Weaving a World: Textiles and the Navajo Way of Seeing [Paperback]

Paul G. Zolbrod (Author), Roseann Willink (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2001

Navajo weavings, long regarded for their remarkable aesthetics, have never before been investigated from the standpoint of the weaver's process and intent. WEAVING A WORLD explores the patterns and irregularities often overlooked or considered 'flaws' in these beautiful textiles, and it seeks to identify the mythic symbols and historic and personal stories they contain. The inclusion of objects and the use of colour, pattern, and weave variations are found to be significant symbols of the way a weaver thinks about the world. A weaver may pray her way into the centre of the rug, where the most intricate work and colour will appear. Patterns may portray a vision of the world animated by spirits and holy people, recounting the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the loom itself. WEAVING A WORLD includes seventy rugs from the celebrated collection of the Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and documentary photographs of today's weaving culture on the reservation. Winner, RMBPA, Trade Book Illustrated, 1997.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Professors who have written widely on Navajo culture, the authors let Navajos speak for themselves, explaining how their rugs and blankets are related to their culture and mythology. Navajo unity with the earth and their harmony in life is shown in the symbols found in rugs, specifically in 70 illustrated here. Other photos of the landscape illustrate parallels with rug design. A new discovery is that weavers put tiny, barely visible slivers of animal skin or feathers or pouches of sacred pollen in the weft to insure strength or skill or to secure blessings. This is not a how-to book?go to Charles Amsden's Navaho Weaving: Its Technique and History (Rio Grande, 1964) for that?and myths are mentioned but not given in full. Still, this catalog, which accompanies Santa Fe's Museum of Indian Arts and Culture exhibit "Listening to Rugs," is a good introduction to the beauty and worth, both spiritual and artistic, of Navajo weaving.?Gay Neale, Southside Virginia Community Coll. Lib, Alberta
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Navajo weavings have long been highly regarded for their aesthetic beauty and great degree of technical expertise. Literature and linguistics are areas of knowledge that Zolbrod and Willink bring to this truly illuminating study of patterns and symbols found in Navajo textiles and their significance. Seventy works are included, gathered from New Mexico's Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, along with photographs chronicling the lives of contemporary weavers and the sacred landscapes that provide inspiration. Zolbrod's keen observations meld with collaborator Willink's understanding of Navajo culture to present an exhilarating perspective--the notion of "listening with the eye." A fascinating, splendid book that also serves to document the exhibit, "Listening to Rugs." Alice Joyce

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Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Museum of New Mexico Press (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890133077
• ISBN-13: 978-0890133071
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #746,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Weaving as a Record of History, Art and Expression, April 12, 2008

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This review is from: Weaving a World: Textiles and the Navajo Way of Seeing (Paperback)

Like Lila O'Neale in her early twentieth century study Yurok/Karok Basket Weavers, the authors of this book, Willink and Zolbrod, have set about to "read Navajo rugs" through the eyes and minds of Navajo, mostly older weavers and their families. What we, the readers, get is a somewhat anecdotal filtering of ideas, recognitions, myth and oral history that indeed does lend surprising information about some of the designs.

But, the real jewels of this book are the weavings themselves. Forty separate color plates show rug after rug, over half predating 1900, from the School of American Research Collections in the Museum of New Mexico's Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Each is magnificent in its own way. Accompanying text relates a separate story for twenty-seven of them, organized into: The Mythic Memory; The Collective memory; Ceremonial Practices; Harmony and Disharmony; and A World In Motion.

What I personally love about this collection is the insight into balance, detail, symbolic representation and the fact that each weaving is strictly individual. A great reference for weaver and collector alike, my only criticism is that there aren't more close-up photos.