About the artist:

Eleanor was born in 1963 at Keams Canyon, Arizona to Joe and Ella Benally. She has two sisters and five brothers. When visiting her grandmother on her mother's side who lived at Smoke Signal, she would watch her weave. Her grandmother, Bah Begay, especially loved weaving storm pattern rugs. Eleanor helped her grandmother who, at that time, made handspun rugs. Eleanor learned every step from shearing the sheep to washing and dyeing the wool to spinning the yarn. Because her grandmother especially loved the storm pattern weavings, this style was the first type woven by Eleanor. Her mastery of complex geometrics and diagonal lines comes from this experience in weaving the storm pattern.

Related legends:

Weaving
After the medicine woman told the people about the prayersticks she told them that there was a place in the underworld where two rivers crossed. It was called ni tqin'kae tsosi, fine fiber cotton (Indian hemp). There were two persons who brought the seed of that plant, they were spiders. They said that the people were to use the plant instead of skins for their clothing. So this seed was planted in the earth? More about this legend 

Certificate of Authenticity

Carnelda Benally and her well-known mother, Eleanor Yazzie, have chosen the iconic Twin Rocks as the theme for one of their pictorial rugs. Symbolizing the Navajo Hero Twins, Monster-slayer and Born-for-Water, these monuments have monumental meaning. Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind weaving. They’ll never be another one like it.