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Barbara Teller Ornelas facts for kids

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Barbara Teller Ornelas
Barbara Teller Ornelas State Department portrait.jpg
Born November 26, 1954
Nationality Navajo Nation, American
Alma mater Arizona State University
Occupation Textile artist
Children Sierra Teller Ornelas, Michael Teller Ornelas
Parent(s) Sam Teller and Ruth Teller

Barbara Teller Ornelas (born November 26, 1954) is a Native American weaver and citizen of the Navajo Nation. She also is an instructor and author about this art. She has served overseas as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department. A fifth-generation Navajo weaver, she exhibits her fine art textiles and educates about Navajo culture at home and abroad.

Background

Ornelas is Tabaaha clan (Edgewater) and born for To-heedliinii clan (Two Water Flows Together). She grew up near Two Grey Hills Trading Post in New Mexico, before later moving to Arizona. Learning from her mother, grandmothers, and older sister, she is a fifth-generation Navajo weaver.

Art process

She weaves tapestries with sheep wool from local flocks raised by Navajo families. She weaves textiles with high weft-counts, including some that are from 102 to 140 wefts.

Art exhibitions

Her work has been featured at the Heard Museum, Arizona State Museum, Denver Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, and the British Museum of Mankind in London, among other museums.

Documentary

Her daughter Sierra Teller Ornelas was commissioned by the Arizona State Museum to make a documentary film, A Loom with a View: Modern Navajo Weavers, which explores the weaving of her family members, including Barbara herself, Barbara’s son Michael Teller Ornelas, and Sierra’s great aunt Margaret Yazzie.

Awards

Cultural ambassador

Ornelas has traveled extensively as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department. She has been a part of cultural programs in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Peru.

Books

She co-authored the following books with her sister Lynda Teller Pete:

  • Spider Woman's Children: Navajo Weavers Today (2018) Thrums Books ISBN: 978-0-99905-175-7
  • How To Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman (2020), Thrums Books ISBN: 978-1-73442-170-5

Personal life

Her adult children Sierra Teller Ornelas and Michael Teller Ornelas are sixth-generation Navajo weavers.

See also

  • Craft in America
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