MAE JIM: Best In Class

This is a reversal of the trend of the past 20 years in which weavings have been used more and more as wall hangings. Unfortunately, most of the requests for large floor weavings are never filled.

Today, when a dealer in Navajo weavings talks about a large rug, he is usually speaking of something in the neighborhood of 6x9 feet. There are very few contemporary pieces larger than that.

There are many good reasons why these larger pieces are not often woven. Because of the characteristics of the Navajo loom, it takes a long time to weave a big rug. It can easily take a year for a weaver to complete a quality piece measuring more than 8x10 feet.

If the rug is woven with handspun wool, the preparation of the wool can add months to the weaving time. If the design is intricate and the spin of the wool is fine, the time factor grows again.

Then there is the skill factor. To weave a large rug well, to have it come off of the loom straight and uniform, to have the design end up as a pleasing pattern, and to make sure the colors are consistent requires a master weaver.

A much larger and stronger loom must be built and the weaver must have the experience to shift the rug on the loom as it grows in size. It requires a weaver .of considerable experience and talent to attack a big rug project.

And then there is the economic factor. Nearly all of the women on the Navajo reservation who are capable of weaving large pieces are dependent upon their weaving skills for a major part of their income. They are dependent upon the regular income their rugs provide when they are sold every couple of months. If they take on a major project, a large rug, they will not have any income until the piece is finished.

Some weavers will work on a larger piece, keeping a smaller loom set up at the same time. They will weave the smaller rug for cash flow. But there are only so many hours in a day available for weaving and it is strenuous work, hard on the back, the arms, and the hands. To weave a large rug requires an economic sacrifice, at least in the short run.

In the fall of 1985, Mae Jim, a master weaver from Ganado, Arizona, had just completed her third weaving that measured over 8x10 feet. Each of these pieces had taken nearly two years of her life.

She had woven several pieces in the 6x9 foot range and many smaller pieces. Her large weavings were always the traditional Ganado colors of red, black, grey and white, but she had woven many small, beautiful vegetal dye rugs.

This third large piece was to become nationally known. It was awarded the Best of Show at the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial and then became a part of a traveling exhibit, Lost and Found Traditions, which has shown in the Smithsonian Museum and other prestigious museums across the nation. Mae traveled to Washington to demonstrate weaving at the show. She also has been to England to demonstrate Navajo weaving, and the tribe plans to send her to China for an exhibition in the future.

The first two large weavings are in the collections of Gene Klein, who once owned the San Diego Chargers, and of the late Louis L'Amour.

We first met Mae on a snowy day in our showroom in Durango, Colorado, when she brought in the first of the three largest rugs. We had not expected her and, although we knew her by reputation, we didn't recognize her. She had a weaving to show us and, because no Navajo rug addict can say no to a glimpse of folded weaving wrapped carefully in a sheet, we invited her in to show her work. It was beautiful, large, and a complete surprise. As it turned out, she hadn't been bringing the weaving to us at all, rather she had been on her way to visit Arch Gould, a collector in Grand Junction, Colorado. The snowstorm had closed Red Mountain Pass and Mae, needing to sell her beautiful Ganado, had followed up on a tip from one of her sisters that she might be able to sell it to us. That snowstorm was a stroke of luck for us, and I don't believe Dr. Gould ever held it against us. We bought the first rug and then the next two. Then for nearly a year, Mae put off the decision to begin a new large rug. She was tired. Her health had been a problem and she was content to weave small, wonderful pieces for a while. In April of 1986, Mae agreed to weave another large piece. It was not an easy decision for her. Several months of discussions took place. To make the deal, it was agreed that payments would be made while the rug was on the loom and a total price was set. We knew it would take a couple of years to complete. But it was a long two years. Some days we wondered if the weaving would ever be finished. Jackson Clark, Sr., who was then living in Chinle, Arizona, checked regularly with Mae, stopping by to see the rug on the loom.

During the weaving, Mae was ill several times and medicine men were required to help. In late 1987, her eyesight began to fail from a problem with diabetes. The problem was made worse when a Bureau of Indian Affairs Hospital doctor gave her a laser treatment in the wrong eye. Mary Jane Clark drove from Durango to spend time with Mae in Gallup, finding a new eye doctor, getting new eye glasses, and trying to help Mae establish a diet to help herself. Mae felt uncomfortable with the doctor and neglected to follow most of his advice. She believes strongly in the Navajo Way and several medicine man ceremonies were held to help her.

Progress on the weaving slowly continued. Her weaving was so large that the steel pipe loom she used, which was specially constructed for the project, forced her to cut a large rectangular hole in her ceiling tiles. The loom sat in a small room with a dirt floor attached to the house where Mae lives with her daughters. Also on the property are a traditional Navajo eight-sided mud and log dwelling called a hogan. This is where the healing ceremonies took place. The sheep owned by the family wander at will around the area, often grazing beneath the shadow of the satellite television dish.

Mae Jim's world is a unique mix of the old and the new, the technical and the traditional. It was in this alien subculture of the United States, surrounded by the beautiful colors of the Southwest, that Mae labored at her weavings. When she began the rug, she put her initials in the corner. In April of 1988, Mae wove the date into the last corner of the rug. It had taken all of two years.

Mary Jane drove to Ganado to film the rug coming off of the loom. Mae's family and many relatives were there to see the project come to an end. A large piece of plastic was laid down in the driveway to the home and the rug was carried outside and spread in the sunlight. It was April 13.

Mae sat in the center of the weaving to have her picture taken and then stood back to take in the whole, beautiful piece. She had worked on it for two years and had never seen it spread out. It had been on the steel pipe loom in her home where never more than half of it was visible. The magnificent weaving was 9 1/2 feet wide and 15 1/2 feet long. Mae walked around it while admiring relatives who had come for the occasion smiled in appreciation. She had on her finest clothes and her beautiful turquoise and silver jewelry. She proudly sat in the center of the weaving to have her picture taken.

Two days later, at Toh-Atin Gallery in Durango, the rug was displayed on a large wall and several hundred people came to meet Mae and see the weaving. Ever since we had the previous one on display, people had been asking about the "big red rug." We decided that it would be nice to have a reception for Mae and her family so they could see how much the people enjoyed her work. We only had a day's notice, so we ran an ad in the paper and on the radio and called as many people as we could on the telephone.

The number of people who came to see the weaving was amazing to this humble and proud weaver. Mae and her family were surprised by the attention they got, but they had a great time. They were very pleased. That night at dinner, Mae talked about the weaving. Finishing the rug was the hardest thing she had ever done, she said.

"I never wanted to quit weaving a rug before," she said. "I was so tired and so many things kept happening. I don't think I'II weave another big one." And her daughter Linda added, "But she is very proud of this rug."

The weaving was displayed at the Indian Arts and Crafts Association Market in Denver and then went to Gallup where it was awarded First Place, Best of Category, and Best of Class. It missed winning Best of Show by one vote. It was displayed at the Navajo Nation Fair on a parade float that carried Mae Jim and her sisters, Elsie Wilson and Sadie Curtis, also outstanding weavers.

What is a weaving like this worth today? "It really doesn't :matter," says Antonia CIark. "Every time we've had one of Mae's rugs, we've been in a position where we had to sell it. The first two we sold because we needed the money; then we decided it would be good for Navajo weaving to have her third large weaving in the Lost and Found Traditions Show.

"We're going to keep this one with the idea of trying to display it in a lot of places around the country. Mae Jim is a great artist and we'd like for a lot of people to see the rug. Just the fact that there is such a beautiful weaving has to increase people's appreciation for the art form."

And, as prices continue to rise, we hope to again see more weavers taking on large weaving projects. But there will be few, if any, who will match the reputation left by the weaver of the "big red rug," Mae Jim.

[Editor's Note: For a full view of Mae Jim's rug, see ORR, February/March, 1989, p. 33]