The Navajo Tribe is world famous for detailed craftsmanship and precision skill with jewelry and drawings.  Navajo weavers create rugs that are among the best in the world.

Rug designs differ on the Reservation according to the region and clan who weave them.  Each rug is woven to include one small flaw in the final product in order that any evil spirits residing in the rug may have a way of escape.

Rugs woven by the grandmothers of the clan are held in great esteem and are in demand by the many tourists and collectors who visit the reservation each year.  Local traders have made positive impact on the marketing of these beautiful rugs, as they have helped with feedback from buyers in the East, and around the world.

In large cities such as Denver, Colorado and Phoenix, Arizona, a high quality Navajo rug may sell for as much as $10,000, or higher.  Collectors travel the Reservation each summer buying the rugs from the women for the markets in the cities around the world.

After the tragedy of 9-11-01, one local weaver created a rug that depicted the New York City skyline, with the World Trade Center towers still standing.  Martha Smith, from Lupton, Arizona (30 miles west of Gallup, New Mexico) wove the rug.  Ellis Tanner, a prominent Gallup trader, purchased the rug and lent it to the American Craft Museum in NYC until September 2002.  The weaving, which Mr. Tanner counts as priceless, will be on display in his store after it has toured the U.S.

Sandpaintings

Of the many traditional arts of the Navajo Tribe, one of the most highly developed and most beautiful is called the sandpainting.

Until recently, sandpainting was entirely a religious art and even today is practiced primarily as a ritual art in the conduct of ceremonies.  Commercial sandpaintings are altered from the ones used ceremonially.

The materials used to create these designs (which are not permanent) are sand, ground rock, ground charcoal, pollens, and other naturally colored substances.

Sandpainting is not an art restricted to the Navajo.  The Pueblo people, a distant relative of the Navajos, also practice sandpainting, as do the Apache and other Indian Tribes in the Arizona area.

Sandpaintings today are often found in many tourist shops and open air markets for purchase by the general public.

FOR MORE INFO ON NAVAJO ARTS AND CRAFTS

VISIT NAVAJO ARTS AND CRAFTS ENTERPRISE AT www.gonavajo.com

courtesy of www.gonavajo.com