Sunrise, by contemporary Navajo artist Morris Muskett. Churro wool and natural dyes. From the Joe Ben Wheat Textile Collection, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.

University of Colorado Museum of Natural History Object of the Month!

Contemporary Navajo Rug, Sunrise

This Navajo weaving is a contemporary piece from the Joe Ben Wheat Textile Collection. It was woven by Morris Muskett on a traditional vertical Navajo loom in 2004, with Navajo Churro wool which has been spun and mothproofed using a natural pesticide from dandelions.

The warp (vertical yarns on a loom) of Sunrise is a 2-ply natural white wool yarn while the weft (horizontal yarns woven between the warp to create the design) is dyed single-ply wool.

The colors of Sunrise were created using plant dyes. Logwood dye (purple) comes from a tree of the same name. The wood is dried and can be used to create many different hues depending on the mordant (dye fixative) added to the dye bath. In Sunrise, logwood was used to create the beautiful hues of medium to dark purple. To create the pink colors, a fermented prickly pear dye bath was used. The blue hues were created with a natural indigo dye bath. Indigo, logwood, and prickly pear dyes all come from plant materials.

Sunrise shows the beautiful colors of a sunrise. It represents the morning sky on a loom.

To see this piece and many more examples of contemporary and historical Navajo weaving, come see our upcoming exhibit opening May 29, 2009, Navajo Weaving: Diamonds, Dreams, Landscapes, which showcases some of the Joe Ben Wheat Textile Collection.

To learn more about Muskett and Navajo weaving, try these resources:

the art of Morris Muskett

Blanket Weaving in the Southwest, Joe Ben Wheat (ed. Ann Lane Hedlund), 2003, The University of Arizona Press.

Beyond the Loom: Keys to Understanding Early Southwestern Weaving, Ann Lane Hedlund, 1990, Johnson Books.

Navajo Weaving in the Late Twentieth Century Kin, Community, and Collectors, Ann Lane Hedlund, 2004, The University of Arizona Press.

For previous Objects of the Month, check out our Archive.