Navajo Weaving with Lynda Pete

This in-depth, three day, hands-on workshop teaches weaving in the “Diné Way”. The workshop is intended for students that seek cultural enrichment in an engaging format that expresses the art of Navajo weaving and shares the Navajo culture and textile history.

Interest in Navajo weaving has increased each year by the public to integrate diverse arts into their lives. The class will include some language and weaving culture immersion, as well as information and education of the history of Navajo Weaving. This Weaving class is unique because students begin with pre-warped rugs and start weaving immediately. Designs are graphed, and samples are provided. Students will leave the class with their own hand made Diné rug, as well as a cultural education in Diné Weaving.

About Lynda Pete: Diné tapestry weaver Lynda Teller Pete was born into the Tábąąhá (Water Edge Clan) and born for the Tó’aheedlíinii (Two Waters Flow Together Clan). Her maternal grandfather is Born for Red Bottom People, Tł’ááshchí’í and her paternal grandfather if of the One-Walks-Around Clan, Honágháahnii. Originally from the Two Grey Hills, Newcomb, NM areas of the Navajo Nation. She lives in Denver with her husband Belvin Pete.

Weaving is a legacy in the Teller family. For over seven generations, her family has produced award-winning rugs in the traditional Two Grey Hills regional style. Along with her weaving, Lynda is collaborating with fiber art centers, museums, universities, fiber guilds and other art venues to educate the public about Navajo history and the preservation of Navajo weaving traditions.

Lynda and her sister Barbara wrote Spider Woman’s Children, Navajo Weavers Today in 2018. This book is the first book written about Navajo weavers by Navajo weavers since the time of Spanish and colonial contacts. Lynda has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in Public Programs from Arizona State University. Lynda and Barbara’s second book “How To Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman” is published by Thrums Books/Schiffer Publishing. Lynda was prestigiously awarded the 2023 Museum of Indian Art and Culture’s Living Legacy along with her sister Barbara for their dedication to work in keeping their weaving traditions alive and strong. She is also a 2022-2023 Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow, awarded to preserve her immersion of the Diné language with her teaching of Diné weaving to her tribal members.

Lynda and Barbara have two museum exhibitions that have opened in 2023, “Shaped by the Loom” at the Bard Graduate Center in New York and in her role as the Chair of the Advisory Committee for the “Horizon’s Weaving Between the Lines” at the Museum of Indian Arts in Culture in Santa Fe, NM. The sisters have made it their mission after 25 years of teaching to focus on Diné that have lost their linkages to their weaving history and are proud of their efforts that many have made reconnections.

Education and sharing of indigenous weaving traditions leads to cultural survival and recognized resiliency. Lynda and Barbara seek to create an increased awareness and a systemic change in many current attitudes to the public at large by giving them a glimpse into their Diné weaving world.

From the age of six, when Lynda was officially introduced to weaving, instilled the belief that beauty and harmony should be woven into every rug. Lynda is an artist, teacher, educator, writer, activist, collaborator and a cultural bearer and brings these skills to every endeavor. She works hard to bring an understanding and appreciation from an underrepresented and underserved indigenous textile population. Today, Lynda Teller Pete continues to carry this weaving tradition.