Exhibit: 2017 - Navajo Textiles as Modern Art

Navajo Textiles as Modern Art

Celebrating the imagination of the Navajo Weaving Artist

At the Nizhoni Ranch Gallery, Sonoita AZ
March 11 - June 30 2017

Our goal for this exhibition is to present a wide variety of Navajo textiles which represent many facets of Modern Art, from minimalism to multi-dimensional design concepts.

There is always the question of what came first? Whatever the theory - The Navajo Weaver is part of the mix and was generally far ahead of their time.

Excerpted from exhibit brochure forward written by Alyssa Travis, Associate Curator of the Tucson Desert Art Museum.

"Besides a handful of outstanding contemporary weavings by master weavers Elsie Bia, Selena Yazzi, Cecelia Nes, and GHardy, the works in this collection were woven between the 1870s and 1940s. In many ways, these works were ahead of their time and resemble the works of color field painters, op artists, hard-edge painters, and to a lesser extent, the minimalists of the the mid-1900s. For instance, many of the pieces in this exhibition resemble color field paintings by artists like Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella, Mark Rothko, and Morris Louis. In these works, large areas of color become the subject of the work rather than any objective context. As another example, many of the exhibition's serapes and transitional blankets wit their Mexican Saltillo-style serrated diamonds and vibrant colored yarns create eye-popping effects worthy of the psychedelic-inspired 1960s Op Art movement."

We hope you will enjoy the Art and Artistry of these very talented weavers from yesteryear and today.

Please enjoy.

Steve & Gail Getzwiller