7 Fantastic Places To Find Authentic Navajo Art

Above, Navajo and other tribal rugs on display at the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This coming week, I am going to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, the route I am taking will take me by the Hubbell Trading Post near Ganado, Arizona. I plan to stop there while I'm in "the neighborhood."

I was planning to visit the trading post two years ago, but on the weekend I was to go, it and other places were shut down due to the pandemic.

It and other trading posts in the Four Corners are the subject of an article by TravelAwaits on seven "fantastic" places to find authentic Navajo art in Arizona and New Mexico. I have been to the second and third places on the list: Richardson Trading Post on Historic Route 66 and the Gallup Flea Market.

They start with:

For more than a century, the Hubbell Trading Post and others like it on the Navajo Nation have been the go-to spots for finding distinctive Navajo art. You’ll find everything from handwoven rugs to beautifully embossed pottery and elaborate silver-and-turquoise jewelry. The good news is that a handful of the original trading posts are still in operation, offering a remarkable array of goods and artworks.

Dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, trading posts long served as gathering places where Navajo people brought their blankets, rugs, and woven baskets to trade for needed goods like flour, coffee, sugar, and tools. Today, the historic businesses on the Navajo Nation continue to offer world-famous Navajo artwork.

Another place worth checking out is the monthly Navajo Rug Auction in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Along with Navajo rugs, they also have pottery, jewelry and other items by different tribes. I found some good deals there.

To read more, go here.