{"product_id":"souvenir-magazine-feature","title":"Souvenir Magazine Feature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor ease of reading online……\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA TIMELESS VISIT TO NIZHONI RANCH GALLERY\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIconic images of the Old West are often of Monument Valley captured in countless\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003emovies, or the rough and tumble life shared by cowboys and horses in Tombstone. Both are in\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArizona, but about an eight hour drive apart, so how is possible to combine both in one day,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eespecially if you’re staying in Tucson? You can capture the essence of both with a 45 minute\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edrive to the southeast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHead for the rolling grasslands of Sonoita, Arizona, a small ranching community and\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003epure cowboy country. Sonoita has a reputation for its fine vineyards and wineries, but there’s a\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehidden gem which can be even more intoxicating than the headiest wine offered: The peace and\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003etimeless beauty found in Nizhoni Ranch Gallery. This is an intimate, appointment-only gallery\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efeaturing rare and beautiful art woven in the lands surrounding and including Monument\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eValley…in Navajo Nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Navajo Indian reservation comprises 27,425 square miles, and covers the corners of\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethree states: Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. It’s not only the largest reservation in the US, but\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ealso the only one where the people live on their true native lands. Surrounded by four sacred\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003emountains, this is the spiritual and cultural home to the Diné, the Navajo people whose\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ebeginnings are told through legends. Living in harmony with the land and nature, life here\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efollows traditions…like that of a grandmother teaching her granddaughter to weave sheep’s wool\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eand following designs more than a hundred years old.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow enter the cowboy, Steve Getzwiller, owner of Nizhoni Ranch Gallery. He’s the real\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edeal, with his cowboy heritage stretching back generations to the territorial days of Arizona and\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNew Mexico and the early days of Texas. He’s the son of a champion team roper, and even did\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esome rodeo roping of his own. But when he was 19 this lanky, soft-spoken cowboy traded his\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ecollection of .22 rifles for some Navajo weavings…and never looked back. More than 45 years\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003elater, Getzwiller is considered a premier expert in Navajo weavings, working with about 40\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eweavers creating one-of- a-kind textiles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNizhoni, which means “beautiful” in the Navajo language, is the perfect name for this\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehilltop gallery which is also home for Steve and his wife Gail. Walk across the tile patio and\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethrough the heavy oak door, and you’re stepping into another world, one filled with beauty and\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003etranquility.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They’re blown away,” says Steve Getzwiller, when asked what his clients sense during\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003etheir appointment-only visit. “It far exceeds their expectations, invariably. They see the material\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eonline, but once they get here and see it in person, it’s a whole other thing. The setting is not like\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eanything they’ve been exposed to before.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStepping into the gallery itself, with its magnificent mesquite wood floor, this 20-by- 40-\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efoot room is filled with Arts and Crafts-era furnishings which complement the dozens and\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edozens of spectacular Navajo weavings on the walls, draped across furniture or stored in glass-\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efront cases. Historic Native American basketry is also prominently displayed, along with\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003epaintings by southwestern artists and classic Edward S. Curtis orotones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There are some people who are hesitant about coming out by appointment, because they\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efeel like it’s a commitment, but I don’t put anybody under any pressure,” says Getzwiller.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStill…be prepared to learn…and to be dazzled as he casually unfurls a Navajo blanket or\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003erug with an incredibly complex design. He’ll share with you some of the intricacies of how\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eweavers work for months or sometimes even years to complete one piece. You’ll not only learn\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethe story behind the work, but what to look for when you start looking on your own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the weavers Getzwiller works with he has known for most of their lives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause he also often worked with their mothers and grandmothers, he chuckles and says some\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehe worked with before they were born. His goal had always been to raise Navajo weaving “to\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethe next level” as he calls it, by guiding some back to truly traditional designs, some with more\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eopen space and yet others very complicated. He also was instrumental in bringing back the\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChurro sheep, a particular species which has low lanolin content and was nearly wiped out by\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efederal government range management decades ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s no shortcutting the process,” he says as he describes how it’s all done by hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The dyes in my Churro collection come from Switzerland, and they’re the best\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eavailable. We have a palette that on one else has in the weaving business.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’ll explain what different patterns and symbols mean, and why the weaver chose to\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eincorporate that. You’ll learn how one weaver spent more than two years on an extremely\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ecomplex piece based on a ceremonial sandpainting, and how, as a mathematician she planned it\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eout first on graph paper. Another master weaver gets her inspiration from abstract paintings by a\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003econtemporary American artist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s as if time stops during your visit to Nizhoni. The peaceful quiet may be punctuated\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eby the rapid chirps of a cactus wren, or the sigh of the wind through nearby cedars. Whether you\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eleave with a weaving, a piece of jewelry or other Native American art, you still leave this place\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003echanged, with a new appreciation for what time, patience and skill can create.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Visitors take with them an experience they truly enjoyed,” says Getzwiller. And what\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ebetter way to spend some time than in this timeless corner of the Southwest?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nizhoni Ranch Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48235644649694,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1207\/9128\/files\/souvenir.jpg?v=1778614733","url":"https:\/\/www.navajorug.com\/de\/products\/souvenir-magazine-feature","provider":"Nizhoni Ranch Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}