Colorful and symbolic Navajo blankets and rugs will be on display at Colonial Williamsburg beginning this summer.
Navajo Weavings: Tradition and Trade opens July 14 at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, according to a Colonial Williamsburg Foundation release. The exhibit runs through May 2020.
“As Colonial Williamsburg continuously strives to illustrate America’s enduring history, it is especially significant to be able to share with our visitors this extraordinary collection of American Indian textiles,” said Mitchell B. Reiss, president and CEO of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. “The motifs in these weavings will offer our guests important awareness of this vibrant culture through their artistic traditions.”
Twenty-six works of Navajo art will be on display through a loan from American folk art collectors Pat and Rex Lucke.
The exhibit will feature the artwork of Navajo tribes from the 18th and 19th centuries. Navajo women used hand looms to create pictorial blankets and rugs for generations, and their artwork evolved because of external influences.
The collections includes blankets called “chiefs blankets” that were meant to be worn. The oldest known and remaining Navajo weaving that contains pictorial elements – dating to between 1855 and 1865 — is a part of the collection.
Most of the blankets depict objects or scenes that were common in the Navajo’s native lands but often include modern twists. For example, one weaving depicts corn, a sacred plant for the Navajo, alongside a locomotive.
Later weavings were even made on commercially-produced wool.
“Navajo pictorial weavings provide an insight into the cultural changes of the Diné [the Navajo’s name for their people] and a record of their daily life,” said Kimberly Smith Ivey, senior curator of textiles at Colonial Williamsburg. “The Navajo weaver integrated traditional Diné imagery and symbolism with images of modern life influenced by trade and other cultures. The best examples reveal aspects of the artist’s personality and imagination, such as an independent spirit and sense of humor.”
The exhibit is funded by an anonymous donor. The Luckes live in Nebraska and began collecting antiques and folk art in the 1970s.
“For American Indian art aficionados, textile admirers, folk art enthusiasts and anyone who appreciates design and Navajo culture, Navajo Weavings is an exhibition not to be missed,” the release said.
Tickets are available at Colonial Williamsburg’s website or by calling 855-296-6627.
