Object Monday: Storm Pattern weaving by Rose Keith

This Storm Pattern (171 x 111.5 cm) weaving by Diné weaver Rose Keith won the blue ribbon at the 1979 New Mexico State Fair.  The storm pattern is believed to have originated in the western part of the reservation and in 1903, a storm pattern rug appeared as Plate 28 in the catalog produced by J.B. Moore, who ran the Crystal Trading Post, in far western New Mexico.  Woven in many color palettes, the storm pattern consists of a central rectangle connected by zig zag lines to smaller corner rectangles. The central square is variously describes as representing home or the center of the universe and the zigzags as representing lightning, while the four corner rectangles are the four sacred Navajo mountains or four directions. Rose Keith wove this rug using commercial 3-play yarns in natural and analine colors, using the raised-outline technique alternating two colors in the weft.

Interested in learning more about Navajo weavings and supporting contemporary artists?  Come to the Maxwell Navajo Rug Auction on November 20, 2021 at the Prairie Star Restaurant at Santa Ana Pueblo (Bernalillo, NM)