By Thomas Grover
Baskets are more than just an essential part of Navajo life. They are art forms.
That is the message curators hope to emphasize with ?Walk in Beauty: Hozho and Navajo Basketry,? an exhibit on display at the BYU Museum of Art. 'The exhibit is an insight to the Navajo culture,' said Ellen O''Neil-Rife, graduate student curator of the exhibit. 'I think specifically it''s important to recognize Native American art as being not simply craft. It is one of the reasons this exhibition was in the BYU Museum of Art versus the Museum of Peoples and Cultures. It has always been innovative and always been extremely artistic.'
'The Navajo people create these baskets to reflect Hozho, which is a sense of balance and harmony,' said Christine Howard, assistant director at the MOA.
Hozho is a Navajo philosophy that blends religion and art, and represents beauty and order, she said.
'The Navajo culture is very focused on this idea of creating balance within the world,' O''Neil-Rife said. 'It''s a constant thing they are thinking about in their ceremonial life and also in their artistic life.'
The exhibit, which includes a video that describes the process of basket making, opened April 3 and will continue through July 12. It is located on the bottom floor of the MOA.
Navajo artists from the Douglas Mesa area of Southeastern Utah are represented at the exhibit. The baskets they weave provide them an outlet to achieve Hozho while also expressing their culture, O''Neil-Rife said. Only a few Navajo families know how to weave the baskets.
'We realized that this talent and this beautiful tradition of Navajo basketry was virtually becoming extinct,' Howard said. 'There are only a few families that do this kind of work, and we wanted to in a way draw some public attention to the beautiful art that they do, do anything that we can to try and make sure that this tradition doesn''t die out.'
The Navajo culture is careful to keep its religious beliefs and traditions sacred, O''Neil-Rife said. Some scenes depicted on the baskets tell stories related by the Navajo only during certain seasons. Curators respected those traditions and made efforts to not offend the Navajo people.
'I think they are pleased that we are doing this exhibition and that we are conducting this exhibition in a very reverent and respectful way,' Howard said. 'We are very conscious of not crossing over any boundaries.'
'It''s received a good deal of acceptance . They''ve been really pleased,' said O''Neil-Rife.
The design and presentation of the exhibit itself also emphasizes the attributes of Hozho, Howard said.
'The exhibition ... has black walls and white walls,' She said. 'The black and the white represents the harmony that the baskets are centered around. The way that the exhibition has been designed with that effective lighting against the black walls has just made the baskets pop out. It''s not just a standard Navajo basket show. This is really put together with a lot of detail and thought.'
The weavers use the baskets to support themselves financially. With the help of local traders, the weavers have seen their work flourish, O''Neil-Rife said.
The idea for the exhibit came initially through the efforts of film professor April Chambries, who filmed a movie titled 'A River in the Desert' about an Episcopalian missionary in Southeastern Utah. While filming, Chambries became acquainted with Navajo weavers.
Chambries approached the MOA with the idea of correlating the film with an exhibition. Marian Wardle, curator of American art at the MOA, asked O''Neil-Rife to help curate the exhibit. The Office of Research and Creative Activities awarded a mentoring grant to the MOA and the film department for the exhibit.