Navajo Rug Weaver
Coordinates and Symmetry
Whole rug designs are often visualized early in the process of weaving. By creating basic shapes and repeating them throughout the rug, a consistent pattern can be formed. A lot of times, these repeated patterns display symmetry.
What is symmetry? Many animals have bodies in which the right half is the mirror image of the left half. That is called "reflection symmetry." Some things have reflection symmetry between top and bottom. Footballs and soup cans, for example, have one shape that is the same for top and bottom, and a different shape that is the same for left and right.
Many Navajo rug designs contain elements that are symmetrical. Looking at the designs below, how many instances of symmetry do you see?
Elements of asymmetry are sometimes present in Navajo rugs as well, but that is always done on purpose.