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GOOD THROUGH 11.23.11 ■ explore ■ PAGE 5Jewelry of the Southwest: The Millicent Rogers Museum Collection. Tisdale is keenly aware that she is a caretaker of thousands of years of American Indian life and culture in her role as Director ofMIAC. Tisdale holds a Ph.D. in CulturalAnthropology from the University of Arizona.Bom in Shiprock, Joyce Begay-Foss is Naakau din£ € (Mexican Clan) bom for Tdchifni (Red Running Into the Water People) Begay-Foss is an award-winning weaver and the Director of Education for the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. She is also a contributing author on weaving techniques, Navajo Saddle Blankets: Textiles to Ride in the American West and has served as Chairwoman of the Indian Arts andto ShiprockCrafts Board for the past three years addressing issues on American Indian art throughout the United States.Copies of Spider Woman's Gift will be on sale in the lobby of the Phil! following the presentation.Tisdale and Begay-Foss will be available to sign copies purchased by attendees. Books are priced at $24.95 each plus sales tax.This program is made possible, in part, by the Johnson O'Malley Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts.The Phil L. Thomas Performing Arts Center is located just west of Shiprock High School on Highway 64 West in Shiprock.Spider Woman’s Gift ’ author comesSHIPROCK — In a partnership with the Central Consolidated School District's Heritage Education Center,The Phil! will host a presentation and lecture on the new book,Woman's Gift.SpiderThe visit on Monday, Nov. 21, will bring the book's editor Shelby Tisdale and one of its authors, Joyce Begay-Foss to the arts center in Shiprock.The two will discuss and read from the book and also give a slide presentation.SpiderWoman's Giftoffers a historic and pictorial overview of Dine basket and textile weavings created between the 1850s and the 1890s.The pieces to be discussed are in the collection atSanta Fe'sMuseum of Indian Arts and Culture.Tisdale is the museum's director while Begay-Fossheads the education department.According to Navajo oral tradition, Spider Woman, or Na ashedifasdzda in the language of the Navajo people, gave the Din£ the gift of weaving. The sacred place where Spider Woman lives is in the 800-foot-high sandstone formation in Canyon de Chelly known as Spider Rock.Spider Woman taught the Din£ how to incorporate specific designs related to natural lifeways and cosmology into their weavings, said Begay-Foss. These designs are evident in early basketry and woven textiles. Each of thesepatterns has specific meanings and placement and was taught through the traditional method of oral transmission from one generation of Din£ weavers to the next.Woman's Gift includes essays regarding the historyand cultural importance of the art of Dine weav-i n g Accompanying photographs of baskets and rugs complete the story.Dine textile and basketry weavings in Santa Fe's Museum of Indian Arts and Culture collections created between the 1850s and the 1890sallow us to explore the oral history of Spider Woman and the early history of the Dine during this time.Spider Woman's Giftpresents twoviewpoints on Dine weaving.One is the perspective of Dine weaver and museum educator, Joyce Begay-Foss and the other viewpoint is from well-known Dine textile scholar and anthropologist, Marian Rodee.Starting with early baskets, there is visual evidence of Spider Woman's influence, for it was this early knowledge of hand weaving and dyes that transferred into early textile weaving after the Din£ acquired wool.Shelby J. Tisdale is director of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture / Laboratory of Anthropology, in Santa Fe, and author of Fine Indian
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Farmington Daily Times
Farmington, New Mexico, US
Thu, Nov 17, 2011
Page 25
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MD, USA 31 Jul 2020
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