by Janet
Eastman
Los Angeles Times
13 May 2004
Entertainment
lawyer Lawrence Rose spends his days fighting for his
clients, and at night he retreats home to be watched
over by nine dancing Yei-be-cheis. The figures, woven
into a Navajo rug in the entryway, represent the
protective grandparents of Native American gods.
"There's
a calming quality about the Southwest style and a spirit
to Navajo rugs," said Rose from his Adobe Revival
house, which overlooks Beverly Hills, Calif.
"People in my business need a peaceful place to
inhabit, a vacation house in the city. Once I'm here, I
can forget what happens outside."
That's
the power of Navajo rugs, a 300-year-old art form
inspired by nature and the supernatural, created one
line at a time by weavers using upright looms.
With
the rugs' ordered patterns of zigzags, arrows and hooks
in burnt red, cream and black, they capture attention in
every home, from rough-hewn cabins and Arts and Crafts
bungalows to ranch styles and white-walled moderns.
Ralph Lauren, Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford have
Navajo rugs in their Great Plains estates.
The
head of Design Within Reach, a contemporary furniture
chain, displays his collection in a minimalist house
outside Sonoma, Calif.
"People
are interested in the rugs' decorative qualities,
aesthetic value and emotional connection to the life and
traditions of a distinct and fascinating culture,"
said David Roche, Sotheby's specialist in American
Indian art. "There's an excitement to these
textiles and a universal quality."
Sales
are up
Sales
of new rugs have jumped about 15 percent a year since
the Southwestern design boom in the 1980s, rug experts
say. The price of a 4- by 6-foot new rug, which might
take months to weave, starts at a few thousand dollars.
The
value of old rugs has zoomed, too. A diamond-patterned
Navajo weaving from the 19th century sold to a private
collector at a Sotheby's auction for $401,000 three
years ago, eight times more than the highest bidder paid
for a comparable one a year before.
Web
sites are heating up interest and making the rugs easier
to find outside art galleries, museum gift shops, craft
fairs and auctions. Rose bought his rugs through
www.navajorug.com, which is run by Steve Getzwiller, a
leader in preserving traditional Navajo weaving.
Getzwiller's gallery is on his Nizhoni Ranch near
Sonoita, Ariz., southeast of Tucson. Clients who can't
visit in person are e-mailed images of rugs. They select
the ones they want delivered to their home, where they
make a final decision.
Getzwiller
works only with weavers on the Navajo reservation who
use soft wool from Churro sheep that is then naturally
dyed, a laborious process that hadn't been used in this
area for a century until Getzwiller helped reintroduce
it.
The
Spanish brought herds of Churro sheep to the Southwest
in the 1500s, and Navajos used the long, straight wool
fibers to make tightly woven, water-resistant saddle and
shoulder blankets prized by other American Indians,
Mexicans and U.S. traders. Larger blankets later were
used as rugs.
Dyes
for yarn were created by boiling plants and rocks.
Secret recipes to make brownish reds from prickly pear
cactus fruit, juniper root and red rock were passed from
mother to daughter. Some wool was left undyed to make
creamy white, light brown, gray or black backgrounds.
Black wool comes from a lamb's first shearing, before
the wool is bleached by the sun.
In
the early 1900s, tourists hopped on trains headed to
reservations in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico and took
home rugs as souvenirs. To keep up with the demand,
profit-minded trading post owners gave weavers synthetic
dyes and commercially processed yarns that cut down on
time and expense.
Today,
Navajo rugs made the traditional way with hand-spun wool
are valued more than quickly made imitations because
they have a smoother texture and are heavier because of
the residual lanolin in the wool. Some of the finest
rugs are considered tapestries because they have more
than 80 threads per inch, compared with a good-quality
rug with 30 threads per inch or a cheap knockoff with
six per inch.
Well-made
rugs lie flat without puckering, have straight edges and
corners and, when folded, have a balanced pattern. They
aren't exactly uniform, however, because they're not
machine-made. Some weavers even add imperfections. A
break in the border could be a "spirit line,"
a tiny line of yarn that is said to allow the spirit of
the artisan of the rug to be free.
Regional
styles
Over
the years, regions on the Navajo reservation developed
distinct styles. The Two Grey Hills area in New Mexico
is known for its complex geometrical designs woven from
undyed black, gray and brown wool. Rugs from Teec Nos
Pos in Arizona have bold borders, and those from Ganado,
Ariz., have red backgrounds.
The
weaving on Rose's entryway wall shows Yei-be-cheis
performing a Night Way ceremony, in which illness is
driven away over nine nights. Some people believe rugs
depicting sacred ceremonies shouldn't be walked on. Rose
has a practical reason for keeping his rugs off the
floor: His four dogs "would ruin anything in two
seconds." Rose's rugs also are draped over
furniture. There is one with a storm pattern design on a
couch in the den, as well as a gray, blue and brown
weaving on top of a dresser in the master bedroom.
"I
wish I had more places to put the rugs," Rose said.
"I appreciate the colors, design and craftsmanship,
but there's only so much space."
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