Rare Navajo weavings from what is considered one of the finest Southwest textile collections in the world are on display for one year at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History located in the Henderson Building on the Boulder campus.
Titled "Navajo Weaving: Diamonds, Dreams, Landscapes," the exhibit will showcase approximately 100 pieces from the museum's Joe Ben Wheat Southwest Textile Collection. The textiles will be presented in four-month installations from now until May 30, 2010.
"The last major exhibit of this collection was almost 20 years ago, and many of the pieces in the current exhibit have never been displayed," said Steve Lekson, associate professor of anthropology and the museum's anthropology curator. "This is one of the best collections of textiles anywhere."
According to Lekson, such textiles provide anthropologists with information about the history, art and traditions of the Navajo and Pueblo peoples.
The collection contains over 800 weavings and artistic pieces from three traditions -- Navajo, Pueblo and Spanish American -- and includes a number of rare and priceless weavings such as blankets collected by explorer John Wesley Powell during his trips through the West from the late 1860s to the early 1870s.
Wheat was a professor of natural history and curator of the museum for almost 40 years. He was a highly respected scholar of the Southwest and his peers considered him a remarkable anthropologist, said Lekson.
The museum is working to raise money through federal grants and private donations to better store and display parts of the textile collection, said Patrick Kociolek, director of the museum.
"The collection is sensitive to light and temperature and needs climate-controlled storage areas with new cabinets to store the most rare and valuable pieces," said Kociolek. "We hope that this exhibit will raise awareness of the collection so that longer-term goals to care for and display these rare and beautiful pieces can be met."
To learn more about the exhibit go to . Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
To watch a special video presentation of the Wheat textile collection visit and click on the headline about the Navajo exhibit.
For information on other events on campus, visit the CU-Boulder Events Calendar at .