Rug (Diné)
Maker Once Known, Diné (Navajo) People (Southwestern United States)
Rug (n.d.)
wool, aniline dye
171.0 x 116.0 cm
Gift of Waldemar and Elizabeth Fries
74-99
This vibrant rug was the work of a Diné (Navajo) artisan and features wool in several natural and dyed colors to create this geometric design. The red is an aniline dye, while the other shades of grey, black, and cream are natural shades of Navajo-churro wool. When examining this piece during a visit to the museum as the Textile Photography Project was in full swing, Tyrrell Tapaha (Diné) pointed out the 'side stepping shadows' (sometimes called lazy lines) which can be seen in the red areas of the rug. It is especially clear in the bottom right portion of the image above. They explained, "This weaving technique is often used by the older generation to work in smaller sections." Essentially, while the entire piece is set up on the loom (the warp), the weaver chooses to work only using some of these warps at a time, rather than working across the whole width (the weft) of the piece. If the dye across the whole body of the textile is not consistent, transitions between yarns will be evident, so you can see where one small area of red weaving abuts a new section of weaving. Tyrrell has noted in their own reflections on weaving that it can be a slow process, especially for large pieces: "Weaving in the winter is so defeating, especially bigger ones, and especially when I use finer yarn. I’ll weave for eight hours and be lucky to get an inch.” Perhaps the side stepping technique is also a way for the weaver to more consistently see their progress?
This rug has also been patched with a 1" weaving along the left side. During the condition reporting phase of the project, the collection team was sure to note these kinds of wear and repair of objects in the collection. As an anthropology museum, this kind of use, wear, and repair is fairly common in our collections as we are often most interested in how people make objects and then use them in their daily lives. As the patch on this piece has stabilized and protected the area of the rug that had started to fray, we can note it, and then reflect on how this rug may have been used to cause that area of wear; perhaps that edge wore from its location in the room it was placed (e.g. under a door swing that caught the edge, or by a piece of furniture that moved onto it repeatedly like a chair leg).
This page has paths:
- The Things that Make a Home Jessica Nelson
- Decorative Techniques from Around the World Jessica Nelson