Barbara Teller Ornelas
Quick Facts
SagittariusBiography
Barbara Teller Ornelas (born November 26, 1954) (Navajo people|Navajo) is a Native American weaver and citizen of the Navajo Nation. She also is an instructor and author about this art. She has served overseas as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department. A fifth-generation Navajo weaver, she exhibits her fine art textiles and educates about Navajo culture at home and abroad.
Background
Ornelas is Tabaaha clan (Edgewater) and born for To-heedliinii clan (Two Water Flows Together). She grew up near Two Grey Hills Trading Post in New Mexico, before later moving to Arizona. Learning from her mother, grandmothers, and older sister, she is a fifth-generation Navajo weaver.
Art process
She weaves tapestries with sheep wool from local flocks raised by Navajo families. She weaves textiles with high weft-counts, including some that are from 102 to 140 wefts.
Art exhibitions
Her work has been featured at the Heard Museum, Arizona State Museum, Denver Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, and the British Museum of Mankind in London, among other museums.
Documentary
Her daughter Sierra Teller Ornelas was commissioned by the Arizona State Museum to make a documentary film, A Loom with a View: Modern Navajo Weavers, which explores the weaving of her family members, including Barbara herself, Barbara’s son Michael Teller Ornelas, and Sierra’s great aunt Margaret Yazzie.
Awards
- The Conrad House Award, Heard Museum Guild Fair and Market
- Best of Show (2 times) at the Santa Fe Indian Market
Cultural ambassador
Ornelas has traveled extensively as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. State Department. She has been a part of cultural programs in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Peru.
Books
She co-authored the following books with her sister Lynda Teller Pete:
- Spider Woman's Children: Navajo Weavers Today (2018) Thrums Books ISBN 978-0-99905-175-7
- How To Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman (2020), Thrums Books ISBN 978-1-73442-170-5
Personal life
Her adult children Sierra Teller Ornelas and Michael Teller Ornelas are sixth-generation Navajo weavers.
