Ellen and Lucy Begay
Ellen Begay , one of our dearest friends and most talented Navajo Weavers we have known has passed.
Ellen was a very kind and gentle soul with an infectiously beautiful smile.
She lived her entire life with serious health issues, but always maintained a positive attitude and outlook on life.
ELLEN BEGAY
1964-2010
Born for Bitter Water and Tangled up People (The Clans of her parents) She lived her entire life in the Nazlini area of the Navajo Reservation.
Ellen and her family maintained the most traditional lifestyle of any of the ladies I ever worked with.
She was a gentle soul, with a bright smile and quiet spirit.
She had an artist’s mind and eye, in that she could look at a bleak landscape, or a summer storm, and see amazing patterns and dazzling beauty.
Ellen had the talent to take what she saw in her dreams and her head, and use her eyes and hands to create a masterpiece.
Ellen was here for far too short a time….. but how lucky we are for the gifts she had, and the treasures, and memories, she leaves behind.
….by Susan Sorg, Journalist and Friend.
”Ellen was Spider Woman personified” ……… Steve
We are all very lucky that Steve was not only a dear friend of Ellen’s but a mentor and sponsor since she was 18 years old. She passed at 46 years old of heart failure.
We are also very lucky that Gary Beaudoin, one of Ellen’s biggest fans and collectors of her art, worked diligently to present her and her mother’s weavings in an exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.
Ellen never repeated a rug design or duplicated one of hers or of anyone else.
Each rug was a new masterpiece. Since Ellen had health problems since she was a young girl, she would weave perfection into each rug as if it may be her last. It was not uncommon for a 4 x 6 rug to require up to a year or a year and a half to compete. She and Lucy’s designs defy regional style definition, they were unique.
She will be deeply missed and we will remember her fondly.
Here are but a few of our memories of Ellen……….
Here is Ellen, 18 years old with the first rug she wove for Steve.
Ellen with her mother Lucy 1994
If you look closely you will see Ellen weaving behind the warp threads.
This was an unusual Two Grey Hill Style woven only as Ellen Begay can. Of all of Ellen’s weavings, I think I like this one the best of all (Gail). You can see clearly here how Ellen always used a stepped edge when weaving a diagonal line. You could say it was an exclusive trademark of hers, that would harken back to the classic period of Navajo Weaving.
The weaving below on the right combines the Two Grey Hill and Ganado styles on the loom and completed. I was lucky enough to be on this trip with Steve, to see Ellen and Lucy.
The Two Grey Hill Style Completed.
The two weavings above Ellen wove wider than high as a result of Steve showing her some antique Chief Blankets. She wanted to try weaving a piece that was wider than high on the loom.
Ellen and Lucy at their home in Nazlini Valley. Steve took this photo last summer.
Ellen and her parents last winter at her parents home.
This weaving below is also in the Three Turkey Ruin Style.
This was a weaving that Ellen wove for her grandmother, Mary Bia Begay, to pay tribute to her for teaching her to weave.
Young Navajo women typically learn from their grandmothers. She descends from generations of outstanding weavers. Pictured: Grandmother Mary Bia Begay, her mother Lucy, and Steve.
The photos below capture Ellen’s beautiful smile at the loom, her mother Lucy dyed the wool for Ellen. Ellen had returned to the natural Three Turkey Ruin colors that her grandmother had taught her to weave with.
Our camera was having a hard time focusing on Ellen’s rug to the right with her mother Lucy. This was Ellen’s last weaving.
We just can’t say enough about what a beautiful and wonderful person Ellen was.
Navajo Weaving in the Present Tense 2010
“Navajo Weaving in the Present Tense”
at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
The Art of Lucy and Ellen Begay
February 16 – May 2, 2010
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
520 South First Street
San José, CA 95113
408-971-0323
www.sjquiltmuseum.org
Museum Catalog …………. The Unbroken Web…………
Lucy and Ellen with a Three Turkey Ruin Style weaving.
The colors were a trademark of their extended family. Exhibit Catalog
Catalog “Unbroken Web”: order and preview
Navajo Weaving in the Present Tense: The Art of Lucy and Ellen Begay
is the first retrospective exhibition by Navajo weavers Lucy Begay and her only daughter Ellen Begay.
Drawn primarily from the private collection of Gary Beaudoin, the exhibit features eighteen,
one-of-a-kind artworks woven by Lucy and Ellen over the past twenty years.
The Begays’ work, deeply integrated into their traditional lifestyle, is strongly rooted in
and draws inspiration from what has become known as the Burntwater Navajo rug weaving style,
one of the last regional styles to evolve in the mid-20th century.
Steve Getzwiller has worked with Ellen and Lucy since the early 1980s and has always encouraged and supported their work. His support enabled them to weave the best quality weavings – both in design and color.
Steve has provided them with the finest hand dyed Churro wool for their weavings for the past
15 years, which can take up to a year to weave. Their weavings are very highly detailed, fine, and tightly woven.
Exquisite is one word that might describe their talent! Two pages from the catalog………
