Photo: Kirstin Roper, © NHMU

Peggy Black

Born into a family of weavers, Peggy Rock Black learned about weaving and making vegetal dyes from her mother, grandmother, and sister Evelyn Rock Cly. When Peggy married one of Mary Holiday Black’s sons, she joined another family of iconic weavers. Peggy is a master of weaving pictorial designs and pioneered “collage” baskets that bring together multiple images in sometimes unexpected combinations. She weaves contemporary baskets but leans toward traditional Diné (Navajo) designs of balance. "I'm really careful with what I weave," she says. She often weaves in a hogan next to her house and her husband helps her collect and prepare sumac for her baskets. She has a strong belief in the healing power of sumac and wants to impart a positive, healing balance in her baskets. Peggy has won many awards at shows at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and at the Gallup Ceremonials in New Mexico.