensen not only studied in preparation for the exhibition, she tried her hand at weaving herself.

“I was surprised by how mathematical it is, especially in creating a composition, thinking about color combinations, and then plotting one’s design,” Jensen explains. “It gave me a new appreciation for a weaver’s ability to think, plan, and implement designs from memory. Weaving requires incredible technical skill, attention to detail, creativity, and imagination, but most of all, patience!”

Native New York

2023 shapes up as the most exciting year in memory for the presentation of Native American art in New York.

Jack Shainman Gallery (513 West 20th Street) presents the debut exhibition of Rose Simpson’s (Santa Clara Pueblo) ceramic and mixed-media sculptures, “Road Less Traveled,” through April 8. Simpson has previously been profiled by Forbes.com.

The Whitney Museum of American Art exhibits “Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map” April 19 through August 13. More than the first New York retrospective for the iconic Smith (b. 1940, citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation), “Memory Map” represents the first solo show for a Native woman artist ever hosted by America’s most influential museum of American art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, located almost directly across Central Park from the Bard Graduate Center, opens “Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery” July 13. Organized by Santa Fe’s School for Advanced Research and New York’s Vilcek Foundation, the exhibition offers a visionary understanding of Pueblo pots as vessels of community-based knowledge and personal experience.