Barbara Teller Ornelas
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 
 How To Weave a Navajo Rug and Other Lessons from Spider Woman (2020), Thrums Books

Personal life
Her adult children Sierra Teller Ornelas and Michael Teller Ornelas are sixth-generation Navajo weavers. See also
 Craft in America

References

External links
 Navajo Rug Weavers website

1954 births
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American women writers
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American women artists
20th-century Native American artists
21st-century Native American artists
20th-century Native American women
21st-century Native American women
20th-century Native American writers
21st-century Native American writers
Living people
Native American women writers
Navajo artists
Textile artists from New Mexico
Textile artists from Arizona
University of Arizona alumni