Natural dyeing in the Navajo tradition

Roy Kady during a spindle spinning demonstration. Photos courtesy of Roy Kady.

Earlier this week, the Farmington Museum in New Mexico hosted a special guest speaker. Roy Kady, a Navajo (Diné) Master Weaver and fiber artist from Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, offered a workshop on vegetal dyeing for fiber artists. Kady was invited to speak to members of the San Juan Quilters Guild, who eagerly absorbed not only the information about traditional dyeing methods but also heard stories about the role of fiber arts in traditional Diné culture.

 

The San Juan Quilters Guild saw how a wide variety of natural materials can be used as dye stuffs.

Standing outside the museum, the group dyed yarns using native plants, fungi, roots, and exotic plants. The local newspaper covered the event and posted a short video on its website.

 

Roy Kady teaches and lectures at Navajo Technical University and to other textile groups around the country. He keeps an active Facebook page where he posts pictures of the landscape in which he lives, weaves, and raises Navajo-Churro sheep as a source of inspiration for himself and others.