Navajo Ceremonial Baskets 1850-1950

To mark the beginning of autumn, we are celebrating Diné basketry. We are honored to present the Bob and Cyndy Gallegos collection of historic Navajo baskets. Dating from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century, this unprecedented group is the product of more than forty years of research and unwavering appreciation of the basket makers art.
As summer winds down and fall creeps in, the traditional season for basket making begins. Sumac and willow are gathered in fall and winter when the sap runs down to the roots, and then stored throughout the year.
While historically used for gathering roots and seeds, holding water and cooking, Diné basketry is deeply interwoven with Navajo world view and cosmology. Baskets play many important roles in ritual and ceremonial life. Baskets themselves are seen as symbols of the Blessing Way, a representation of an ordered and balanced universe.