The following four rugs are
patterns in the style of Navajo chief
blankets. The pattern evolved during the 1800s, beginning with simple black and white stripes,
and then with a touch of color in some of
the black stripes, as illustrated in the museum piece shown at
right. Color became more widely used and some stripes grew into
wide patterned bands, with the patterns sometimes exuberantly
overflowing their stripe boundaries. The
colored bands in these rugs are my original designs, but I've had two
sources of inspiration: the work of tapestry weaver James
Koehler2 and the chief blankets in Nancy J. Blomberg's beautifully
photographed book on the Hearst textile collection.3
The weaving technique is tapestry, which means that
the weft colors are laid into the warp by hand as opposed to
loom-controlled color patterns. The
rugs are approximately 4'x6', and can be hung (long dimension vertical), slung
over the back of a sofa or a balcony rail, or laid across the foot of the bed on cold
nights.
(Click images for detail.) |
c. 1840 blanket detail 1
|
