[Summer 2001] 

Color—bright, pulsating color—that’s what drew me in, even before I passed through the double carved wood doors. Above them, giving the place its name, twin red rocks tower, like two little kids huddled together, ready for a new adventure. Inside, oh boy, inside...crystal clear glass cases filled with jewelry, fetishes and seed pots. Marching along on top, a little army of carved folk art. My favorite was the bright blue chicken with white polka dots and a red beak. Near the door, nearly life size fluffy sheep (more folk art) form up in a wedge, the black sheep standing point. Stacked and racked in the back are heaps of colorful rugs. Shelved and cased are pots, all sizes and shapes of pots, unusual pots of singular design, some new, some traditional, some mixing symbology of different tribal affiliations (Navajo and Hopi, for example) and all so beautifully made they could be in a museum. (In fact, the Simpson brothers, Twin Rocks traders, supply many museums with items from their one-of-a-kind collections.) 

But it’s the baskets that slow your step and boggle your mind. Twin Rocks is known for its baskets, and the Simpson's are known for encouraging their weavers to come up with new, innovative designs. They and their weavers have succeeded admirably. Nowhere had I seen such a display. The largest was an arm-span in diameter. The smallest fit in the palm of my hand. Most were about the size of a large dinner plate or serving platter, fairly flat, slightly concave, a shape commonly known as a “wedding basket.” Others, particularly the Tohono O’dham and the beaded Navajo baskets, were clearly vessels. All were so tightly woven it is easy to understand how they could have been used to carry water. And all tell a colorful story. One of the large pictorial baskets, for example, “is a three dimensional scene of the native lifestyle, people, dogs, houses, and hogan.” 

If the variety of baskets was surprising, the color and design were even more so. I had seen baskets in gift shops and galleries, some fine, some not so fine. But I had no idea, until this visit, why collectors would pay as much as $30 thousand for a set of baskets. (Most run between $600 and $1200, however.) Looking at them, each so beautifully made and each authenticated with a photograph and biography of its maker, I began to understand. 

Baskets are one of the oldest forms of Native American functional art. They precede pottery as vessels for carrying water or storing food and seeds, and are still used today for ceremonial purposes. 

“Before silver jewelry, before pottery and before rug weaving, there was basketry.” explains Georgiana Kennedy Simpson, Steve’s wife. Archaeologists call the early people who came before the Anasazi or Ancestral Puebloans, “Basketmakers.” Because baskets were woven of natural vegetable materials, such as willow and yucca, unlike pottery, only a surprising few survived intact from ancient times. But the tales the baskets tell, and the intricate process of making them, have been handed down for centuries. For most Native American peoples, history is passed on orally, through storytelling, and through folk arts and crafts, like the baskets, which visually relay the legends and myths of the culture. 

The Simpson's took pleasure in explaining how the baskets were made. Great hand strength is needed, for example, and knowledge of materials and material preparation.Weaving techniques include plaiting, coiling and twining. The design elements are also very important, particularly today when baskets are used by Native peoples mainly for ceremonial uses. A popular theme is the “Ceremonial Basket,” a circular design that depicts harmony and balance in home, marriage and ceremony.

Insects, animals and birds are common themes. “The butterfly represents the fragility of life,” Steve Simpson explained. “The eagle is an intermediary messenger between the real and spirit worlds. A basket might relate how First Woman and First Man created the disk of the sun, or relate the story of Monster Slayer or one of the hundreds of other myths and legends.” 

“Everything in Native culture has interdependence,” Barry Simpson explained. “The Navajo call it ‘Hozho,’ which means ‘Balance.’ It’s the ultimate goal, balance between natural and supernatural, spirit world and real world,” He added, “We consider education a big responsibility, a major part of our business. We maintain an extensive database of the legends the baskets represent, and the artisans who make them.” 

Today’s weavers incorporate those legends and add to them. They combine elements of different tribal beliefs, often employing “artistic license” with their designs. Like woven wool rugs, baskets can be blatantly pictorial, telling an easy-to-read story, or abstract, or impressionistic. Twin Rocks has one of the most comprehensive, Navajo basket collections in the west. Also represented are works by the Apache, Karuk, Serrano California Mission, Macah, Tinget, Cherokee, Paiute, Tohono O’Odham (Papagao), Hopi, Panamint and Ute. 

The Simpson family have been in the trading business locally since the 1940s. They also ran Blue Mountain Trading Post in Blanding before moving to Bluff where they started Twin Rocks in 1989. Besides dealing with the Native American craftsmen—“The best part of the business,” Barry says, “The people are fantastic”—the Simpson's also work with museum curators and collectors. They also have a large wholesale and online business. 

Twin Rocks Trading Post, nestled beneath the bluffs of Bluff, is light bright and airy. There are no dark nooks and crannies, as in the old traditional posts. Everything is out in the open, easy to see, easy to covet. Transactions between buyer and seller are straightforward. The Simpson's no longer handle pawn, but buy outright, purchasing directly from Native American weavers only the best, and like all true traders, they are highly supportive of their artisans. That support is evident in the quality of Native arts and crafts they carry and the service they give to customers and museums. 

Twin Rocks Trading Post. E. Navajo Twins Drive, PO Box 330, Bluff, UT 84512. 435 672-2341. Toll-Free: 1-800-526-3448. Email: barry@twinrocks.com or steve@twinrocks.com. 

Web site: www.twinrocks.com