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Steve to open Quail Creek Lecture Series

Steve to open Quail Creek Lecture Series

Join us Monday, October 9th as Steve begins the 2017 Quail Creek Lecture series in which he shares his experience as one of the most respected leaders in Navajo Rugs and discusses their unique history, how styles came to be, and what are the current trends in this unique Native American craft.  

Click here for the full article and ticket information. 

  • DeAnne Clifton
How Much Does a Navajo Rug Cost?

How Much Does a Navajo Rug Cost?

So how much do Navajo Rugs Cost?    This Navajo Rug cost and pricing guide is designed to help you develop an initial budget and understanding of Navajo Rugs.   
There are several things to consider when purchasing quality Navajo Rugs...

  •  Size
  •  When was it woven – is it Historic/Antique or Contemporary
  •  Tightness of weave
  •  Style (complexity of design)
  •  Dyes used
  •  Condition

    Navajo rugs come in all shapes, sizes, and colors - there are many factors that go into a weaving's price.

    Historic Textile Exhibit Santa Fe, New Mexico

     

    Navajo Rugs – Size

    There are some standard sizes in Navajo Rugs because of the way it is woven, by hand on a Navajo Loom. Common sizes are 4x6, 5x8, 6x9…. (of course there are more sizes available, larger and smaller). You get the idea, rugs are usually woven in a rectangular configuration. The price will vary greatly by the size you need. Some large Navajo Rugs may take 1, 2, or 3 years to make and are harder to find, so they are in a higher price range. Smaller Navajo Rugs start at $100 and they go up from there.


    Navajo Rugs – Historic/Antique – (pre-1950)

    Antique Navajo rugs, depending on size can range from around $1,000 up to many thousands. Provenance can also add value to historic Navajo rugs, for example, previous collection history, or prior publication, etc. 


    Navajo Rugs – Contemporary – (1950 to present)

    Contemporary Navajo rugs, again depending on size, can range from UNDER $500 up to many thousands. The number of Navajo weavers working today is dwindling. Many of the young weavers are not learning this sacred Navajo weaving tradition, as it is a very time consuming and disciplined art form. When considering whether to purchase a Navajo Rug or not, know this is a way to encourage young Navajos to learn to weave and keep the traditional Navajo Rug weaving alive. 

    The Getzwiller's Exclusive Churro collection represents the finest and most skilled Navajo weavers on the reservation.
    2001 Textile Exhibit Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg AZ

    Navajo Rugs – Navajo Churro Collection

    The Navajo Churro Collection Rugs are contemporary Navajo rugs that we commission from the best Navajo Master Weavers working today. The native Churro sheep wool, the hand dying process and the dyes themselves (natural and aniline) add value to the weaving. Also, each weaving is accompanied by provenance – a Churro Certificate with a photo of the weaver and detailed information about the Navajo rug. You can read more in depth information about The Navajo Churro Collection here.


    Navajo Rugs – Style/Complexity/Tightness

    There are 28 Styles of Navajo Rugs. Some Styles are more difficult to weave than others. Intricacy and tightness of the weave affect the value. Generally speaking, the tighter and finer the weave, the more valuable the piece. 

     

    Navajo Rugs – Condition

    The condition of a Navajo Rug will of course affect the value as well.  Weigh the condition issues (is it clean, straight, damaged, color run, fading, etc.)  against your attraction to the weaving and decide.  Sometime issues can be fixed - but that is another blog about Care & Repair.

    Navajo Rugs – Prices on our site 

    On our website, we have pricing for most Navajo rugs posted.  If a price is not visible, it is either part of our exclusive Navajo Churro Collection, or is one of our more important and valuable Antique or Contemporary Navajo Rugs. We are happy to provide pricing for any these pieces. 

    Hope we answered most of your questions about How Much Do Navajo Rugs Cost.

    Happy Trails,

    Gail and Steve Getzwiller

    Please contact us with any questions at:

    Phone: 520-455- 5020
    Email: steve@navajorug.com

    • Gail Getzwiller
    A Special Video Invitation

    A Special Video Invitation

     Steve and Gail are back from Santa Fe Indian Market.
    They have hung up their hats for a while.

    AND 

    This is a wonderful time to visit us at Nizhoni Ranch Gallery!

    Check out the Great New Video of the Gallery!!


      If you are planning to visit you might want to check out this great B&B in Patagonia AZ, They're very popular so book early.
    The Duquesne House

    • robin NRG
    2017 WINNERS ARE

    2017 WINNERS ARE

    2017 Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial has been good to our weavers once again!!   We are proud to announce the  winners:

    Master Weaver Helene Nez won the coveted title of 
    Best of Weavings 
    with her Bistie Navajo Rug
    Churro 1520

             

    Master Weaver Helene Nez won the coveted title of 
    Best of Weavings 
    with her Bistie Navajo Rug 
    Churro 1520

     

    1ST PLACE  - BEST OF CATEGORY--LARGE WEAVINGS
    CHURRO 516 -- JALUCIE MARIANITO
     
    ***********************************************************************************

    1ST PLACE  - BEST OF CATEGORY--WEARABLE ART
    CHURRO 1535 -- LUCIE MARIANITO

    ***************************************************************************************************

    CARA GORMAN'S  CHURRO 1524--  JB MOORE RUG WOVEN WITH ALPACA WON A SPECIAL AWARD AND A ROSETTE RIBBON

    *************************************************************************************************

    ***1ST PLACE RIBBONS - CHURRO Navajo RUGS***


    Churro 1499   
               Churro 1513   

     Churro 1526                
             Churro 1527     

    Churro 1496                           
    Churro  1523      

     

    ***2ND PLACE AWARDS- Churro Navajo Rugs***

    Churro 1529      Churro 1528           Churro 1512         Churro 1531   

    Churro 1503       Churro 1504         Churro 1518         Churro 1525

    CONTEMPORARY NAVAJO WEAVING WINNERS !!

    1st place:  
    3292             3294                3295           3204

    2nd place:
    3303    3293

     

     

     

     

    Off to Santa Fe!

    Off to Santa Fe!

    Hello Everyone, 
    Getting ready for Santa Fe -  
    We will be bringing a selection of Historic Textiles with us.  Let us know if you have any favorites you want to see in person..  We have heard from a few folks and don't want you to miss a chance to see any of the Antique Rugs in person.

    ****************************************
    Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Winners will also be available for 
    viewing August 14th thru the 21st 
    in Santa Fe, at the Bishops Lodge Road House


    The latest Silk Shawl - Sure to be a Show Stopper


    Be sure to call to make your appointment with Steve to see the winners. 
    Call the Gallery - 520-455-5020 or call Steve direct - 520-241-5581.

    Look forward to seeing you soon.  
    Happy Trails,

    • Gail Getzwiller
    Between Show Limbo

    Between Show Limbo

    The Gallery turnover has already begun! New weavings hang on the wall and older ones are being folded and stacked on the floor and tables to be stored at a later time.

    Preparing for a show can be some hard work!

    steve getzwiller

    Here at the Nizhoni Ranch Gallery the Navajo Textiles as Modern Art show has just wrapped up. Even so, it is never too early to start preparation for the next upcoming event. This week we have focused on organizing and beginning to hang the rugs that will be featured in our upcoming exhibit, which will focus on Two Grey Hills and Toadlena weavings.

     

    organizing navajo weavings
    New weavings sit folded on the bed, ready to be hung.

     

    It is rare that the first place a weaving is hung ends up being where it resides for the show. Hopefully Steve can keep up the hard work until we can all agree on the best placement of each weaving!

    Steve Getzwiller hanging Two Grey Hills Navajo rug
    Steve adjusting an newly hung weaving. 
     
    A spotlight on Zia Potter Ruby Panana

    A spotlight on Zia Potter Ruby Panana

    Zia Potter Ruby PananaRuby Panana has been a creating stunning pottery since 1983. Her pottery began winning awards from the very first time it was exhibited. Ruby's work encompasses many forms from jars, bowls, vases, wedding vases and even canteens. She produces some of the largest Zia pottery pieces.  Her works of art are painted with natural materials - clay, rocks, sand, and she creates black from wild spinach.  Her brushes are created traditionally by chewing yucca to create the perfect tool. 

    Ruby's gorgeous works are on exhibit in noted Southwest galleries: The Indian Craft Shop, the Museum of Northern Arizona, and the US Department of the Interior in Washington DC.  You can find her pottery in major collections, including the Wright Museum at Harvard. 

    Zia Potter Ruby PananaSteve and I wanted to share with you the beautiful works of the Zia Potter, Ruby Panana.  We are prompted by the latest edition of the Native American Art Magazine, which is featuring POTTERY.   Ruby is a wonderful person and works very hard to bring to life the clay she coils.  We hope you will enjoy the selection below and possibly find one or two, that will fit into your collection.

    We are always just an email or phone call away.
    Always happy to answer questions.


    E steve@navajorug.com  
    520-455-5020

     

    • DeAnne Clifton
    • Tags: News
    Generations of Love

    Generations of Love

     In 1982 we took a photo of Evelyn Yazzie holding a completed weaving.  At her side was her granddaughter (holding a smaller weaving of her own) and our son, Sean, who was only 5 at the time. 

    Steve noticed the similarity in the corner design of the two Navajo Sandpainting Rugs, that previously hadn't hung near each other in the gallery. He then remembered Evelyn's special corner design  and pulled that photo from our archives .

    Navajo Sandpaintings - Woven Holy People Exhibit

    The weavings that brought us to this search were important Navajo Sandpainting Textiles that were being displayed for our "Woven Holy People" exhibit last fall.   Look at the corners... do you see?  They are the same. 

    The photo we found confirmed our suspicions.  Steve remembered that Evelyn told her this corner design had been passed down to her from her mother, and to her mother from her grandmother.  She had told us that this was a family design and wasn't shared with other weavers.  THAT meant that Evelyn had descended from the weavers who had woven the sandpainting textiles.  According to Steve's research, the weaver was the daughter of Miguelito - a very important medicine man, her name was Altnabah. 

    Today, we received a comment on the original blog post of this story from Evelyn's granddaughter Malinda, the young girl holding her own weaving:

    Steve that would be me in the photo, the youngest of Evelyn’s kids. One of my rugs my mom helped me with that I am holding. My mom would have been 92 this year. Miss her very much on this Mother’s Day. I will remember all the days of deadlines and your visits through all the summers of my childhood. Thank you for sharing this photo

    We miss her very much too.  She was a great friend for many, many years and was an incredibly gifted weaver.  Her favorite weavings were the Ganado and Klagetoh style.

    The love of a mother to a daughter, and a grandmother to a granddaughter is a bond that is rooted deeply.  The generations of love that have shared the gift of weaving with the next, is a blessing to all who have the opportunity to see and appreciate their talent.  

    Stop by our Master Weavers page to appreciate the Women who have shared their weaving talents. 

    This Mother's Day, think back to the special women in your family who have shared traditions with you.

    Happy Mothers Day

    • DeAnne Clifton
    Hogans - The Center of the Navajo World

    Hogans - The Center of the Navajo World

    Hogan Styles

    The ancient hogan, known as the "forked stick hogan" was a conical hut constructed of three forked poles covered with logs, brush and mud.  Called the "male" hogan by the Navajos, examples of this swelling can still occasionally be found in the western part of the reservation.  More common today is the "female" hogan, a circular or 6 sided dwelling constructed of logs or stone, with a doorway facing east and a smoke hole in the center of the roof.

    The dome-shaped roof is formed of cribbed logs covered with dirt

    The dome-shaped roof is formed of cribbed logs covered with dirt. The fire  is placed on the hard-packed floor beneath the smoke hole and a flap or hinged door covers the doorway.  Traditionally the hogan lacked windows and was ventilated by the smoke hole in the roof and the east-facing doorway.  Nowadays not only do the hogans have windows but they may also contain stoves, chimneys, beds, and refrigerators and TVs,

    Modern style hogan

    Modern Navajo homes on the reservation

    Today white prototype houses and even mobile homes are common on the reservation, but families that live in such dwellings also construct a hogan nearby.  Many of the People have retained their native religion and Navajo ceremonies can be conducted only in a hogan.

    Most Navajo families own 2,3, or several hogans

    Most Navajo families own 2, 3, or several hogans and more than one permanent establishment if they own sheep.  A family that owns several hundred sheep and other livestock might have as many as 5 or 6 separate clusters of buildings scattered over a large area as the animals must be moved from place to place at various seasons of the year.  

    Summer and Winter hogans

    Variations in the weather and the water supply may require that a family live in one place during the summer and another during the winter.  Usually though, each family has one location which is their main residence at which there are more or less permanent corrals, storage dugouts, several hogans and temporary shades or bush hogans for summer use.

     

    The Navajo hogan is more than just a place to eat and sleep and the concept of it as a "home" bears little resemblance to a white person's attitude toward his dwelling place.  The hogan is a gift of the gods and as such it occupies a place in the sacred world.  The first hogans were built by the Holy People of turquoise, white shell, jet, and abalone shell.  The round hogan is symbolic of the sun and its door faces east so that the first thing that a Navajo family sees in the morning is the rising sun, Father Sun, one of the most revered of the Navajo deities.  The construction of a new hogan is almost always a community affair.  Once completed, the new hogan is consecrated with a Blessing Way ceremony whereby the Holy People are asked to "let this place be happy."

    Navajo Sweat HoganAlso nearby, but out of sight, will be at least one sweat hogan.  The sweat hogan is small scale replica of the old-style forked stick hogan but without the smoke hole.  It is constructed of three sticks with forked ends which are fasten together in a tripod.  Two straight sticks are leaned against the apes from the east to make the sides of the door.  It is heated by placing hot rocks within, the door being closed with several blankets.  The sweat hogan provides excellent bathing and purifying facilities for the Navajos in their land of scarce water.  As in virtually everything a Navajo does, there are prescribed rituals that must be followed in taking a sweat bath.  Four verses of the Sweat Bath Song must be sung before a Navajo can leave the sweat hogan, which the Navajo call the Son of the She Dark, to plunge into cold water or dry himself in the sand.

    He put it down. He put it down.
    First Man put down the sweat house.
    On the edge of the hole where they come up,
    He put down the Son of the She Dark.
    He built it of valuable soft materials.
    Everlasting and peaceful, he put it there.
    He put it there."
    --- A Verse of the Navajo Sweat Bath Song 

    The bather then reenters the sweat hogan and sings four more verses of the song.  He repeats the ritual until the entire song has been sung.   - Raymond Friday Locke

    Traditional structured hogans are also considered pioneers of energy efficient homes. Using packed mud against the entire wood structure, the home was kept cool by natural air ventilation and water sprinkled on the dirt ground inside. During the winter, the fireplace kept the inside warm for a long period of time and well into the night.

     The evolution of the Navajo Hogan

    The evolution of the Navajo Hogan, Left to right. The very old hogan. A later style, a few of which are still in use. The hogan of today, with log walls and dirt roof. Many Navajos live in modern log and stone houses, similar to the one pictured above.  -- Southern Navajo Agency, 1933

    ----------------------

    Navajo Lifestyle pictorial weavingsWeavings which depict hogans and everyday life give us a timeless image of this traditional culture.

    Ta
    ke a look at some of the Pictorial weavings that we have available. Click here

    • DeAnne Clifton
    Native Weavings Featuring Mountainway Dancers

    Native Weavings Featuring Mountainway Dancers

    Native American Art • April / May 2017

     We have typed the words to this article for easier reading.  You can read it in full here.  

     

    Treasure at the End of the Rainbow! 

    Treasure at the End of the Rainbow! 

    "The end of the rainbow for Navajo rugs"
    ★★★★★ Reviewed by X-NYr on TripAdvisor.com

    We visited Nizhoni today and were overwhelmed by the breadth of the Navajo rug collections, displayed in a fantastic ranch home, gorgeous setting, with fabulous Mission furniture and a knowledgeable and an enthusiastic couple who have amassed this extraordinary array of quality and creativity.

    If you are looking for the very best of the best of Navajo weavings, this is the place. It's by appointment only, and it's in Sonoita about an hour south of Tucson. A friend recommended this gallery to us, and we are so delighted that we were able to visit.

    The prices are high but commensurate with the quality, value and exceptional designs; both modern rugs and antiques. There were many innovative designs, based on classic patterns, that we have never seen anywhere else, including at the trading posts on the Navajo reservation.

    They have many rugs that have won best in show at the Inter-tribal Ceremonial in Gallup. They have many smaller rugs but they seem to specialize in large size rugs.

    If you are a serious collector - or want to start at the top - this is The place. The collection tops the Heard Museum and far exceeds what's displayed at the Indian Museum in Washington, DC. Yes, I sound carried away, but this was just the most amazing collection we've ever seen.

    Reviews like this make our hearts soar! Thank you!



    ps.  We'd love to show you around the gallery.
    Call us at 520-455-5020 if you would like to schedule an appointment.

    If you've visited our little place in the desert, we'd be honored if you would take a moment to share your experience with others on TripAdvisor.  Just click the TripAdvisor owl to get started. 
    • DeAnne Clifton
    Native American Art Article: Modernist Weavings

    Native American Art Article: Modernist Weavings

    Modernist Weavings

    NATIVE AMERICAN ART MAGAZINEThe Native American Art Magazine published a great article about our new exhibition, Navajo Textiles as Modern Art - Then and Now

    You can read the full article and see photos and accompanying video here.  Please do so, and enjoy!  It's worth the read!

     

     

    • DeAnne Clifton
    • Tags: News