The Art of Weaving Past into Future
How Hosteen Klah became one of the first Modern artists of the Navajo Nation
Perhaps Hosteen Klah wouldn’t have thought of himself as an artist. He was a skilled singer of traditional healing songs, practitioner of herbal medicine, maker of ceremonial sand paintings — a great shaman. He was also expert in various Navajo weaving techniques. In fact, it seemed he mastered anything he turned his ambidextrous hands to.
Klah first drew wider public attention when he demonstrated traditional sand-painting and weaving at the 1893 Chicago World Fair, which was held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus arriving in the New World. How ironic?
It seems Klah’s primary motivation for spreading his people’s traditions beyond the borders of their reservation was to preserve, or at least document, them for posterity. He found a few apprentices to whom he could teach healing chants, sand-painting, and weaving, but felt there were not enough to ensure the techniques would endure beyond a generation. He feared the imminent demise of the old ways which were being deliberately eroded by US governmental policies and schooling. His shamanic practices were also under orchestrated attack from the encroaching assimilationist culture and aggressive Christian missions.
