Sally Black (born 1959, or 1962) is a Diné (Navajo)

basketry Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

artist. She lives in

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

, and is an enrolled member of the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

Early life

Sally Black was born in either 1959, or 1962. She is the daughter of the weaver and basketry artist,

Mary Holiday Black Mary Holiday Black ( – December 13, 2022) was a Navajo basket maker and textile weaver from Halchita, Utah. During the 1970s, in response to a long-term decline in Navajo basketry, Black played a key role in the revival of Navajo basket weavi ...

. She was brought up on the Douglas Mesa in southeastern Utah. When she was eight years old she began weaving baskets, having learned the skills from her mother and grandmother. At age 15 she sold her first basket; it was bought by the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

in Phoenix.

Work

Sumac Sumac or sumach ( , )—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is '' Rhus coriaria ...

is the primary fiber she works with in both her pictorial and traditional baskets. She gathers the sumac from areas around the Green River and Hanksville, Utah. She then splits the fiber by hand, and dyes it. She spends most of the winter months for the actual weaving. In the 1970s she broke with tradition and began incorporating imagery into her basket designs including hummingbirds and eagles. Black has received honors and awards for her work, including a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

national heritage award. Other honors include Best in Show awards from the

Museum of Northern Arizona The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau. The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist Dr. Harol ...

. In 1975, she started using Navajo rug designs in her baskets. Later she incorporated Yei-Be-Chai figures, eagles, turtles, dear, horses and dogs. Black has stated that her designs are also influenced by the Tohono O'odham and the

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

peoples.

Collections

Her work is included in the permanent collections of the

Natural History Museum of Utah The Natural History Museum of Utah is a museum located in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The museum shows exhibits of natural history subjects, with an emphasis on Utah and the Intermountain West. The mission of the museum is to illumina ...

, the

Nelson Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art. In 2007, ''Time'' magazin ...

, the

, among other venues.

Personal life

In 2021, Black's home in Monument Valley burned to the ground. Her belongings, including all of her weaving supplies, unfinished commissioned baskets and traditional clothing were destroyed. Her partner, Ryan Thompson, who was in the house at the time, perished in the fire.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Sally Date of birth uncertain Living people American basket weavers American women artists Native American women artists Navajo weavers Navajo women artists