Regional Authenticity
Trading posts across the Southwest preserve the history and regional traditions of Native textile art.
Trading posts across the Southwest preserve the history and regional traditions of Native textile art.
Many people, from tourists to collectors to scholars, have enjoyed visiting Southwestern trading posts over the years. One of the most vibrant arts to be found there are Navajo woven textiles. These weavings are the work of largely modest and unassuming women (with the occasional man at times) who pursue their creativity with the sales assistance of traders. This relationship is the offshoot of the trading post as a business serving local Navajos, dating back to late 19th-century frontier commerce. While many trading posts have closed over the years, the visitor to the select few still active can experience fine textiles rendered in historical regional styles. While Indian arts dealers in urban locales also carry such weavings, the would-be collector and enthusiast encounters real history when visiting these posts.
We have spent much time on the Navajo reservation and its borders over the last 30-odd years. During this period many working posts have closed, moved or morphed into art galleries. Trading posts came in for much criticism in the turbulent 1970s when the Federal Trade Commission held contentious hearings over the fairness and viability of the pawn system. Many posts closed or became convenience stores. Those that survived were either national historic sites like the Hubbell Trading Post or working businesses in rural areas which served their local population well.
Our interest in surviving trading posts started in the late 1980s, and we were fortunate enough to be able to purchase from several famous posts which closed soon afterward. The places we visited were the catalysts for the development of significant regional styles which
have the status of being both historical art and living art.
In the early 20th century, there were more than 250 trading posts, large and small, in the Four Corners region. Now the number of active trading posts selling quality Indian arts is down to a little over half a dozen.
Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado, Arizona, is now government-run and continues to be the most heavily visited national site on the reservation. The original bullpen remains as is, but now sells tourist items such as ice cream and postcards. A step through to two rooms on the side, however, shows high-quality arts and crafts for sale. John Lorenzo Hubbell bought a small trading post on this site in 1878 and expanded the main building; he became a major figure in the development of Navajo weavings and jewelry. Hubbell and an associate spread the fame of Navajo textiles, selling large weavings to the likes of William Randolph Hearst. He also aided local weavers who created the Ganado style weaving, which features bold reds and greys and a (usually) black border. Today, the rug room is still active and on the walls are weaving design models painted by an artist Hubbell hired to inspire his local weavers.
R.B. Burnham and Co. Trading Post in Sanders, Arizona, is an active post, selling groceries, supplies for weavers and jewelers, and Native art. George Franklin Burnham started the post in the late 1800s; the current owner, Bruce Burnham, is the fifth generation to run the trading post. The post in Sanders is only 50 years old, but Burnham and his wife, Virginia (she knows her jewelry), have operated posts in other parts of the reservation. They also run highly regarded rug auctions. The Burnhams are known for their support of three weaving styles: one, Germantown Revival: based on late 19th-century Navajo weavings that used vividly colored (especially red) yarn made in Germantown, Pennsylvania, the Revival weavings are often in Chief designs or in a variety of geometric patterns; two, Burntwater: created in the 1960s at the Burntwater Trading Post, this style combines a geometric pattern bounded by a border, always done with vegetal dyes. In the 1980s, Burnham and trader Bill Malone (then at Hubbell), encouraged weavers to add new elements to the style to create a look distinct from other weavings. And three, New Lands Outline: Bruce Burnham describes New Lands Outline as a conversion of the Teec Nos Pos style to using vegetal dyes only, plus the addition of raised outlines.
Teec Nos Pos Trading Post in Arizona near the New Mexico border was established by Hambleton Bridger Noel in 1905. In Navajo the trading post’s name means “cottonwoods in a circle.” Noel married into the Foutz trading family, and eventually sold the business to them. Russell Foutz took over the post in 1949. Russell’s daughter Kathy and her husband John Mccullough started running the post in 1994 and operate it to this day. The current trading post is from 1959 (the original post had burned down earlier that year).
Like the Burnham business, Teec still carries groceries, hardware and household supplies, in addition to wool for weavers. The post is also the gas station for this remote location not far from the Four Corners National Monument. Off the main sales area is the Rug Room,
packed with a wide arrangement of weavings, Teec Nos Pos and other styles. The true Teec Nos Pos weaving style includes a strong border with “T” or “H” shapes surrounding geometric designs in the center. Teec weavings often use commercial yarn that yield striking color combinations. The Teec style closely resembles the old “Persian” carpet designs that Anglo settlers brought with them. While Teec styles predominate, they are also especially good at obtaining pictorial textiles. These range from tree of life, Yei dancers and reservation scenes to humorous pop culture images.
The Twin Rocks Trading Post in Bluff, Utah, was started by brothers Steve and Barry Simpson in 1989.
The Simpsons still run the store, which functions as a gallery of fine Native arts— weavings, baskets, pottery, jewelry and folk art. They learned their trade from their parents, Duke and Rose Simpson, at Blue Mountain Trading Post in Blanding, Utah, about 28 miles north of Bluff. The post is most noted for a superb collection of Hopi plaque baskets, colorful and artistic, along with baskets made in imaginative shapes.
And since Bluff is just across the border from the Navajo Reservation, the brothers work closely with many weavers and offer traditional styles and new, innovative patterns. One project is a collaboration between several Navajo weavers and Serena Supplee,
where the weavers create rugs based on imagery in Supplee’s paintings. Twin Rocks also usually carries woven pillows, which are not as easy to obtain these days from posts as when we first started visiting.
The Toadlena Trading Post located near Newcomb, New Mexico, was reopened in its present form in 1997 under the ownership of Mark Winter. The original post began around 1900 under Merit and Bob Smith. In 1909 the trading post was sold to George Bloomfield, who collaborated with Ed Davies at the nearby Two Grey Hills Trading Post to help local Navajo weavers create weavings with hand-spun yarn and vegetal dyes. Even in the early 20th century, commercial dyes were available to weavers but Bloomfield and Davies wanted to eliminate those options in favor of more traditional, natural colors. The Toadlena post went through a number of owners before Winter took it over.
Winter runs Toadlena as a combination grocery store, post office, trading post and Native arts gallery. The post also contains a Weaving Museum that has classic and contemporary weavings on display. This is a place where you can get an effective crash course on Navajo weaving just by visiting.
While on our travels, we visited Two Grey Hills Trading Post, only 6 miles east of Toadlena. It was established in 1897 by brothers Henry and Frank Noel and Joe Wilkin. Later on, Davies bought the trading post. As described above, Davies and Bloomfield worked with local weavers to create the Two Grey Hills style that emphasizes handspun wool and natural colors. Brown, white and black dominate in the Two Grey Hills style.
We visited the post back in the early 1990s. Its location by dirt road is a goodly trek from Highway 491, but the stunning wide, open land around the building is scenic. Fine quality Two Grey Hills weavings are also among the most expensive of the regional styles. Unfortunately, Two Grey Hills is now closed. Mark Winter carries on the tradition of a close collaboration with Navajo weavers to create what is now often called the Toadlena/two Grey Hills style.
The Crystal Trading Post, now closed, was started by Joe Wilkin and purchased by J.B. Moore in 1896. Moore employed Native weavers to work on rugs during the winters when customer access to the area was often impossible. He worked with Hubbell on various sales ventures and published one of the very first sales catalogs featuring Navajo rugs and silver jewelry in 1903 and 1911. The original Crystal style featured geometric designs (such as crosses and diamonds) within a border. Moore also popularized the remarkable, popular and very durable Storm Pattern style.
There are several theories about the origins of the Storm Pattern. One is that the style was developed at a trading post in Tuba City or Tonalea, both in Arizona. Another possibility is that it is adapted from a design on old flour sacks. It could also be that Moore himself developed the pattern based on a variety of nonnative rugs. Traditional Storm Pattern weavings are symmetrical and mostly in black, gray, red and white. The symbolism of the design is also debated: at its simplest, a stylized view of the weaver’s hogan appears
in the center of the pattern; in each corner is one of the Sacred Mountains. Zigzag lines, or lightning bolts, connect the hogan to the mountains.
Moore left Crystal in 1911, and the post had several owners through the rest of the century. Starting in the 1940s, the Crystal traders (especially Don Jensen) worked with weavers to develop a new Crystal rug that lacked perimeter borders and was made with bands, wavy lines and multiple colors—usually yellows, light browns and gold using vegetal dyes. We visited the post in the early 1990s and arrived to find it was closing down and awaiting new ownership but managed to buy a fine weaving in various shades of gold, honey and yellow.
When buying such a textile, each will come with a tag certifying its authenticity and often a Polaroid snap of the maker holding up her work. While these weavings are usually termed as “rugs” historically, we have elected not to use them as such. We chose the works we did less as collectors and more as consumers seeking genuine Nativemade home décor. Our weavings hang on walls or drape over furniture. Beautifully made textiles like these are vibrant and genuine alternatives to framed artwork.
To our delight, we sometimes chose pieces made by artists who had great popularity in the field. Our favorite is Fannie Pete, known for her animal pictorials, including our greatest prize—the only known weaving of rabbits eating carrots! We also landed a Germantown Revival from Ganado area weaver Priscilla Warren. Other weavers whose work we purchased include: Wanda Begay, Thompson Benally, Lavera Blake, Collen Cody, Emma Lou Harrison, Rose Lee, Lorena Tsinnijinnie, Sarah Vanwinkle, Tillman Whitehair and Minnie Yazzie.
Some regional styles, like Chinle, Klagetoh and Wide Ruins, can be difficult to find, but occasionally their style is recreated in contemporary Revival textiles, although most often the weavers are channeling older, 19th-century designs. Raised Outline and Eye Dazzler styles have grown more popular over the last 20 years. This is also true for “sampler” or “multiple” weavings that gather small versions of a number of differing styles within
» Friends of Hubbell Native Arts Auction (held in the spring and fall in Gallup, NM) » Crownpoint Rug Auction (held the second Friday of each month in Crownpoint, NM) » Pueblo Grande Museum Indian Art and Navajo Rug Auction (held in October each year in Phoenix, AZ) » Navajo Rug Sale, Natural History Museum of Utah (Salt Lake City) » Navajo Rug Sale & Silent Auction, Denver (benefit for the Colorado University Museum of Natural History)
one large textile.
Visiting these trading posts is rewarding. They offer a view into frontier business in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. These posts are located in some of the Navajo Reservation’s most attractive and varied landscape. With the exception of Hubbell, which is firmly planted on the tourist routes, most of these stores are not thronged with tourists, and the visitor may have time to talk to the trader and even meet artists bringing in their wares. This is one way to have an authentic experience in the American Southwest by enjoying beautifully made Navajo textiles created in traditional, innovative and even avant-garde styles.
Paula Baxter will be teaching a short course, Dazzling Spectra: Origins of Indigenous Jewelry Design on July 18 at the Heard Museum. For more details, visit www.heardguild.org.