One of the benefits of taking a paid tour of Monument Valley is the "insider" information you learn and "extras" you get to see. One of our "extras" was to meet Susie and visit her in her home/work area.
Susie lives deep in Monument Valley, this hogan is on her homestead. The pipe at the center top is the exhaust for the heating system, the door faces east.
We were escorted inside of Susie's work space/museum (not the structure above). This photo shows the way it is built, and a few skeins of hand made yarn.
Here is Susie, working her wool into yarn. Look at those hands fly. She demonstrated just about every skill and step required to take that raw material to a finished rug or tapestry. You can see a lovely piece she is weaving behind her, and wool in many stages.
Here she is again, surrounded by the tools of her craft.
By the way, Susie is reportedly somewhere between 90 and 100 years of age, they think. She has 5 children, 4 boys and 1 daughter. She has 24 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren.
* We can strongly urge you to take a tour if you ever get a chance to visit Monument Valley, you will learn more, see more, and appreciate more than you can ever learn, see or appreciate by driving the valley in a self tour. All the tour brochures in the world will not give you the flavor of the valley the way these tours do. Besides, you won't get your truck or car stuck back there on one of those fabulous sand dunes! This is a great example of letting someone else do the driving and the teaching.
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2 comments:
Susie does beautiful work in an inspiring part of the country. I hope her skills are passed down to her descendants and others.
She is a marvel. Thanks so much, Carol, for sharing her story.
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