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The day for The award-winning weaver Mona and her daughter Charlene Laughing start at sunrise on the Diné (Navajo) reservation in Crystal, New Mexico, with her family and a herd of churro and merino sheep, who look after a total of 31 heads. Each with a name.
Breakfast consists of a hearty mix of muesli, eggs and bacon or ham and black tea. Housework must be done before sitting on the loom and meditating as you weave, sometimes six hours a day with breaks every few hours for more black tea and cookies.
There are onion skins that have been stored for a year to be cooked for the dye. Sage, yellow lichen, wild carrots, rabbit bush, and red wine need to cook for days to give the wool the right shade. Sometimes a rusted pan is used for the purples and greens to accentuate the dark reds. Mona Laughing relies on color, but “the colors mustn’t collide. They have to be harmonious. “
Mona is the matriarch of the family and learned to weave from her mother, Elsie Mark. Mona raised six children on the crystal reservation, supported her family, and sent all of her children to college with the proceeds of her weaving while she passed the weaving trade on to her daughters Charlene and Michele and their two sons.
Mona turned 75 this year. She said, “It’s a shame,” but she shows no signs of slowing down. Year round, she weaves, tends to her sheep, and keeps a strict itinerary to shows in Los Angeles, New York, Santa Fe, Oklahoma, and Indiana. She said the trips “are fun, we stay in hotels, eat well, meet friends and sell carpets”.
Mona’s favorite season is autumn. There are no newborn sheep to look after or attend fairs and the days and nights become a sweet mix of cooler climes, shorter days and the autumn harvest.
Mona’s daughter Charlene weaves a contemporary interpretation of the crystal designs, reflecting the transition of the last generations to banded designs without borders. She processes the soft hand-spun wool from her mother’s flock; Their harmonious use of color turns Charlie’s textiles into works of art. She also lives in Crystal and is a full time mom and weaver with a degree in chemistry. Her son (and grandson of Mona), Dwight Laughing Williams, represents one of the few male weavers in the tradition.
Michele Laughing, Mona’s other daughter, has also moved away from the forms of regional styles and explores revival and storm patterns in her weaving mills. Her favorite challenge is the designs with multiple patterns.
Michele and her sister Charlene were multiple winners of the Santa Fe Indian Market and, like their mother, their weavings can be found in museums and private collections around the world. Gabriel Abrums, owner of Chimayo Trading Del Norte, who has represented the Laughing family for over 30 years, said, “Charlene and Sister Michele have received every award at the Santa Fe Indian Market. They have thus joined the pantheon of renowned Navajo weavers. “
The simple relationship between the Laughing Family and Chimayo Trading Del Norte is more than just a business. Gabe said, “We are family.”
Mona calls Abrums “my brother”.
Gabe said his family came to represent the Laughing Family when “his father discovered some of their weaving mills at auction in his gallery in Chimayó. They noticed, so he tracked them down. “
At the time, Gabe’s father had a boyfriend who was a Navajo silversmith, so he asked him to find the Laughing family at their home on the reservation, which he did. “What began as a business agreement to help them market their art has turned into a lifelong friendship of mutual respect and appreciation for one another and the individual roles we all play.”
Gabe said, “Aside from the expert weaving techniques they developed within the traditional Navajo weaving process and their incredible eye for design [the Laughing family] Weaving mills stand out from the rest because of the quality of the wool they use. They have bred their sheep and angora goats for generations to have the best quality wool. Having their own flock of sheep enables them to use only the finest parts of the wool for their own weaving work. Her techniques of dyeing the wool with natural and vegetable dyes to get deep, rich colors surpass most of the others you see. “
Chimayo Trading Del Norte “has these fine weaving mills online and in our store at St. Francis Church Plaza Ranchos de Taos No. the bold designs that span the history of Navajo weavers. And weave the family name Laughing further into the history of the Southwest. Her woven tapestries captivate your imagination, blind the eye and speak to the power and beauty of family tradition the Navajo way. “
For more information on the Laughing Family Weavers and to buy their work, visit chimayotrading.com.
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