FARMINGTON, N. Mex. — From researching historic twill patterns in museum collections to dyeing wool with Kool-Aid, Diné (Navajo) weaver and instructor Venancio Aragón interlocks research and experimentation to expand the visual and technical vocabularies of Diné weaving. Working on the Diné upright loom, Aragón is part of a generation of Diné weavers who reinterpret ancestral knowledge through experimentation, carrying the medium forward on their own terms. As he stated in our interview with him, “I am not a purist.”

Based in Farmington, New Mexico, Aragón is trained in cultural anthropology and Native American and Indigenous studies, currently teaching at Diné College, the Navajo Nation’s tribal college. Before transitioning to full-time weaving and teaching, Aragón worked as an interpretive park ranger at the Mesa Verde, Aztec Ruins, Bandelier, and Petroglyph National Monuments, where he led tours and developed public education initiatives. He was born to the Tó’aheedlíinii (The Water Flow Together People) clan and born for the Naakaii (Mexican people). His maternal grandfather is of the Tsénahabiłnii (Sleeping Rock) clan, and his paternal grandfather is of the Naakaii (Mexican people).

Aragón’s academic background deeply informs his studio practice: He spends time in institutional archives studying historic Diné textiles — rare twills, irregularly shaped weavings, and other unconventional forms that fall outside the regional styles popularized through the trading post system, including through workshops with institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His research reconsiders these standardized styles, which were shaped by White traders who dictated marketable designs and often restricted weavers’ creative autonomy. By reimagining pre-trading-post-era weaving techniques, Aragón continually colors his practice with new aesthetic and material horizons.

He is perhaps best known for his signature “Expanded Rainbow Aesthetic,” a tapestry style characterized by a highly complex repeating pattern with a range of color shifts as the pattern recurs. Aragón includes up to 300 distinct hues of wool in each weaving, with intricate patterns that pay visual tribute to generations of Diné weaving knowledge.

In recent years, Aragón has extended his textile practice into curatorial work and social commentary. He recently organized From the Fringes: Diné Textiles that Disrupt at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, where he is currently pursuing a master’s degree. The show proposed new frameworks for understanding Diné weaving, exhibiting historic textiles alongside contemporary works by his mother, Irveta Aragón; his Diné College students; and himself. In his recent weavings that explicitly advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Aragón highlights Diné understandings of gender and sexuality as existing along a spectrum.

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