Saddle Blanket

Label

This saddle blanket was made by a Diné woman toward the end of the 19th century during the so-called Transition Period (1880–1895) following the arrival of the railroad to the Navajo Reservation. Increased access to brightly colored commercial yarns and synthetic dyes sparked experimentation among weavers, who incorporated new, more vibrant colors into existing designs and generated new styles such as the geometric patterns and serrated lines of the  “eyedazzler” seen here.

Diné weaving cannot be reduced to technique and design, however, as it is also the expression of the lessons learned from Na’ashjé’ii Asdzáá (Spider Woman), who taught the Diné to weave as well as the concept of Hózhó. Scholars Linda Teller Pete and Barbara Teller Ornelas explain: Hózhó is our way of life, to live in balance and beauty. We do not separate the weaving arts from our culture, spirituality, daily life, or our connection to the earth. Weaving is a way for us to live in balance.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World,  curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 5–July 22, 2022.

Provenance

Clara G. Corser Turner Churchill (1851-1945) and Frank Carroll Churchill (1850-1912), Southwestern United States, 1903-1907; bequeathed to present collection, 1946.

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