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Another indicator of a strong market was seen in the crowds of people who flocked to buy at the Gallup, New Mexico, Inter-Tribal Ceremonial. This pioneer exhibit and show celebrated its 66th anniversary in August. Judges report that the quality and quantity of Navajo weaving was greater than at any time in the last five years. Total sales of all items, including jewelry and pottery, set a new record. New weaving patterns from younger, innovative weavers and a heightened sense of design added an extra dynamic to the textiles on display. Decorator colors suitable to modern homes and offices coexisted with traditional designs. Many weavers, it seems, are returning to the use of native wools in their work, after experimenting with pre-spun yarns over the last few years.
The resurgence of Navajo weaving was also evident at the Santa Fe Indian Market, which is also celebrating its 66th anniversary. The "Best of Show" award was given to a contemporary Two Grey Hills rug. This is a first as pottery, jewelry, sculpture and paintings had dominated the top prizes for many years. The reported sale price of the rug , woven by Rose Ann Lee and Barbara Teller Ornelas, was $60,000! Lee and Ornelas, it turns out, have a real talent for marketing. As they wove the rug, they kept a photo album which pictured them spinning the fleece, showed the rug at different stages on the loom, and showed them taking the finished rug off the loom. The album was presented to the purchaser of the rug -- instant provenance! After the prize was announced, one of the weavers was overheard to say, "The next time you see us it will be on the Donahue show."
While Santa Fe is home for many of the nation's finest Indian weaving art dealers, the Santa Fe Indian Market, which is held in open booths in the historic Plaza, is not famous as a show for weavings. This makes the award mentioned above all the more remarkable. It will be interesting to observe the effect of this on collectors, museums and corporate art buyers. Many in these groups have tended to ignore contemporary Navajo weaving as somehow not worthy of attention.
The Don Bennett/Kim Martindale Santa Fe Antique Indian Show, held prior to the Indian market, was a resounding success. Dealers and collectors alike bought, sold, traded, and bargained for a variety of older native American merchandise. Many dealers reported that their best items were snapped up at the start of the show. Fine blankets from the Classic period, prior to 1875, sold for near record sums. Transitional and regional weavings were in good demand. The selection was excellent with many ready buyers. This show is renowned as a collector's market place, and the collectors were there in force.
Santa Fe, Gallup, Durango, and Taos dealers have reported heavy interest in all Navajo weaving after the Gallup show and Santa Fe Market. Navajo Reservation trading posts, such as the famous Hubbell store at Ganado, Arizona, reported sales were only limited by supply as weavers were unable to fill demand. Summer is a usually slow weaving season due to heavy farming and livestock activity among weaving families.
The only negative note to an otherwise record season was that action at various auctions was disappointing. The quantity and quality of rugs and blankets offered was not very broad. There is, in our opinion, an inverse relationship between auctions and the general market scene. In past years an auction was a good way for dealers to unload unwanted (slow selling) items. Since the summer market was so good, the pool of goods available for auction, the market of last resort, was limited. Gallery sales had been brisk all year, prices were good, and many dealers retained items for sale rather than for auction consignment. At the same time, collectors seemed to want to deal with reputable dealers or directly with the weaver-artist. One veteran of the auction scene told us, "Why should I spend all day at an auction on the chance I can buy one rug when in that same time I can see dozens of desirable textiles in galleries all over town?"
Two Navajo rug market truths emerge from the summer of 1987. The first is that hitherto unknown collections seemed to emerge from closets, basements, and attics each generation including the present one. As prices firm and demand increases, even things that formerly appeared unwanted began to sell; a rising tide raises all boats. Secondly, those of us who believed that Navajo weaving was a dying art now find that talented new weavers, new designs, and new enthusiasm dominate the contemporary weaving market. What we learned from our survey of the summer of 1987 was that the Navajo rug business is very much alive and well.
