Native American Archives - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Native American

A bit of travel

First morning walk. I always love bridges.

View from parking lot. Just ignore the cars and enjoy the mountain.

Last year, around this time, I traveled to Golden, Colorado for Art Biz Makeover. This year, Alyson Stanfield held a similar event called Art Biz Breakthrough. I can’t begin to explain the energy in the room, a roomful of artists, for this event. Amazing! So much energy, so much encouragement, so much understanding! It was wonderful!

One of many framed posters in the hallway of the hotel. Anybody know who Roy Rogers is?

Buffalo girls poster

After Golden, I drove to Denver to visit a friend and go to the Denver Art Museum. Not only did I get to see the wonderful tapestry exhibit there, but I saw the Native American art in the permanent collection. I’ve been to the Denver Art Museum one other time, and it’s a really stellar museum. Go, if you get a chance. Here’s the first thing you see when the elevator doors open. This amazing sculpture is called Mud Woman Rolls On by Roxanne Swentzell. The sculpture is 10 feet high and is very striking.

Mud Woman Rolls On by Roxanne Swentzell. Very impressive and large–10 feet high!

I didn’t get the potters name, but I love this. How many different fish can you think of? Can you see something like this as a weaving?

Masks–always a favorite of mine

Blankets stacked from floor to ceiling, each tagged–pretty darn impressive!

On Monday, I wrote about weaving the Christmas tree from Mirrix Looms. I took my small Lani loom, surrounded by clothes, in my suitcase. She traveled well, and was especially welcome at night as I rested before the TV in my hotel room.

Since snow and high winds were expected in Denver for today, I changed my flight to Monday–besides, I was just ready to go home. ;))

Another wishful-thinking field trip

Another field trip is in order…Denver. Wonder how long it would take (and how much it would cost) to travel from DFW to Denver, down to Santa Fe/Taos, then on to Flagstaff, Scottsdale, and Tucson? The train between Albuquerque and Flag might be fun.

Anyway, this Denver Museum Spun: Adventures in Textiles exhibit looks to be a great one. This picture is amazing! Look how the pieces seem to be lighted from behind; they seem to glow, don’t they?

Today will be another day to the same–weaving, wrapping ikat. Gosh, I hope my math is right! If not, I’m doing a lot of wrapping for nothing. Maybe I should plan on a stand-up wrapping table. I am going to weave standing today.

Learned something new

Learned something new–I had no idea that the weaving of Navajo blankets began so long ago. The quote below is from here. And you can see the Sotheby press release here.

While it is thought that Navajo blankets were woven from the late 1600’s, very few dating from before 1850 have survived. By that time the blankets were well established as a trade item throughout large parts of the American West. The going rate for a Navajo chief’s blanket was one hundred buffalo hides, twenty horses, ten rifles, or five ounces of gold. Chief’s blankets were expensive – by 1830, they were the most expensive garments in the world, but were known for holding their value and were essential for high ranking members of the Plains and Prairie tribes.

And another artist, Joyce Pensato. Several things fascinate me about this artist. The fact that the above piece is painted with enamel on linen is one. But then I checked for other images, and it seems that Batman is a continuing theme, just now branching out into color, and the way she works. See quote below from here.

Pensato draws in charcoal and paints in enamel. For years her palette has been black, white and silver, though color is beginning to make an appearance in her recent paintings. Her drawing process is one of making marks, rubbing them out and making more marks, with line being the essential form. In her paintings, the line is made of enamel that initially appears to have been applied quickly, though its varying densities and its field of drips and splatters makes it clear that it wasn’t done in a single shot. In both drawing and painting Pensato is committed to finding the linear form that captures her subject matter, the cartoon characters and toys of contemporary American culture.

Somehow, an artist using cartoon characters to make this kind of art is surprising to me. But I am interested in line, and of course, color. More images here.