Meeting Announcement:

 

Navajo-Churro Sheep and Navajo Weaving Culture

 

with

 

Dr. Susan Strawn

 

at

 

Pioneer Hall

1642 43rd Avenue East, Seattle

In the Madison Park neighborhood

 

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007, 7:00 PM

 

This talk will describe the introduction, destruction, and return of Navajo-Churro sheep to Navajo lands and people in the American Southwest. The unique fiber qualities of Navajo-Churro wool and its suitability for Navajo weaving are highlighted in photos and examples of the fiber. Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers brought the ancestors of the Navajo-Churro breed to the American Southwest.  The Navajo-Churro adapted to the harsh high desert landscape of the Navajo homelands and provided mutton for food, wool for weaving, wealth in abundant flocks, and a source of social cohesion for the Navajo people.

 

After the westward migration of Anglo Americans into the Southwest during the mid-nineteenth century, Navajo-Churro sheep were reduced to near extinction through outright destruction intended to subdue the Navajo people and by subsequent crossbreeding with high production sheep breeds. During the 1970s, Navajo and non-Navajo herders and weavers joined in a concerted effort to restore breeding lines of Navajo-Churro sheep. The contemporary Navajo organization, Diné be' iiná (abbreviated to DBI, translated as The Navajo Lifeway), continues to provide leadership that is sustaining Navajo-Churro sheep for Navajo weaving. Navajo-Churro sheep and wool play a role in revitalizing material culture, renewing social integration, and enhancing business opportunities for Navajo people.

 

Speaker Biography:

 

Susan Strawn teaches courses about textiles as an Assistant Professor in the Apparel Design and Merchandising department at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. Before entering academic life, she was the staff artist for Interweave Press in Loveland, Colorado, where she illustrated and photo-styled books and periodicals about hand-produced textiles. She received her Ph.D. in Textiles and Clothing from Iowa State University, and her dissertation focused on a community-based Navajo organization working to restore Navajo-Churro sheep to Navajo lands and people. During the summer, she lives near Seattle.

 

Meeting Schedule:

 

7:00             Mix and mingle.  Announcements.

7:30             Dr. Susan Strawn: Navajo-Churro Sheep and Navajo Weaving Culture

8:30             Show and tell – Bring anything you’d like to share with the group.  Something from the Americas would be particularly appropriate. 

 

Please note:  This meeting is free to members, $5 at the door for guests.

 

Meeting Location and Directions:

 

Pioneer Hall is the home of the Pioneer Association of the State of Washington.  See the map below.  Parking is available on nearby streets.

 

From I-5 or 405, take 520 toward the University of Washington.  From the Eastside, exit at Lake Washington Blvd and turn left off the bridge and right into the Arboretum.  From I-5, take the first exit from 520, Montlake Blvd.. 

Go straight through the light, following the main road until you take a right into the Arboretum. 

 

Go through the Arboretum, turning left at the light, at Madison Street.  Go about a mile, and turn right on E. Blaine Street.  Go two blocks.  Pioneer Hall is straight ahead.

Map