| Ill.2. Detail, and a closer detail, Plate 34. Chant Weave, beginning of "Great Star" |
There are 83 illustrations in The Song of the Loom, beginning with a late classic serape, circa 1865, and ending with a floor rug, circa 1934, woven in the style of an oriental carpet. Twenty-nine of the illustrations are of chant weaves, also known as sandpainting tapestries. All of the textiles illustrated are in the collection of a prominent East Coast collector. All 83 were exhibited at the Montclair Art Museum from September 27 to November 29, 1987, and at The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., from March 17 to July 31, 1987. (The Song of the Loom was published by Hudson Hills Press, New York, in 1987, in association with the Montclair Art Museum, approximately $35 cloth.) To my knowledge, this was the first major exhibition to display high-quality modern Navajo weavings side-by-side with high-quality, historic examples.
In his introduction, Dockstader addresses the problem of old versus new in Navajo weaving:
"One of the attitudes frequently encountered concerning many forms of art -- and most particularly in the field of American Indian art -- is that the work today is not as fine as it used to be. At first glance this may seem true, since much of the "Indian art" offered in most curio or souvenir shops is of average quality and may or may not reflect the best efforts of the maker.
But any examination of the products of the best artists, displayed at a museum exhibition, a major competition, or in one of the better-quality galleries, will quickly demonstrate the fallacy of the statement. When they put forth their very best efforts, those individuals in whose body flows the blood of the old-time artists are today capable of producing classic examples of weaving, silver and ceramics every bit the equal of their ancestors and can often surpass them, both technically and esthetically."
The Song of the Loom is dedicated to this premise; and although not every example in the exhibition is of that superlative quality, all are of an excellence that shows the skills of the fifty-five weavers (forty known and fifteen anonymous) whose work is included. Moreover, a majority of the eighty-three textiles that have been selected comprise a well-balanced demonstration of the very finest weaving skills of any period of Navajo history.
The introduction is followed by a chapter entitled "Song of the Past -- The Traditions." Here Dockstader offers a chronology of the known history of the Navajos, beginning with their arrival in the American Southwest circa 1400, and closing with a brief discussion of the contemporary Navajo rug market. The chapter includes some interesting statistics:
"Today, the Navajo are the largest Indian tribe in the United States, with a 1985 population estimated at over 170,000 individuals, inhabiting a reservation of approximately 160 million acres in Arizona and New Mexico. In 1973 a census of weavers recorded 28,000 women who knew how to weave. How many were regularly producing textiles is not recorded: a fair guess would probably place the total between 5,000 and 7,500... And, although the number of textiles per capita may have declined slightly, this seems most likely due to the fact that the weavers take more pains with their work in response to the demand for higher quality, thereby producing fewer examples, but for which they are far better paid.
" The second chapter, "Song of the Hatali -- The Religion," is the most informative chapter in the book. In five pages,Dockstader sheds more light on the ways and the mysteries of Navajo medicine than any book in print on the subject.
"The religious life of the Navajo people, while complex in organization, practice and paraphernalia, has a relatively simple central core: the purification, curing, and treatment of the mind and body of the individual and the society. While accomplished in varying ways, all of the ceramonies are dedicated to the elimination of sickness and evil and to the establishment of tranquility and harmony in their place."
 Ill. 2. Plate 29. Chant Weave: Night Way | The next two chapters, "Song of the Weaver -- Techniques and Materials" and "Song of the Loom -- The Present," give good technical and sociological background for the illustrations but, after reading "The Song of the Hatali -- The Religion," the reader should skip directly to the 29 illustrated chant weaves, beginning with Plate 29. These 29 weavings are some of the most extraordinary modern art, Indian or Anglo, produced during the 20th century. Each weaving depicts a Navajo sandpainting. The dieties, animals, plants, and geometric configurations in each chant weave are nonsymbolic components of the Navajo healing ceremonies. Navajos believe that the presence of these components, and their proper arrangement by the medicine man, is what reorders the patient's condition and restores his or her well being. The sickness of disorder is replaced by the control and harmony associated with the Navajo word Hozho. (There is no literal translation for Hozho, but "balance" is a workable idiom.) When you study the compositions, the colors, and the styles of the chant weaves, Hozho seems less and less abstract. Each of the 83 illustrations is extensively captioned, and it is in the captions that Dockstader does some of his best writing in the book. The captions list the weaver, locale, date, style, function, material, length, width and yarn count of each textile, followed by a paragraph on the weaving's iconography and overall design. These captions are especially informative in the chant weaves section of the illustrations, where Dockstader patiently identifies each of the dieties and explains their relationships to each other. |
Plate 36 by Alberta Thomas of Oak Springs, Arizona, is also from the Great Star Chant. The weaving depicts a central, four-point star surrounded by 12 smaller stars. Dockstader's caption reads:
| "This depicts the Great Blue Star surrounded by twelve small evil stars, a very powerful evil-chasing ceremony held for a woman. Stars are dangerous because they cannot be seen in daylight and their movements cannot be traced at night. That is why people have sickness and accidents at night. " Plate 47, also by Alberta Thomas, depicts Nayenezgani, one of the Holy People in the Navajo pantheon. In English, Nayenezgani is known as "Monster Slayer." The proportions of this weaving are flawless and exact: it would be impossible to add or remove a thread without violating the Hozho of the piece. The illustrated section is followed by a fine glossary which includes both the Navajo and the English terms for many of the styles, techniques, locations, and traditions associated with historic and modern Navajo weaving.The Song of the Loom closes with biographical notes on each of the weavers whose works are illustrated. Each weaver is pictured in black and white and, in most cases, quoted. Betty Joe Yazzie, 55, of Red Rock, Arizona, summed up many of the themes established in The Song of the Loom when asked why she became a weaver: "That's the only way I earn extra money to support myself, and I enjoy weaving. When I don't weave, I feel sick." |  Ill. 3. Plate 36. Chant Weave: Great Star |
