Of all the textiles we have used in our videos and books, this blanket draws that the strongest positive responses from Navajo viewers. I think it expresses the sense and pattern of Navajo aesthetics better than anything else we used or seen. It does not represent the most sophisticated use of color we have seen, it is not the most active and dynamic pattern we have seen, it is not best woven textile in terms of execution we have seen, and it is not the most effective use of foreground and background relationships we have seen. Its specialness and its almost reverential attractiveness probably lies in the fact that it represents a kind of Navajo aesthetic in its minimalist form and sense of artistic expression. Its quadrilateral format communicates a the basic organization of the universe as seen by the Diné. It s motion is the very essence of Sháábik'ehgo (in the pathway of the sun), moving in the sunwise motion of the day and the seasonal cycles of the solstices. It dynamism is subdued; its expression is serene; its beauty is in its complementarity of design and color; and its expression is in its subtle and unobtrusive minimalist harmony.
