Outline of a New Design
Sanders trader weaves past, future with new rug pattern

Germantown rugs such as this eye-dazzler by Rose Yazzie from Canyon de Chelly are unique because of the yarn used to weave them and the vibrant colors of the dye. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

SANDERS, Ariz. — Back in the early 1980s, Bruce Burnham got this idea that he could single-handedly create his own rug design that would be accepted by Indian arts and crafts collectors.

The fact that this hadn't been done in more than 50 years didn't faze him. He felt the Indian arts and crafts market needed a shot in the arm, and the Navajo weavers who live in his area needed something that would provide them income.

So he created what became known as the New Lands Outline rug and through his trading post near Sanders began commissioning Navajo weavers to start producing while he went out and promoted them.

And, to the surprise of many, the collectors came.

Then a few years later, he was in Santa Fe and noticed how well Santa Fe-style furniture was selling, and he thought that if he could come up with Navajo-style furniture, it could create some business not only for weavers in his area, but also for people who could make furniture as well.

So some two decades later, he has seen some 60 sets of the furniture made and sold.

Now he has another mission make the Germantown rug popular again.

Germantown rugs originated back in the 1860s when the Navajos were in captivity in an area known as Bosque Redundo. About 1863, the Navajo weavers there were using anything they could find for weaving material, including the long johns worn by the soldiers.

To provide them with weaving material, the commander at the fort ordered 800 pounds of red yarn from a mill in Germantown, Pa. He wanted only red yarn but the mill didn't have enough, so they sent yarn of various colors all of natural wool and the Navajo weavers used this as an opportunity to experiment with new designs and styles, including the famous "eyedazzler" blankets.

For a couple of decades, the Germantown rug was popular, but as traders moved on the reservation and saw the popularity of Navajo weaving grow, they came up with different styles like Ganado Red and regional rugs like Two Grey Hills.

Now, there is a Germantown revival going on and it's being headed by Burnham and a group of Navajo weavers like Mae Clark and Vivian Descheny who have, at the urging of Burnham, taken up the Germantown banner and done their own rugs using the yarn, which still comes from a mill in the same area of Pennsylvania.

"You just enjoy making a Germantown rug," said Descheny one day recently as she came by to sell Burnham some baskets.

A resident of Wide Ruins, Ariz., she makes other types of rugs Ganado Reds, Chief and Two Grey Hills she said, but the only ones she really enjoys are the Germantowns because "I love the colors and to be able to compete with the other weavers."

Her 16-year-old daughter, Evangeline Begay, has also become a fan of the Germantown, having won the Best of Show in the youth division at the Northern Arizona Museum time after time with her Germantown rug designs.

Burnham said what weavers who have gone over to making Germantown rugs have told him that they liked the freedom of the rug, the ability to create without rules and design requirements that are present with the other types of rugs.

With other styles of rugs, weavers go into the weaving process knowing what the design is from the beginning but with a Germantown, they can start and let the design unravel as they weave.

Getting weavers to make the rugs wasn't a problem. Getting dealers to sell them has been a different matter altogether.

There's a major reluctance, Burnham said, by dealers from far and wide to get involved with the Germantown revival, which has meant that Burnham, for the most part, has been on his own.

He's puzzled about the resistance to something that he sees becoming more and more popular with collectors.

He tells of consigning one of his Germantown rugs to the Heard Museum shop for $12,000 and three days later it was sold. "They never ordered another one from me," he said.

Other stores, such as the Hubbell's Trading Post in nearby Ganado, wouldn't even take one.

"I'm kind of glad that this is happening," Burnham said, adding it makes it more challenging.

He said he was worried when he first started getting involved with the Germantown revival rugs how the old Germantown rug collectors would feel about the new model, but he was pleasantly surprised when they accepted it and started collecting the new forms.

Edwin Kennedy, whose rug collection was one of a kind, purchased the first Germantown rug Burnham had produced just a year before he died. "He was quite excited," Burnham said.

Burnham isn't sure what is is going to take to get dealers excited, but he's hoping that lightning will strike twice and that the enjoyment that his weavers feel in making the rugs and the excitement that collectors get in adding them to their collections will eventually make the Indian arts and crafts market sit up and notice what's going on.