Chinle and Wide Ruins Areas Weavings
The Chinle area at the mouth of Canyon de Chelley has been the site of a number of trading posts, beginning with a tent in 1882, including J. L. Hubbell's "castle" in 1900, and finally settling with the Thunderbird Lodge.
The traders of the 1930's, Leon McSparron and his wife, experimented with vegetal dyes, which inspired the local weavers to revive the designs of the Classic Period of the early 1800's. Today, pastel commercial dyes are often used either solely or along with the natural vegetal dyes.
The Wide Ruins trading center is located east of Route 191 in the hill country of the southeast corner of the Navajo Reservation. The style is very similar to the Chinle, but generally consist of 100 percent vegetal dyes.
Pine Springs is just northeast of Burntwater, and is very similar to Wide Ruins. |  | |
Featured is a 1960's vegetal dyed Navajo rug. A very pretty Wide Ruins weaving, all in soothing, soft colors, including a nice, delicate teal, much like the old style pieces. This one is valued at $1,500.
Beautiful earth tones of gray, tan and brown make this natural dye weaving very appealing. Mae Morgan has a great palette and her fine little rugs have been a favorite with collectors for many decades.
Subtle earth tones with a tan background are signature Mae Morgan colors. Measuring 20 inches by 32 inches this is a great size to put in your collection. At eighty something we are pleased when Mae comes to the gallery with her latest weavings.
Award winning Navajo weaver Eleanor Roanhorse, has been actively weaving fine Wide Ruins style rugs since the 1960's. She is well known for the quality of her rugs with weft counts of up to 80 per inch. This weaving is a gorgeous vegetal dye in shades of Ocher,cream and taupe.
Hand spun and dyed little Chinle throw weaving. This rug measures 30 inches by 35 inches and woven wool thick enough to be used as a floor rug or a saddle blanket.
A fine example of the Chinle style Navajo weaving, this textile measures 50 inches by 36 1/2 inches wide. Perfect for a fabric accessory on the furniture or the wall. The subtle vegetal colorations and finely spun wool make for the classic Chinle weaving.
This little rug has the feeling of what used to be called "pound rugs". They were woven for wear and the thickness of the hand spun wool made them an excellent floor piece. Measuring 41 1/2 inches by 30 1/2 inches this weaving has all the natural colors of vegetals.
Elsie Bia weaves lovely Chinle banded, geometric patterned rugs. Elsie has a sophisticated color palette, and her rugs are woven with experience and care. She brings her rugs up to the gallery from the Canyon De Chelly area. The rug pictured is done in shades of browns, greens, and grey.
Here is a beautifully-woven piece from the Chinle area of the Navajo reservation. It is 36 inches by 59 inches.
Here is a truly lovely Chinle piece woven by Alice Dafoe; it is 35-1/2 inches by 58-1/2 inches.
