Taos Art School - Pearl Sunrise Weaving

Taos Art School

"We learned not only
Navajo Weaving Techniques
but also experienced some
of the vibrant Navajo Culture
through ceremonies & stories.
Pearl is an engaging storyteller,
and shares personal accounts
of her life as well as
traditional tales
about Spider Woman"

NAVAJO WEAVING & CULTURE
Beginning/Intermediate:
Check our Schedule for dates
(Feel free to call for details)

Tuition: $575, Materials Extra
Optional Traditional Feast $30
Limited to 12 Participants
Class Supplies | Our Instructor
Class Schedule | Lodging
View pictures from a previous class
Housing: The KACHINA LODGE in Taos.
Call for special group rates: Prices starting at $79/night

YOUR CLASS EXPERIENCE

This class is as much about Culture as it is about Weaving. Pearl Sunrise is a luminous person whose gentle presence will encourage you while her extensive knowledge of these techniques helps your hands to know what to do.

After each morning’s drumming ceremony, she will demonstrate a technique which the students then try on their own under her encouraging supervision. All levels are welcome, as each participant works at their own pace. We share Meals, Walks, Pools, and Laughter as an ancient way of knowing soaks into your soul.

Come join us!

Pearl Sunrise assisting a student in a 1997 workshop
Photo by John H. Beck

Class Schedule

Sat

Sun

Mon

Tues

Wed

Thurs

Fri

Sat

Breakfast included

8 AM

9AM

Morning
Ceremony

Class
Starts

Start
Design/
Weave

Weave

Finish
Weave

Depart

3 PM Check in Hotel

All day warping

Weave

Visit private collection of prehistoric Navajo rugs

Weave

Remove weave from loom

Optional
Taos
Pow Wow

Evening

6 PM Reception

Traditional Navajo feast with visit to Churro Sheep Ranch

Movie
Night

Optional Taos PowWow

DAILY SCHEDULE

Class starts Sunday morning, and ends mid afternoon on Friday. Daily hours will be from 9 AM to 4 PM, with an hour off for lunch. Sunday is spent on the all-important warping, for which Pearl supplies her own yard to ensure the proper tension. Students are divided up into pairs, together warping one loom in the morning and a second in the afternoon. This not only means each student has a properly warped loom to start work on Monday morning, but also means that the students' "hands" will retain the knowledge of how to do this important task.

Then the students are guided through the design stage. For beginning students this will be a block design, while advanced students will work with diagonals, or even a twill. The Navajo way is not to use a cartoon but rather to design right on the loom. Monday through Friday we weave. All techniques will be demonstrated first by Pearl, then done by each student under her encouraging supervision. All levels are welcome as each student is encouraged to work at his or her individual pace.

Info on the Pow Wow follows

The Taos Pueblo Pow Wow is Scheduled to take place the weekend after this workshop. We suggest that you stay the extra night to partake of this unique event. Please contact the Kachina Lodge directly to make arrangements for this.

Click see more about the Taos Pueblo Pow Wow.

Image: Black and white picture of hands weaving

About Our Instructor
Pearl Sunrise is a gentle and knowledgeable teacher whose luminous spirit inspires all who meet her. As a 3rd generation Navajo weaver, she learned her craft from her mother and grandmother. She has been the unofficial Navajo ambassador to the world for years, receiving a Fulbright to teach in New Zealand, and a commission by the U.S. State department to visit Lesotho, South Africa, and Toronto, Canada as a Cultural Specialist. She’s on the advisory board of the New Indian Museum, in Wash, D.C., and is currently a professor at the School of American Indian Arts, in Santa Fe. Her work is collected worldwide.

Feel free to Call us for more Information about this workshop.
We love to chat about our classes. 575-758-0350

Lodging:
Kachina Lodge in Taos.
(575) 758-2275 - http://kachinalodge.com/
http://www.hotel-rates.com/us/new-mexico/taos/best-western-kachina-lodge.html
Class Location:
This class will be held at the Kachina Lodge in Taos. Students are invited to also arrange lodging here and stay with your teacher and fellow classmates.

B)) PAID DIRECTLY TO THE FACULTY

SUPPLIES

All materials may be purchased directly from Pearl during class. Following is the list of materials needed. Please bring a firm pillow for sitting. This for your chair, we are not on the ground.

1) NAVAJO LOOM SMALL - 1 week rental of simple loom, without tools: $35.00. 1 week rental of simple loom, with tools (batten and comb): $45.00. 1 week rental of warp set-up, shed stick and heddles: $55.00 (includes: warp, edging cords (top & bottom), 2-willow heddle sticks, top and bottom beams to attach warps, & many yards of twine for binding.

2) YARN - 4 skeins of Navajo Handspun (each $7 = $28.00). A variety of colors will be set out on a table for students to use as needed. At the end of the week, you will be charged for only what you have used. You may also purchase extra yarn to take home.