Experienced “Little Colorado Plateau”, a 34″ X 28″ wedge weave textile by Marilou Schultz at the Navajo Festival of Arts & Culture in Flagstaff last weekend. Oh my goodness what a gorgeous statement in wool ! It won 1st Prize at the Heard Indian Market show in March 2017.
This weaving epitomizes “weavings as soft paintings” (my perspective). Navajorugsart.com is Marilou’s website, should you want to see more of her work, as well as her sister’s textiles.
Wedge weave or pulled warp textiles “first was found in blankets dating from the 1880’s. It results when the weaver, after beginning with a few rows of plain weft-faced stripes, begins to build a triangular wedge at one side selvage, using the same strips employed for building lazy lines. The next color is laid against the slope of the original triangle. Repeated many times, when the opposite selvage is reached, it is filled in with an additional triangular wedge, making the weaving level even.” taken from Kathleen Whitaker’s book Southwest Textiles: Weavings of the Navajo and Pueblo.
Corinne Cain from SavvyCollector.com