"Woven by the Grandmothers: 19th Century Navajo Textiles"

WETA - TV, PBS Washington, DC

Navajo textiles tell a story of Navajo life. Of today, tomorrow and yesterday. Of tradition and innovation. Of adaptation and survival in the midst of upheaval and change. It was a period interrupted by captivity. A time when Navajo blankets were picked up off the battlefield and traded for food. A time when the Navajo homeland became a reservation. A time when weaving helped keep the Navajos alive, culturally and spiritually. "Woven by the Grandmothers: 19th Century Navajo Textiles" is a half hour documentary drawn from an exhibition of Navajo wearing blankets in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. Incorporating stories and poems by noted Navaho writer Luci Tapahonso, the program explores the history and spirituality of a tradition kept alive by contemporary Native American artists. Archival film, photographs and interviews with artists and curators describe the integrated relationship of weaving and life - revealing why in Native American languages, there is no word for "art." Production for two half-hour partner programs - "Woven by the Grandmothers" and "Legacy of Generations" was accomplished in ten days - five in the Navajo Nation and Santa Clara Pueblo, and five in the National Museum of Women in the Arts where the exhibitions were on view. The programs were narrated by Buffey Sainte-Maire and recorded and mastered in High Definition Television. Funding was provided by the Mobil Foundation.

Quotes from "Woven by the Grandmothers"

Wesley Thomas, Co-Curator, Navajo: "The zig zag is a symbol seen as lightning. In one of the Navajo ceremonies thereÕs a phrase, 'IÕm surrounded by lightning,' so itÕs a form of protection from all evil or the concept of evil." D.Y. Begay, Co-Curator, Navajo: "When a weaver is spinning yarns, she'll be using her fingers to work the yarns. And the oils from her fingers and her hands will get integrated into the weaving. When she's weaving, strands of her hair will get woven into the textile." Maureen Shwarz, Anthropologist: "All things in the Navajo world are made from the same fundamental elements, which are moisture, air, substance heat and vibration. And so when Navajo people have contact with an object ... it's animate to them in a sense, because fundamentally it's made from the same living elements." Terry Sopher, Collector: "The traders in the late 1800's encouraged them to start weaving rugs to be sold to Anglos in the urban centers of the United States. So there was a transition from the weaving for their own purposes to weaving for commercial purposes and to sell rugs for the tourist trade." Luci Tapahonso, Writer, Navajo: "They began rounding up the people in the fall. Some were lured into surrendering by offers of food, clothes and livestock. So many of us were starving and suffering that year because the bilangaana kept attacking us. Kit Carson and his army had burned all the fields, and they killed our sheep right in front of us. We couldnÕt believe it. I covered my face and cried. All my life we had sheep. They were like our family. It was then I knew our lives were in great danger."

D.Y. Begay at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, camera: Ed Lee

Navajo Blanket from the National Museum of the American Indian, camera: Ed Lee

Navajo Nation, camera: Doug Crawford

"Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women"

Emma Lewis Mitchell, Acoma Pueblo

WETA-TV, PBS Washington, DC

"The Legacy of Generations: Pottery by American Indian Women" is a half hour documentary drawn from an exhibition curated by Susan Peterson for the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The program explores how women artists in the long line of potters from the Santa Clara and Acoma Pueblos integrate Native American heritage and modern identity. By blending tradition and personal vision they create art objects which bear witness to the synthesis of old and new, community and individual, tradition and innovation. Quotes from "Legacy of Generations" Margaret Tafoya, Pueblo (1904-2002): "In the beginning of this world, our people came with that, with the clay, ...And the clay is very important for this Indian -- for our Indians. I talk to the the clay. And ask my heavenly spirit to help me. That's what I do - and I know what I'm going to make and it stand up. So, maybe the girls do it the same way." Nancy Youngblood Lugo, Pueblo: "If you put a piece in the flame, the shock of the flame and the heat suddenly can make the piece crack or explode. So, I gradually preheat my pieces ... it's on all four sides and the top and bottom like a bonfire. And then keep visually looking in to see the pot for a color change and when it changes, then cover it with the dry powdered horse manure and it smothers it and turns it black." LuAnn Tafoya, Santa Clara Pueblo: "The traditional designs like the kiva steps came in the family a long time ago. And each symbol means something -- like the kiva steps, the mountains, the clouds, the bear paw, the path, the praying sticks. Each one have a different meaning." "Legacy of Generations" also includes pottery and interviews with Grace Medicine Flower of Santa Clara Pueblo; the daughters of Lucy Lewis of Acoma Pueblo - Emma Lewis Mitchell, Dolores Lewis Garcia and Carmel Lewis Haskaya; Susan Peterson, ceramicist and author; Charles Benson, collector and philanthropist and Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, founder of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

When Mud Woman Begins (excerpt) by Nora Naranjo-Morse Electricity surging upward as I mix this mud like my mother as her mother did with small brown feet. Folding into this earth a decision of joyful play, transcending expectations of fear failure or perfection. Creating spirits calling invitations of celebration. What occurs in completed form, bright and bold, is motion from our mother's skin.

pot in fire by Nancy Youngblod Lugo Santa Clara Pueblo

Producer/Director/Writer: Linda Lewett Narrator: Buffey Sainte-Marie, Cree WETA Director of Cultural Programming: Phylis Geller Executive Producer: Rachel Lyon Assistant Producer/Co-Writer: Gillian Rogovin Assistant Field Producer: Molly Hermann Directors of Photography: Doug Crawford and Ed Lee Lighting Director: Dan McKenrick Music: Charlie Barnett Source music: Tewa Women's Choir Editor: Doug Johncox Creative Consultant: Susan Peterson Engineer: Charles R.Caillouet, Jr. High Definition Television facility HD Vision, Texas.

Margaret Tatoya, Santa Clara Pueblo

Nora Naranjo-Morse, Santa Clara Pueblo