National Heritage Award Winner
Navajo Basket Weaver

For contact information, call the Arts Education Program at (801) 320-9794

(Heritage; Multi-Cultural; Visual Arts)

For generations Mary Holiday Black's family has lived on Douglas Mesa in Monument Valley.

Mary grew up making the distinctive red, black and white ceremonial Navajo baskets used by the family medicine men. During the 1970's, Mary became a leader among the Douglas Mesa basket makers in developing a new style of non-ceremonial basket. Borrowing images and designs from prehistoric pottery, rock art and the baskets of neighboring tribes, she wove animals, figures and geometric designs that had not previously appeared in Navajo baskets. Also, a rug weaver, she borrowed geometric rug designs and this led her to weaving baskets with ceremonial images like those that had become common on pictorial rugs during the last century.

Her work has inspired her children and many neighbors, who now weave not only ceremonial baskets, but also baskets that tell stories and are designed to depict Navajo legend and belief. In 1995, Mary became the first Navajo and the first Utahn to be awarded a National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor given to American folk artists. (Willow stories: Utah Navajo Baskets, Carol A. Edison, editor, Utah Arts Council, 1996.)

Mary and her daughters are available by special arrangement with the AE office for short term demonstrations and discussions about Navajo basket making. Beginning with gathering the willows/reeds for basket making and preparing them for weaving, the audience is introduced to the entire basket making process.