rug auction

19TH ANNUAL NAVAJO RUG AUCTION
August 1, 2009

Rug Auction Benefits Education, Acquisitions, Public Programs at State Museums and Monuments

Santa Fe, N.M. — Over 150 rugs will be auctioned at the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s 19th Annual Navajo Rug Auction on Saturday, August 1.

The auction, featuring some 200 contemporary museum-quality rugs by 50 of the region’s finest contemporary Navajo weavers, will be held in the historic Palace of the Governors Courtyard. The event begins with a preview from 9-11 a.m., with bidding to start promptly at 11 a.m. Admission is free and bid cards are $5.

Noted auctioneer Bob Payne of Bloomfield, New Mexico, who has overseen the auction since its inception, will return for the 19th year to lead the bidding.

As in years past, the annual Navajo Rug Auction will showcase museum-quality rugs in wide-ranging styles, including Two Gray Hills, Ganados, Teec Nos Pos, Yeis, Pictorials, Wide Ruins, Storms, and Sandpainting. Past auctions have included works by weavers Dennis Long, Julia Pete, Laverne Van Winkle, Rose Nargo, Susie McCabe and Mary Henderson. The breadth of artists and styles makes the auction popular among Navajo textile collectors.

“The prices are good and the quality is superior,” Eberts says. “The traders involved in this effort go to great lengths to find us the best.”

A program of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Museum Shops, auction proceeds benefit educational projects, acquisitions and other programs at the Palace of the Governors/New Mexico History Museum, New Mexico Museum of Art, Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, six state monuments, and Office of Archaeological Studies.

For more information on the 19th Annual Navajo Rug Auction, call Tannis Eberts at 505-982-3016 ext. 22, or email support@newmexicocreates.org

As an alternate contact, call Carmella Padilla at 505-471-8821, or email carmpad@aol.com