June 24: unexpected trip to the Heard Museum, Phoenix
Well, I hit the jackpot with a 4 1/2 hour visit to the Heard Museum this morning and afternoon. I also used Uber not once, but twice today—a real convincer that the service is easy to use and quite reliable. I had two delightful drivers—the first very gregarious and the last very reticent, but also courteous and a careful motorist. The museum was in town, as opposed to my accommodations, which are close to the airport—so definitely not walking distance away. I must say I was pleased!
I arrived at the Heard Museum a little before 10:00 a.m. and explored the outer perimeter of the musem, which included sculptures, a grassy knoll edging a grassy amphitheater for ceremonial dances and festival enactments, and benches decorated in small mosaics.
Arizona is fortunate enough to have within its borders 22 sovereign tribal nations whose people have called this land home for thousands of years—long before there was a United States and long before there was an Arizona. After centuries of colonization, warfare, forced removal and dispossession, the federal government created reservations consisting of a small portion of traditional tribal lands. Today, approximately 28 % of Arizona land is tribal land.
The exhibits of the museum encompass the region of the Southwest, including not only artwork of the past, but also special artworks made by people from the 22 federally recognized tribal nations of Arizona today. Those 22 tribal lands include Colorado River, Yavapai, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Paiute, Navajo, and Apache tribes and their various offshoots and smaller neighbors.
Since its founding by Dwight and Maie Bartlett Heard in 1929 as a small museum in a small Southwestern town, the Heard has grown in size and stature to where now it is recognized internationally for the quality of its collections, its educational programming and its festivals.
I went completely mad regarding taking photos of some of my favorite objects in the collection—blankets, saddle bags, woven and ceramic baskets, headdresses, sculptures, a Navajo hogan, katchina dolls, ceremonial objects, etc. etc. The most moving part of the collection was the exhibit Away From Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories. It examines an important and often unknown period of American history. Beginning in the 1870s, the U.S. government aimed to assimilate American Indians into “civilized” society by placing them in government-operated boarding schools. Children were taken from families and transported to far-away schools where all signs of “Indian-ness” were stripped away. Students were trained for servitude and many went for years without familial contact—events that still have an impact on Native communities today. It is a dark smudge on American history that will never be resolved unless humankind is willing to change, individually and collectively.
The Indians of the Southwest have always been of great interest to me, and I am so glad I was able to pay homage and interest to their amazing creativity and philosophy. And in the process I ate at the Heard Cafe and had my new favorite dish—avocado toast, on sourdough bread, with a green salad dressed with pinon nuts, accompanied by prickly pear lemonade.
So maybe this little stop was not so bad after all! Now if I can catch two planes tomorrow morning in succession, without interference of vicious weather patterns, I will be fortunate! Think of me, will you?
Facebook photo entries today are going to have to be done in parts, since the file is very large. Next thing I would like is a Santa Fe adobe house! Anyone interested? As ever, SV
I arrived at the Heard Museum a little before 10:00 a.m. and explored the outer perimeter of the musem, which included sculptures, a grassy knoll edging a grassy amphitheater for ceremonial dances and festival enactments, and benches decorated in small mosaics.
Arizona is fortunate enough to have within its borders 22 sovereign tribal nations whose people have called this land home for thousands of years—long before there was a United States and long before there was an Arizona. After centuries of colonization, warfare, forced removal and dispossession, the federal government created reservations consisting of a small portion of traditional tribal lands. Today, approximately 28 % of Arizona land is tribal land.
The exhibits of the museum encompass the region of the Southwest, including not only artwork of the past, but also special artworks made by people from the 22 federally recognized tribal nations of Arizona today. Those 22 tribal lands include Colorado River, Yavapai, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Paiute, Navajo, and Apache tribes and their various offshoots and smaller neighbors.
Since its founding by Dwight and Maie Bartlett Heard in 1929 as a small museum in a small Southwestern town, the Heard has grown in size and stature to where now it is recognized internationally for the quality of its collections, its educational programming and its festivals.
I went completely mad regarding taking photos of some of my favorite objects in the collection—blankets, saddle bags, woven and ceramic baskets, headdresses, sculptures, a Navajo hogan, katchina dolls, ceremonial objects, etc. etc. The most moving part of the collection was the exhibit Away From Home: American Indian Boarding School Stories. It examines an important and often unknown period of American history. Beginning in the 1870s, the U.S. government aimed to assimilate American Indians into “civilized” society by placing them in government-operated boarding schools. Children were taken from families and transported to far-away schools where all signs of “Indian-ness” were stripped away. Students were trained for servitude and many went for years without familial contact—events that still have an impact on Native communities today. It is a dark smudge on American history that will never be resolved unless humankind is willing to change, individually and collectively.
The Indians of the Southwest have always been of great interest to me, and I am so glad I was able to pay homage and interest to their amazing creativity and philosophy. And in the process I ate at the Heard Cafe and had my new favorite dish—avocado toast, on sourdough bread, with a green salad dressed with pinon nuts, accompanied by prickly pear lemonade.
So maybe this little stop was not so bad after all! Now if I can catch two planes tomorrow morning in succession, without interference of vicious weather patterns, I will be fortunate! Think of me, will you?
Facebook photo entries today are going to have to be done in parts, since the file is very large. Next thing I would like is a Santa Fe adobe house! Anyone interested? As ever, SV
Comments
Post a Comment