I want to thank all of you who participated in Convergence 2010 in Albuquerque.  It was the first time I attended a Convergence conference.  What a wonderful time I had!! 

I taught the Navajo Weaving Bootcamp Class along with Rose Dedman, Jennie Slick and Mary Walker.  We had about 53 students in a huge space we called “the echo room”!  Actually, once we got started it was not a problem to be in that room.  I want to thank Rose, Jennie, Mary and Pat for helping me in with the first ever class I taught.  I also want to thank my students for being patient and having a sense of humor.  I enjoyed meeting all of you and look forward to doing it again next year. 

-Morris

Summer is a very busy time for me.  Over the weekend I went to the Crownpoint Rug Auction, a couple of rez flea markets, and worked on my projects in Church Rock.  I am preparing for a couple of upcoming events for this summer.  I will be team teaching Navajo Weaving Boot Camp with Jennie Slick, Rose Dedman, and Mary Walker in a couple weeks at the Handweaver’s Guild of America’s Convergence 2010 in Albuquerque, NM.  I have a Board of Trustees meeting at the Wheelwright Museum this week and then my other event is demonstrating Navajo weaving, carding, and handspinning at the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, NM during the Santa Fe Indian Market. 

I will continue to go on my shopping trips on the rez and border towns.  Please contact me if you have any questions.   Until the next time….

-Morris

This is the first time I thought about offering a traditional Navajo weaving class and tour so I appreciate your patience and time in reading my posts.  I’m thinking aloud on my website.  So I am going to attempt answering a little more than where, when, type of class, and how much. 

I realize there are students out there who are not planning on coming out to the Southwest to learn Navajo weaving.  I would like to offer a week long course in Navajo weaving on the Navajo mini loom.  I am willing to travel to you and teach.  My rate for a group of students will definitely be more cost effective than individual, one-on-one private lessons.

For students close in the Southwest area, I will offer you the opportunity to meet legendary weaver & artist, Noel Bennett, and renowned Hopi weaver Ramona Sakiestewa.  I have known Noel Bennett and Ramona Sakiestewa when I first moved to Santa Fe in 2003.  It’s a surprise and unexpected to have met Noel Bennett the way I did.  I was sitting in an exercise class waiting for class to start.  Then this older Anglo woman sat next to me and began a conversation with me.  We began to talk about the Navajo Reservation then Navajo weaving.  Just before class started I learned it was the legendary Noel Bennett, who had spent time on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City in the late 1960s-early1970s!!  Noel was in my class!!  I was quite honored and sweaty at the end of class.  It was unreal experience! 

Here’s a photo of Noel Bennett and I at the Live Auction at the Wheelwright Museum during the week of the famous Santa Fe Indian Market, August 2009.  I am posting with an antique Santo Domingo Pueblo water jar.  (I am posing for 3 different photographers so I’m only looking at photographer #1).

Here are the tentative details of my tentative Navajo weaving classes for 2010:

When:  May 22-29, 2010, ; June 19-26, 2010, Aug. 28-Sept. 4, 2010, and Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 2010.

Where: Window Rock, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or your city.  Student enrollment will determine location.

Class type:  I offer beginner, intermediate and advanced Navajo weaving classes. 

How much?:  Depends on number of students and location. 

I have so much to offer students about Navajo weaving and culture.  I hope you take advantage of this opportunity.  Please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.  I will be waiting to hear from you.