Bright Lights

Marie Watson Nez, <i>Untitled </i>(2001), 60 inches by 72 inches, 1-ply Germantown yarn.

Marie Watson Nez, Untitled (2001), 60 inches by 72 inches, 1-ply Germantown yarn.

Contemporary artists revive the art of traditional Navajo "Eyedazzlers," weavings with roots in Germantown.

by Susan Hagen

At the Sedgwick Cultural Center in Mount Airy this fall, visitors are greeted with an unusual sight. A Southwestern trading post with authentic stuff for sale is set up in lobby of the gallery, including bundles of yarn, dozens of Navajo weavings of all sizes, turquoise jewelry, canned goods and cassette recordings of Indian pop bands. Continuing into the main gallery viewers can see an exhibition of 20 more weavings, installed more conventionally, that are hung vertically against backdrops of black fabric. This two-part presentation allows us to consider both the aesthetic and the social issues behind the production of the weavings.

Though most of the weavings in the show were made during the past six or seven years, the designs and construction methods of these "Eyedazzlers" (also called "Germantowns") are a contemporary revival of a distinct period in Navajo culture. In 1863 the Navajo were defeated by the U.S. government and relocated after the 300-mile "Long Walk" to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. Their crops and livestock had been destroyed and their centuries-old traditional method of weaving, using homegrown wool and natural vegetable dyes, terminated. Yet even during their incarceration, women unraveled Army-issued socks and blankets and continued weaving. Before long, they were supplied with brightly colored, synthetically dyed yarn that was manufactured in Germantown. Energizing traditional Navajo patterns with bright color schemes and the Saltillo serape patterns that they saw at Fort Sumner, the women developed the Eyedazzler style of weaving. These popular weavings were sold to tourists and collectors on reservation trading posts after their return to their homelands. The style flourished for about 40 years, until the Navajo re-established their sheep flocks and returned to traditional weaving.

After an exhibition and catalogue produced by the University of Pennsylvania brought attention to this forgotten weaving style in the mid-1990s, Navajo weavers began a revival of the Eyedazzler style. Encouraged by the efforts of Bruce Burnham, a fourth-generation non-Indian trader and his wife, Virginia, a Navajo weaver, a group of weavers in the New Lands area near Sanders, Ariz., began to rework some of the Eyedazzler patterns using a re-manufactured 19th-century Germantown yarn developed by John Wilde and Brother, Inc. of Manayunk. The advantage to this approach from a contemporary weaver’s point of view is that the labor-intensive processes of shearing, carding, spinning and dying, which would normally double the time and effort required to make a weaving, are eliminated. Weavers are able to produce more weavings -- an important product in their economy -- and to sell them for a lower price. Many weavers have also used this opportunity to explore innovative new designs, such as beadwork, computer graphics and psychedelic patterns.

These contemporary Eyedazzlers make a brilliantly expressive contrast to the refined and subtle natural-dyed weavings that are also still being made by Navajo weavers. Like many weavers, Mae Clark was trained by her mother to expertly weave traditional storm pattern rugs. But her creativity was sparked by Eyedazzlers. She wrote, "When I look at a Germantown rug I see the triumph of the human spirit and how the Navajo came away from the Long Walk with harmony, beauty and freedom." Her untitled rug (72 by 48 inches) in the "Simpson Yei" pattern boldly depicts a mythical spiritual guardian (a taboo subject until very recently) standing on a feather shape. There are borders on the top and bottom with geometric silhouettes of Monument Valley at sunrise and dusk. The colors are rich plum, turquoise, charcoal, white and rainbow hues of yellow, red and orange. Clark is interested in the sacred fire colors of the Native American Church -- white, yellow, orange, red, maroon and charcoal -- and uses them evocatively in most of her weavings.

Rose Yazzie’s exquisite weaving (74 by 59 inches) has a beautifully composed pattern of squares set into a black background. Each square -- made of overlapping diamonds, star shapes, zigzags, or tiny Juicy Fruit stripes -- seems unique and self-contained, but together they add up to something new. At a distance, the dramatically contrasting colors and patterns are woven together by the eye into a wonderfully unified design. The weaving technique is immaculate. Another impressive untitled weaving (about 6 by 4 feet) by the young artist Melissa Cody (who is a member of a long-standing weaving family and a student at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe) is a sort of postmodern sampler of designs, including Eyedazzler, Wide Ruins and other contemporary designs. Cody has layered seven distinct horizontal bands -- composed of brilliant colors like crimson, orange and lime green -- in a spirited and unique statement that honors her heritage.

Though these Eyedazzlers revive memories of a tragic period of American history, they beautifully celebrate the human spirit and the vitality of contemporary Navajo weavers.

Presentation by Gwen Sebastian-Hill on the poems, dances and traditions of Native Americans, Nov. 23, 3 p.m., and Dec. 14, 2 p.m.; weaving demonstration by Eyedazzler artist Jennie Slick, Dec. 6 and 7, 1 p.m.; "The Indian Trading Post and the Navajo People" lecture by Bruce Burnham, Dec. 14, 3 p.m.; call 215-248-9229 for more information.

EYEDAZZLERS: THE TWO-CENTURY ROMANCE OF NAVAJO WEAVING AND GERMANTOWN YARN

Through Dec. 20, Sedgwick Cultural Center, 7137 Germantown Ave., 215-248-9229