A
ny Maker Faire is a reaffirmation that we’re
all born to make — it’s what makes us
human in the first place. It’s also a celebration
of making’s past and future, where traditional
crafts meet new technology. And there’s nothing
like attending a Faire in another country to really
fire up those feelings of connection. This spring
I was lucky to attend one in a sovereign nation
on U.S. soil: Diné Maker Nation Maker Faire, at
Navajo Technical University (NTU) on the Navajo
reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico.
The Navajo (or Diné, the people, as they call
themselves) are globally recognized makers of
the American Southwest. They’ve built a long
tradition of fine craftsmanship in wool weaving,
silversmithing, and jewelry making, despite
bitter headwinds of conquest and deprivation.
After centuries of war with the Spanish,
Mexicans, and Americans, in 1864 some 8,500
Navajo were force-marched 400 miles to a
squalid camp in eastern New Mexico. Hundreds
died en route. The Treaty of 1868 finally returned
the Diné to their ancestral lands.
The Navajo Nation is the largest Native
reservation in the United States, covering an
enormous swath of high-desert canyon country
on the Colorado Plateau in Arizona, Utah, and
New Mexico. But even there, they’ve often
been treated as second-class citizens. Denied
water rights to the Colorado River, even as the
states around them drank their fill. Poisoned by
radiation in the uranium mines and mills that
used them as cheap labor without protection.
Nuked 100 times by atomic fallout from the
Nevada Test Site. Life on the rez was mainly
subsistence agriculture and livestock grazing;
good-paying skilled jobs were few. Roads were
so bad that the school buses often couldn’t run;
schools were so bad that parents sent kids away
to neighboring states.
In the 1970s the Navajo Nation became home
to the West’s largest coal-fired power plant.
It brought a thousand jobs but smogged the
reservation — and the Grand Canyon — and was
America’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse
gases. Power went to L.A., Vegas, and Phoenix,
while half the reservation still lacked electricity.
That’s the past. The last trainload of coal
was burned in 2019; today the plant is being
dismantled because fracked gas and solar
are cheaper. The Navajo are moving forward,
getting elected to county commissions, fixing
roads, demanding their share of precious water.
They’re rededicating their schools and colleges
to STEM education, self-determination, and a
revival of their language and culture.
At the Diné Maker Faire, there was a feeling
that their days in the back seat are ending. That
this time the Navajo are driving the bus.
Two Tracks to Opportunity
Navajo Tech is a leader among U.S. tribal
colleges for its dual focus on technical trade
skills and advanced academic degrees; it’s
the only one with ABET accreditation for
engineering. NTU has a sophisticated high-tech
Fab Lab and strong partnerships with NASA,
NSF, DOE and the national nuclear labs, and
aerospace companies like Boeing.
Dr. Peter Romine heads the electrical
engineering department, where he emphasizes
hands-on, project-based learning. Since 2015
his students have exhibited at Maker Faires
in the Bay Area, New York, and Washington,
Keith Hammond, Daniel Vandever
Keith Hammond is senior editor
at Make: and a former resident of the
Colorado Plateau canyon country in
Utah. He first visited the Navajo Nation
in 1984.
Navajo Technical University amid the mesas of
Crownpoint, New Mexico.
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D.C., as well as the NASA Innovation Challenge
and the Nation of Makers Conference. Peter is a
lead organizer of the Diné Maker Faire and a firm
believer in NTU’s dual-track education.
“Given the free choice,” Peter asked, “what
percentage of humans would choose a technical
career that requires a 2-year degree, versus
needing a 4-year degree? I believe the vast
majority would prefer skills and jobs that help
them make a living locally. I think the Navajo
could become an example of that other approach
to education that equally respects technical and
trade skills along with academic skills. The Maker
Movement democratizes learning; you don’t have
to be this elite-college-ready person, you could
become or do anything, make money, have a
fulfilling life, create businesses, employ people.”
Daniel Vandever, NTU’s communications
director, is another key organizer of this Faire. He
exudes Navajo pride and a keen sense of irony.
“My grandfather was a code talker [in World War
II] who helped save the nation by speaking his
language,” he said. “My father was beaten for
speaking Navajo in boarding school in Utah.”
Daniel earned his degree at NTU in Navajo
Culture, Language, and Leadership and wrote
a kids’ book based on his father’s experience;
now he’s calling on Navajo makers to envision
their place in a prosperous future. “Our goal at
NTU is to provide pathways to opportunities,” he
said, whether academic or technical. “We want
all students to engage with academics, but know
that it does lead to careers.”
Four Worlds of Making
Diné Maker Faire is organized according to the
Navajo creation legend of the Four Worlds, Daniel
explained, to show how the art of making has
evolved over time. The Black World represents
the oldest, traditional knowledge and crafts;
Blue World showcases trades and careers in the
modern wage economy; Yellow World is creativity
and reclaiming identity; White World is today’s
newest technology. At this year’s event, a fifth,
Glittering World represents youth and the future
of making.
Here are some highlights from the last Maker
Faire of 2020 before COVID-19 shut down the
world. See more at makezine.com/go/dine.
FEATURES:
Diné Maker Faire
Keith Hammond
Black World — Tradition
DOLL MAKING: Artist and teacher Barbara
Morgan showed how to sew traditional Navajo
costumes, based on historical sources and old
family photos. “Before the treaty, we were loud,
proud, and mean,” she said. “After the treaty we
dressed in rags.”
SILVERSMITHING: Morgan also showed fine
silver work by her son Julius K. Morgan. These
beautiful belt buckles were not stamped, but cast
in molds sculpted from soft volcanic tufa rock,
which lends itself to thicker, serpentine forms.
MAKING A NAVAJO BUN: Undergrad IT major
Shalii White (foreground) showed women and
girls how to make a hair tie from loops of yarn,
then use it to fold up their long hair into a tsiiyéeł,
the traditional Navajo bun hairstyle.
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WEAVING: NTU students learn to build a loom,
use native plants for dyes, and weave wool rugs
and baskets. Freshman IT major Christa
Goodluck showed a traditional basket that will be
sealed with pine pitch for carrying water.
KIDS’ MAKER CORNER / CREATIVE MINDS was
a fun kids’ activity area making crafts and
gadgets, sponsored by the NTU early learning and
preschool staff. Tables were filled with kids the
whole day. I noticed Forky from Toy Story 4 next to
a traditional Navajo cradleboard infant carrier.
Blue World — Trades
WELDING: Instructor Chris Storer led a hands-on
Learn to Weld activity and a welding contest. He’s
also a silversmith, and he was proud to show off
this awesome steel sculpture of an ear of corn
created by students Gabby Bryant and Leomie
Foster: “The girls are doing great work!”
AUTOMOTIVE TECH: Instructor Shawn
Piechowski showed off the Polaris UTV his
students are modding with a DynoJet quick-shift
sensor, new clutches, Portal gear reductions for
higher torque, and 24" lifts for extreme high
clearance over rocks and gullies. “I’ve worked on
a lot of these for hunters, but this one is our
monster sheep-herding rig,” he said. “There’s a
real need for this on the Navajo Nation.”
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Yellow World — Identity
COSTUME FABRICATION: Kirk Tom wears his
handmade cosplay Star Wars firetrooper armor
emblazoned with his original insignia painted in
the style of traditional Navajo weaving. “I always
like to make my own designs,” he says. No CNC
or 3D printing here; that helmet is sculpted
entirely free-hand from EVA foam.
SHOE DESIGN: Basketball rules the rez, and
Tristan (“Tris”) Mexicano is a baller. “Until
freshman year at NTU,” he says, “I never had
more than one pair of shoes.” A friend taught him
to take care of his new basketball shoes and they
started customizing them for games. Tris is now a
self-taught footwear expert, able to disassemble,
reglue, and reshape modern shoes. He donates
refurbished pairs to kids in need, and even takes
small commissions customizing shoes for
athletes and friends.
White World — Today’s Tech
3D PRINTING: Jonathan Chinana exhibited his
Soft Robotics experiments; he’s using 3D printed
molds to cast silicone rubber actuators and
grippers that change shape when inflated.
Jonathan did a summer research program at
Harvard University and came back full of skills
and ideas but lacking some of their fancy
equipment. He built this DIY vacuum chamber
from PVC pipe and 3D printed end caps, for
degassing the silicone castings.
FEATURES:
Diné Maker Faire
Keith Hammond, Daniel Vandever
26 make.co
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING: Student makers
showed off CNC pen plotters, a massive wrap-
around flight simulator, and a 3D-printed Wile E.
Coyote picture, rigged with an ultrasonic distance
sensor and Arduino. It makes Road Runner sound
effects when it detects your presence.
RESILIENT CLEAN ENERGY: Instructor Darrick
Lee demonstrated a Solar Micro Grid for
powering a small group of homes. Much of the
vast Navajo reservation is still without electricity,
and homes are commonly miles apart. “The
younger generation wants electricity,” he said,
“but it costs $27,000 per mile for the power
company to extend a line to your house.” Darrick’s
off-grid inverter design can also be adapted to
grid-tie to a 25kV utility power line.
MECHANICAL ROPING: A robot “calf” zooms out
from underneath this dummy horse for roping
practice. It’s a joint project of an electrical
engineering team led by Hansen Tapaha, and the
NTU rodeo team.
METAL 3D PRINTING: NTU Fab Lab’s new
Optomec metal 3D printer uses high-powered
lasers to weld metal powders completely, no
binders or post-curing, just solid metal parts
right out of the printer! Additive manufacturing
(AM) technician Gregory Dodge showed me a
solid stainless steel print: a traditional Navajo
stamp for silversmithing.
Glittering World — Youth and Future
KIDS 3D PRINT CHALLENGE: Middle and high
schoolers competed in the Innoventure Design
Challenge to design and 3D print a product to
help Navajo elders, co-sponsored by KARMA, the
Ke’yah Advanced Rural Manufacturing Alliance, a
Native entrepreneurship program.
Next-Gen Navajo
What lies ahead for technology-minded young
Navajo? Maker careers are already in front of
them — good-paying work in digital design and
fabrication, engineering, coding, and precision
manufacturing. They’ll build the next-gen water
and power infrastructure on the Navajo Nation,
and clean up the uranium mistakes of the past.
And if nuclear power is part of the world’s climate
solution, shouldn’t the Navajo be designing and
operating safer mines, mills, and reactors, to
avoid repeating those mistakes? All this would’ve
sounded impossible 20 years ago. On this day at
Navajo Tech, nothing really sounds impossible.
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