by Sunamita Lim

The sleek lines of the DeJong residence fit snugly into the desertlandscape. Designed in 2001, it was awarded the American Instituteof Architecture’s Santa Fe 2002 Design Excellence Award.

View of the front entrance.

View from the front portal.

Lifestyle

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The combination of antique textiles, baskets, pottery, glass, and con-temporary art and sculpture creates a relaxed, comfortable setting.While creative in their own right, the DeJongs were assisted with theplacement of the furnishings by interior designer Ron Scolman ofSanta Fe and Minneapolis.

Resting on the far left end of the sofa is a sand painting weaving,circa 1950, by Gladys Manuelito. Woven with the intent to preserveceremonial imagery, such blankets are rare because of their sensitivesubject matter. This example depicts part of the “Night Way Chant”with Yei figures and sacred plants. On the wall behind is a lateclassic-period child’s blanket. On the table in the foreground is acontemporary flute by Native American Ira Funmaker. The larger ofthe two pots is a circa-1910 Santo Domingo Pueblo pot from theWalkir Art Collection. An early twentieth-century Sunday (Fancy)saddle blanket and a 2001 wedge-type design blanket by JuliaUpshaw are on the sofa. The dining room with its suspendedtreble clef lighting device is seen beyond.

pproaching the home of Susan and Conrad DeJong, one isimmediately struck by its sleek, fluid lines, which echo thesurrounding dessert mountain terrain. The dynamic interiorspaces are equally striking; inviting an interplay of shadowsand light against a variety of surface textures. This setting isthe perfect complement to the museum-quality Navajo tex-tiles that fill the house; their geometric motifs and timelessdesigns in perfect harmony with this environment.

The DeJongs’ collection is unique for its broad range of blan-kets and rugs from the 1870s to the present, with recentinterest focusing on blankets and serapes — the former havinggreater width and the latter greater height. Each example hasbeen carefully selected for its pattern, colors, rarity, and aes-thetic merit, resulting in a collection considered by many to beone of the best of its type in private hands. Aware that greatdesign spans time and cultures, the DeJongs have combinedtheir textiles with contemporary art; juxtaposing themthroughout the house, both in their casual spaces and in theirformal gallery designed to capture optimal natural light.

The seeds of this collection were planted over thirty years ago,when Minneapolis-based concert flutist Susan DeJong beganplaying for the Santa Fe Opera in 1969. In her spare time, shetraveled throughout the panoramic Southwest, exploring the backrooms of trading posts, her favorites being Teec Nos Pos in theFour Corners area and Toadlena on the New Mexican reservation.

ABOVE:A pair of watercolors by J.M.W.Turner (1775–1851) offer a visual contrastwith the contemporary dining area and view to the portal and hills beyond.A Zuni pot signed Josephine Nahohai and decorated with symbolic crea-tures rests on the counter. A Leguna pot is placed on an ebonized oak tablewith lattice and glass central inset; the table and chairs are from BermanRosetti, Los Angeles, California.

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While she purchased fine basketry and other smalls, her first lovewas for exquisitely handcrafted contemporary weavings from theNavajo Nation Reservation in New Mexico and Arizona. As shelearned more about Navajo textiles, Susan began to turn her atten-tion to weavings of the precedingcentury, purchasing only “the veryfinest” she could afford. Her resultingcollection extends across the early his-torical period to transitional andmodern pieces.

As Susan explains, blankets havealways been central to NativeAmerican life; as a protective layerfrom the elements, as trade items, andas signifiers of traditional culture. Theearliest surviving Navajo blanket, nowin the ?? museum, is a fragment datingto 1804(40?); its decorative elements consist of horizontal striping.Perhaps the most recognized blankets with this design motif are theChiefs Blankets, woven for tribe leaders and also highly prized astrade items among tribes. Though crafted throughout the history ofNavajo weaving, the finest examples where made during what is

now referred to as the “classic period,” which extended from the1850s to the 1870s. There were three styles of design during thesetwenty years. Blankets from the first phase have simple broad hori-zontal bands and stripes of natural brown and white wool with the

addition of indigo. Red was introducedinto the designs of the second phase, inthe form of stripes or rectangular blocks.In the third phase, diamond designs,either quarter, half, or full form, wereintroduced, often with serrated orstepped edges. At this stage, additionalcolors, such as yellow and green, wereadded to the palette.

Susan explains the shift in the 1870sfrom blankets made traditionally withhandspun wool and natural dyes tothose made with three- and four-ply

machine yarns colored with aniline dyes, which yielded numerousbrilliant colors. The reason behind this change was the tragic feder-ally mandated relocation of the Navajo people in 1864 to BosqueRedondo in central New Mexico, 350 miles from their native land.The move was a disastrous failure, and four years later the Navajos

A Germantown Chiefs Blanket, circa 1880, hangsabove a selection of Native American baskets.

A selection of Germantown “eye dazzlers” line one of the hallways, with a contemporarylandscape painting by Dennis Nechuatal (1994) the focal point at the end.

Architect Pedro Márquez of Santa Ferests against the front portal.

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were allowed to return home. But by then, theirsheep herds had been decimated and they had torely on synthetic yarns for their blankets.

By 1874, the first federally licensed tradingposts were established, providing an outlet for theNavajo to trade their goods for supplies. The rail-roads followed in the 1880s, giving the Navajoaccess to the new vibrantly colored wools fromthe east, specifically from Germantown,Pennsylvania. Among Susan’s Germantown blan-kets, as they came to be known, are quite a few“eye dazzlers,” the term, as Susan explains, thatdescribes their “explosive, vibrant colors in elabo-rate, jazzy designs, often expressed with serratedand saw-toothed elements.”

The nature of weaving also changed once thegovernment started supporting the production offactory-made Pendleton blankets (named for themajor commercial producer) [in the ??]. These

ABOVE:The relaxed living room and concert hall segue into the moreformal marble-floored gallery. In the front room, a selection ofbaskets, pottery, and clay figurescreate an eclectic display in contrast to the smooth plaster ofthe opposing wall. Three rareNavajo blankets are draped onthe back of the sofa: an 1870s“Slave Blanket” in colorful pastels that reflect Hispanicinfluence; an 1875 late classicperiod serape with a strikingwhite background; An 1880sChiefs Blanket with band andlozenge design. On the floor, a 1940s Navajo rug from theFour Corners trading post, TeecNos Pos, shows the distinctiveinfluences of Oriental rugs. An 1880s Germantown “eye dazzler” blanket beckons fromthe gallery.

CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT:Conrad and Susan DeJong in their concert hall. On the wall behind them are two circa-1875 classic Moki blankets,identified by their indigo and dark brown alternating stripes.English artist Glenn Brown’s Saturday Night Fever, 1998,hangs above the harpsichord and circa-1815 double musicstand. A Teec Nos Pos pictorial Yei figure trade rug with unusu-al bird motif is on the floor.

The juxtaposition of old and new. A Crystal J. B. Moore rug, circa1910, shows design the influences of Oriental rugs. It features anunusual dark brown background, which creates a dramatic effect.Beside it is John Buck’s 1986 woodblock print, Father and Son.

The DeJong’s home includes a gallery in which components of theirtextile collection are displayed as works of art alongside modernstudio work. The blankets and rugs are regularly rotated, with thosenot in use stored in a cedar-lined, temperature-controlled vault.

The Crystal trading post rug (front left), circa 1920s, is one ofSusan’s favorite’s. It is unusual in its pictorial imagery depictingfour men, one smoking a cigar, driving model T cars. Beside it isDennis Nechvatal’s Power Grid of 1996, composed of metal tin canlids, paint, and wood. The contemporary image is paired with anunusual diagonally striped blanket, circa 1910, “The only one Ihave ever seen like this,” says Susan. In a case on the opposite wallis Mary Bero’s 1990 Heart Throb, embroidered with words describ-ing different emotions connected with love.

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were made available through the trading posts. Bythe turn of the century, with the need to producetheir own clothing now diminished, the Navajoshad begun to focus on making blankets and rugs fora growing tourist trade. Rugs made during the“trading post era” are recognized by the distinctivedesigns associated with each post, some with pat-terns influenced by Oriental rug designs.

Because of her passion for collecting, Susanamassed more blankets and rugs than she coulddisplay. As part of the solution, in 1983, she startedSouthwest Accents and began to buy and sellNavajo textiles for a private clientele and partici-pate in select shows. In 1993, she assembled overforty of her finest textiles and arranged for them totour museums in the Upper Midwest. The exhibi-tion, A Century of Navajo Weaving, documentedthe history of Navajo weaving from 1870 to thepresent. She subsequently put together a smallerversion that traveled to schools under the auspicesof Young Audiences. This show not only displayedthe artistry and culture of the Navajos, but enabledstudents to try their hand at weaving and designingtextiles. Susan says that it gave her great joy toshare her collection and have it used as an educa-tional resource.

Because they want their collection to be shown toits best advantage, Susan and Conrad believe the styleand design of their home is important. When theydecided in 1997 to move to Santa Fe, they contactedtwenty architects before selecting local architect PedroMárquez. “Pedro gave us more than we everexpected,” say the DeJongs. Completed in 2001, thehouse won an American Institute of Architecture’sSanta Fe Design Excellence Award in 2002.

In addition to creating a structure that comple-mented the collection, Márquez paid tribute to thecouple’s musicianship (Conrad was a professor oftheory and composition at the University ofWisconsin-River Falls), symbolized in part by thetreble clef lighting fixture above the dining table. Healso incorporated a space for performances. Fittingly,Márquez, an accomplished composer-crooner ofcowboy ballads, together with Susan, gave the firstrecital at the house dedication in June 2001. TheDeJong residence is now known not only as a placewhere some of the finest Navajo textiles may befound, but it has become an intimate setting for artsfundraisers and musical soirees.

Sunamita Lim is a Santa Fe freelance journalistand editor of Santa Fe Trend.

ABOVE, LEFT:Susan describes this circa- 1890 pic-torial Navajo rug as her favorite.“Everyone goes wild over this,” shesays, “the artistry is really wonderfuland visually striking.” The combina-tion of figures and colors is also quiteunusual. The imagery and colorscheme is complemented by DeborahOropallo’s 1993 Red.

ABOVE, RIGHT:This 1880s Germantown eye dazzlerwith variegated yarn is “an outstand-ing piece,” says Susan. The verticalwindows play against the architecturalelements of the blanket.

FACING:“I love this area,” says Susan, whichis no surprise given its views of themountains and the room’s brightatmosphere, the result of the expan-sive windows and contemporary tableand chairs designed by DakotaJackson. Other twentieth-centurydesign elements, such as the 1980sItalian designer lamp and 1986James Rosenquist print, KabukiBlushes, are balanced with early-twentieth-century African masks andan Apache figurative basket.