Western Spirit Museum Unveils New Exhibit Revealing Why You’ll Never Look at a Navajo Weaving the Same Way Again
Woven: Navajo Textiles From the Pelberg Collection, Opening Weekend September 5-6 With Special Offering for Children
(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) — This September Western Spirit Museum invites visitors to discover the art hidden in every thread through the unveiling and opening of a special new exhibit that promises to challenge the way we look at Navajo weavings.
Most people admire the finished weaving. Beginning September 5, Western Spirit Museum invites visitors to discover everything that came before it. Woven: Navajo Textiles from the Pelberg Collection, which opens September 5th – 6th explores the artistry behind contemporary Navajo weaving through seven modern works by Diné (Navajo) artists. Representing a range of styles, the works reveal how generations of weavers have drawn on regional traditions while making individual choices about color, pattern, materials, and design. Guided by generations of knowledge and individual creativity, those choices are woven into every finished work.
To celebrate the new exhibit, Western Spirit Museum is offering FREE ADMISSION to children 17 and under over Labor Day weekend, September 5 and 6. Kids and families are invited to tour the exhibit and take part in special hands-on activities, including a take-home activity that will allow visitors to weave their own masterpiece.
The exhibition will follow wool from sheep to finished textiles through interpretive displays and three touchable experiences: raw wool, dyed skeins, and a woven sampler.
Immersive window images of a Diné weaver at the loom will help connect the finished works to the places, materials, knowledge, and people behind them, and a dedicated children’s activity area will offer books, playful seating, and a take-home weaving activity.
The weavings are drawn from the Art and Linda Pelberg Family Collection of Native American Art. Collected over nearly 50 years and generously donated to Western Spirit Museum in 2022, the full collection is one of the world’s most significant private assemblages of modern and contemporary textiles, carvings and pottery from the Southwest.
Dr. Andrew Patrick Nelson, Chief Curator, described Navajo weaving as “one of the great art forms of the Southwest—a vibrant, living tradition.” The exhibition, he explained, is built around what a finished textile conceals and reveals. “A weaving begins with a decision, and is followed by dozens more. By the time you see the finished piece, none of that work is visible. We wanted to make that process, that history, visible.”
Assistant Curator Natalie Reichert, who is lead curator of the exhibit, said she hopes visitors will come away from Woven: Navajo Textiles from the Pelberg Collection understanding that Navajo weaving is truly a form of living art.
“These incredible weavings have been sustained through generations of knowledge but are also consistently renewed through the weaver’s own personal choices,” Reichert said. “The foundation of the art form has remained unchanged for centuries, yet the implementation of individual artistry makes Navajo weaving truly limitless.”
For more information about Woven: Navajo Textiles from the Pelberg Collection, visit https://westernspirit.org/project/woven-navajo-textiles-from-the-pelberg-collection/.
For media inquiries please contact:
Jennifer Parks-Sturgeon — Jennifer@PrattMarketingAgency.com (480) 495-3806
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About Western Spirit Museum: Western Spirit: Scottsdale’s Museum of the West is a world-class cultural destination in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale, where art, history, and storytelling ignite the spirit of the American West. As a proud Smithsonian Affiliate, it’s more than a museum — it’s an experience. Western Spirit is Scottsdale’s cultural crown jewel — a Smithsonian Affiliate that brings the West to life through immersive exhibits, world-class collections, and thought-provoking programs. Housed in a stunning LEED-Gold certified building, it’s a place where locals and visitors discover the enduring legacy of the American West — and the stories that still shape us today. Whether you’re an art lover, history buff, or just curious, this is where the West lives on. For more information, call (480) 686-9539 or visit westernspirit.org.