D.Y. Begay, Arapaho Style
D.Y. Begay
1953-
Diné (Navajo)
Date
2014
Medium Specific
Home grown churro and merino wool
Classification
Textile
Dimensions
37 1/2 x 37 x 1/4 in. (95.3 x 94 x 0.6 cm.)
Accession Number
2021.35.40.162
Credit
Gift of Patrick V. and Mary Beth Musick
Memo / Artist Statement
The inspiration for this tapestry came from designs I have seen painted on numerous Arapaho parfleche bags, containers and envelopes. I have great appreciation for hand-made rawhide containers and I am intrigued by the compositions and the multitude of symbolism found on each piece.
The parfleche artists were technically skilled in defining lines around shapes that comprise the patterns. The symmetrical arrangements on parfleches are beautifully organized as Navajo weaving patterns. They used natural pigments to create bold, contrasting colors. Like the Arapaho, I embrace the process of using natural materials for achieving colors in my weavings. "Arapaho Style" was an experiment in reflecting the parfleche concept woven into a traditional Navajo rug. -- D.Y. Begaye, 2015
The parfleche artists were technically skilled in defining lines around shapes that comprise the patterns. The symmetrical arrangements on parfleches are beautifully organized as Navajo weaving patterns. They used natural pigments to create bold, contrasting colors. Like the Arapaho, I embrace the process of using natural materials for achieving colors in my weavings. "Arapaho Style" was an experiment in reflecting the parfleche concept woven into a traditional Navajo rug. -- D.Y. Begaye, 2015
Biography
D.Y. Begay, a Navajo born to the Totsohni’ (Big Water) Clan and born for the Tachinii’ (Red Running into Earth) Clan, is a fourth-generation weaver. Growing up around female weavers, she was exposed to herding and shearing sheep, carding and spinning wool, harvesting plants for dyeing, and learning to weave in the traditional Navajo fashion. Begay’s tapestries encompass her interpretation of the natural beauty and descriptive colors of the Navajo reservation, reflecting on her Navajo identity and her family’s weaving tradition. This spiritual connection to the plants yields the natural colors that are transformed into evocative land formations on her loom. Her current work combines mastery of this tradition with unconventional uses of colors and design, producing experiments with non-reservation color combinations in her weavings.
Begay is a 2018 United States Artists Fellow and is a recipient of the Native American Art Studies Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2013). In 2018 the Museum of Northern Arizona organized Tselani/Terrain: Tapestries of D.Y. Begay, a focused retrospective of her work. Begay’s tapestries have been exhibited in and collected by major museums, including the National Museum of the American Indian, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Kennedy Museum of Art, C.N. Gorman Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Mesa Art Center, National Museum of Scotland, and the Heard Museum. Her work traveled in the Arts in Embassies program in 2006 and 2010. Her latest work, a wintry landscape of northeastern Minnesota commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is presently on tour in the acclaimed exhibition Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists.
https://indigenousarts.as.virginia.edu/dy-begay
Begay is a 2018 United States Artists Fellow and is a recipient of the Native American Art Studies Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2013). In 2018 the Museum of Northern Arizona organized Tselani/Terrain: Tapestries of D.Y. Begay, a focused retrospective of her work. Begay’s tapestries have been exhibited in and collected by major museums, including the National Museum of the American Indian, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Kennedy Museum of Art, C.N. Gorman Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Mesa Art Center, National Museum of Scotland, and the Heard Museum. Her work traveled in the Arts in Embassies program in 2006 and 2010. Her latest work, a wintry landscape of northeastern Minnesota commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is presently on tour in the acclaimed exhibition Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists.
https://indigenousarts.as.virginia.edu/dy-begay
Date of Bio
Display Shelf Location