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Lorraine Black's infectious laugh belies the serious magic her hands conjure up when weaving a basket. Unprecedented in her ideas, Lorraine's baskets are innovative and beautiful. Many of them make good use of texture through over-stitching and the addition of objects such as flint arrowheads.
The third daughter of Mary Holiday Black, Lorraine grew up in the family tradition of basket weaving. She began by harvesting young stalks of sumac in the springtime, from where it grows along water ways. She learned how to prepare it for weaving by splitting the willow shoots into three thin strips using teeth and fingers, removing the core, and then rubbing away the bark with buckskin. Her hands soon knew the cuts and sores created by handling the sumac, her cuts stained by the colors of the dyes.
After the intensive work of harvesting and processing is complete, then comes the challenge of beginning a basket. This requires holding together two layers of either three or five rods of unsplit willow, coiling them, and binding them together by interweaving the sumac strips. It is a challenge for the most skillful hands.
Learning to weave ceremonial baskets at about age thirteen, Lorraine continued in the art, quickly transcending traditional designs with new concepts in both design and color.
Now the mother of two young sons, Sebastian and Deon, Lorraine presently makes her home in a small town in Southeastern Utah. Still, her roots extend to Monument Valley, the place of her upbringing. Her art is influenced by her birthplace and her heritage from the Bitterwater and Folded Arm Clans.
Holding one of Lorraine's baskets, with its bright colors and intricate designs, you can almost hear her childlike laughter transcend the coils and spill into the room.
Emergence Story of the Five Worlds By: Rosie Yellowhair
This is a story told by the Navajo people by word of mouth to the young and old. The Navajo believe there are Five Worlds. We are presently in the fifth world. The first world was a small, dark and water filled world. It was known as the Red World where the flying insects were the first and only people. The second world was blue with the air. The spirit people here were swallows. The third world was yellow. The locust were known as the air people. The people lived along the river flowing through their land. There was noting but darkness in the north. These worlds had people who defiled themselves, their bodies and land. The Chief within each group of people forced the defiler (spoiler who ruined their land) to leave. The people asked the Water People to help to chase out the defiler. All the people took flight from their world, into each world until they reached the Fourth World. As they approached the Fourth World, they noticed other people. The four-legged people who had very nice coats ? the animals. The people greeted one another as friends, kinsmen as in previous worlds. They settled in as if they never left any other world. Days passed when at a far distant they hear the wind, a whistle. Faint at first and then grew louder as it got closer. Then very soon, the whistle was upon them. Four Yeis of spiritual guidance came to tell the people of the Fourth World that there was going to be a great "Happening." Three Yeis left to return to the Holy One. One Yei was asked to stay to prepare the people until the other Yeis returned. First Mand and First Woman, the five finger people were made. The buckskins of antelope, a feather, white corn and yellow corn was brought by the three yeis who returned from the Holy One. They sand and danced until the Holy One brought the breath of life. The five-fingered people were told to expand and multiply within the Four Sacred mountains of the Holy One. Within the Fourth World, Coyote was one person who was nosy, mischievous and always wanting to be apart of the growth of the Fourth World. One day he stole Water Creature?s baby, which caused a great flood. The Great Flood caused the people to rush into the reed to be safe from the flood. The Fourth Yei, the Black Yei , was their mentor and mediator. The reed grew and grew until they reached the clouds to enter the Fifth World. The last onto the reed was the Turkey Person who packed seeds of corn, squash, beans and melons within his feathers. The Fifth World. The Air People (locusts and beetles), the Holy Guidance Yeis, Bear and Lynx entered the Fifth World followed by First Man and First Woman. Coyote was forced to return Water Creature?s Baby back to the water. When all was well again and to this day, the Navajo have these beliefs. Water People are ancestors and for this reason most Navajos will not eat sea food. Turkey is given respect within most ceremonies for supplying food for seeds to be replanted in the new world. The Navajos wear turkey feathers on their head as a representation of appreciation and remembrance. The Navajos use the corn and zig zag on it as their travel from the Fourth World into the Fifth World. The passage of travel was blessed by the Holy One. This is known as the Blessing Way. There are many more stories linked to the Emergence of the Five Worlds and many more paintings are needed. Many more winters needed for the stories to be retold.
