Dozens of vibrant Navajo weavings and a hands-on educational gallery constitute the Weaving is Life exhibit, currently on display at the Kennedy Museum of Art, located in Lin Hall at The Ridges. The exhibit began on March 12 and will remain on display through Oct. 30.
The exhibit was complied from the museum's private collection of weavings that were donated by Ed Kennedy, an alumnus of Ohio University, after his death in 1991, along with pieces that were commissioned within the last year with the help of Navajo weaver and co-curator D.Y. Begay, said Jennifer McLerran, curator of Kennedy Museum of Art.
In the main gallery, weavings from three different families, as well as Begay's work, are displayed and explained through plaques bearing the story of how each piece came to be. Some collections of weavings come from three different generations within each family tree.
We (the museum and students) went out to the reservation between the last two to three years
McLerran said. We took the weavings to the weavers' homes so that they could see the pieces and talk about them.
Students from the museum's PACE program, independent studies and work studies programs and graduate assistants took part in planning Weaving is Life. They taped the interviews, wrote books on the families and the wool-dying process and compiled the information presented in the educational exhibit. Elizabeth Barnett, a senior visual communications major, said students were given a guide of information to compile, explaining the entire weaving process.
An educational hands-on gallery is also available to patrons of the museum for an in-depth view of the weaving process. A map highlighting the four-corners region of the Southwest, which is mostly situated on the Colorado plateau, is displayed in the front room of the gallery with an educational video. The back room of the exhibit features drawers filled with tools that aid the weaving and dying processes. A community loom and smaller take-home looms are also available for those who want to weave for themselves.
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