Elsie Holiday
Changing Woman
19 1/2"
diameter
Considered one of the best
of the best Navajo basket weavers, Elsie Stone Holiday married
into the famed Douglas Mesa family of weavers. Weaving baskets
has become almost an addiction for her. "When I go two or
three days without weaving I get anxious to get started again,"
she says. She weaves 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. "Sometimes
I think, 'How long can this last?'", she wistfully states,
but for now she is content with her art, finding immense satisfaction
in creating premier quality baskets.
Learning the art of basket
weaving from the family that is famous for the Navajo basket
renaissance is certainly an advantage for Elsie Stone Holiday,
and she has added talent and dedication to that advantage, with
remarkable results.
Elsie knew how to weave rugs
before she married, so weaving baskets was fairly easy for her
to master. She learned from such renowned artists as Sally and
Lorraine Black, Rose Esplain, and her mother-in-law, Betty White
Holiday. Then she simply made the art her own by using her natural
intuitive creativity.
The mother of six children,
Elsie has only been weaving for about eleven years, since her
children became old enough to allow her the time. Now they watch
her, and sometimes help with the non-weaving tasks connected
to the work, learning as they do so.
Elsie gathers the sumac strips
used for her weaving along waterways in Hanksville or Moab, Utah,
and Farmington, New Mexico. She says the reeds grow well along
irrigation ditches, and are most pliable in the spring and fall
months. She gathers about a six-month supply and then takes them
home and readies them for weaving by stripping off the bark and
splitting the reeds.
Then Elsie does something
few other weavers care to do- she takes the split reed and pulls
it through a hole in a can, to strip away any excess, making
the strips uniform size. It is this, and her propensity for a
uniform, tight weave, that makes Elsie's baskets premium quality.
If she notices any irregularities, Elsie picks out her weaving
and begins again. She truly cares about making her baskets as
perfect as possible.
Elsie's technique is not her
only fine point, she also has a wonderful imagination for new
design ideas. Elsie is modest when praised for her work and eager
for any suggestions. She has an enthusiastic desire to please
those who buy her baskets.
Elsie's father is a practicing
medicine man, but it is her mother-in-law who has helped her
with her weaving by performing ceremonies for her. A crystal
gazer, Betty knows much about traditional Navajo medicine. She
sprinkled corn pollen on a spider web and placed it on Elsie's
head, all the while saying a prayer.
The spider web represents
the weaving done by spider woman, an important personage in Navajo
mythology. Elsie confirms the validity of the ceremony by proclaiming
how much it has helped her in her weaving.
