Don't Worry, Be Hopi

Did that really just happen?
Did we really just finish the Hopi festival?

Here, in the Heritage Program Office, it's hard to believe that the 77th annual Hopi Festival just happened, as we quickly tidied the tornado that resulted from the weekend and are now hard at work on the Navajo festival, which is coming up in a little less than four weeks. If anyone sees Anne Doyle roaming the streets, please give her a hug... and  margarita. The work that she does on these festivals is absolutely mind blowing-- you'd think that she was some kind of magician.

Before we ramble off into the sunset about how busy we are, I think we should reminisce (queue dream sequence...). It was a Friday afternoon, and the mosquitoes hit the Hopi reservation for what seemed like the Berlin Love Parade. We were there, too, on our collection trip a week before the festival. It was cloudy, which is a good sign these days, and we took are stations at the Cultural Center and at Hotevilla. Despite our tent being thrown to the ground by the wind at the Cultural Center, we collected some wonderful art. It's amazing to think that if we didn't make this trip, some people would never see this incredible art. Quilts, Kachina Dolls, paintings, and rattles flew into our hands, into our vans, and into our consignment room. Thanks to the wonderful help from the volunteers, the collection trip went smoothly (and we even got some gratuitous rain!) and we all came out itchy dressed in novelty Hopi mosquito bites


On Thursday, July 1st, at 12 p.m., we closed the doors to the auditorium and welcomed our judges for a quick lunch before they made their rounds. The judging was a simultaneously intense and hilarious experience-- as our judges all had a great mixture of expertise and senses of humor. The interns spent the rest of that day preparing ribbons and making sure everything was in order for the next day.


Have you ever been to Times Square at 7pm? If not... imagine people weaving around each other at lightening speed paired with the coaxing sounds of car horns and angry business men and women in a rush. Now, imagine all of those sound inside the Museum of Northern Arizona-- the Times Square of the Southwest last weekend. Before the festival officially opened, all of us were running around, checking in artists and moving artwork and, of course, cooking. As the time inched closer to 6 p.m., we welcomed artists and non-profits, showing them the ways to their booths. As far as we know, the Member's Preview was a success! We got our artists checked in, and saw many happy members roaming around the venue.


Then came Saturday, the day the festival opened to the public. There was something interesting happening in every corner of the museum. Artists were selling in the auditorium, lectures were going on in the Ethnology gallery, Hopi dances and music were happening in the insights tent (where KUYI was also broadcasting live!), kids were making art in the New Courtyard, artists were demonstrating in the Historic courtyard-- even our office became a dressing room for some of the Hopi dancers. We all had such enriching experiences and got to talk to so many interesting people. At one point, we were being showered with Hopi wisdom while we were, believe it or not, preparing for the barbecue in the kitchen. Most of Saturday involved everyone running around, making sure everything ran smoothly. None of us can really remember how Saturday ended, as it just seemed to turn into Sunday. Sunday was exciting in different ways, as well. We, as interns, had more time to roam around and interact with artists (we got Sidney Poolheco's autograph, aren't you jealous?). We had a little taste of Hollywood, when Kiowa Gordon, the werewolf from Twilight, came in to sign autographs and model contemporary Hopi clothing. I never thought I'd hear so much teenage shrieking at the Hopi festival. Even as we were folding up the chairs at the end of the day, we kept taking in new information and wisdom. It wasn't until the end of the day that we realized that it was the 4th of July, and we celebrated it perfectly-- with the people who know this country in more intimate ways than most people can vouch for.


Now, as our mosquito bites are slowly fading and the art gradually gets picked up from our office, we are preparing for the Navajo festival, taking place on August 6, 7, and 8, and, of course, trying to breathe a little bit.


See you all soon!


Love,
Anne and the Interns.

English, Hopi, Tewa, Oh My!

 (Painting by Dan Namingha, a Hopi-Tewa artist, via cornell.edu)

Around these parts, the word "Hopi" is uttered thousands of times a day. We are all gearing up for the Hopi festival (and it's all very exciting!) and seeing a lot of wonderful art come in. Part of the Hopi festival, though, is another culture that many of you may not know about: the Tewa. Part of the Tewa tribe was relocated from their Rio Grande locations after the Pueblo Revolts (1680-96) and now lives in Hopi in the pueblo of Hano. Though, over the years, they have become quite integrated into Hopi culture (and there has been room for tons of exchange), they speak a different language (many are trilingual--speaking Hopi, Tewa, and English, but maintainging a strict separation of the languages).

There will be a strong Tewa presence at the 77th annual Hopi festival, and we thought that it would be useful for you guys to know about them. Here are a bunch of different links to give you more information on the intriguing Tewa culture.

1. This is the Tewa origin myth. The story of their creation dictates the order of their internal society. It's also a really interesting story on its own!
2. This is a general overview of the Tewa, including their regional concentrations and a brief history.
3. This is Edward S. Curtis's ethnography of the Arizona Tewa.  It is quite extensive, but also very intriguing and talks a lot about the secretive nature of the Tewa, and how many of their tales will be "buried with the last of its devotees" (Curtis). p.s... there are really great pictures of Tewa settlements in this one.
4. Here is a resource for the Tewa language, which many of the elders are making great efforts to preserve. 


I hope that, as you scan through all of the links, you find yourself as enthralled as all of us in the HP office are with the color, beauty and the richness of the Tewa culture. You can look forward to learning more and seeing their art at the Hopi Festival!

Happy Wednesday,

Love,
The Interns.

Hopi Code Talkers Honored

In our most recent research we've learned that Hopis also served in the armed forces as code talkers. The Navajo-Hopi Observer had a story that was very interesting. Read it here. We'd love to learn more about these individuals and perhaps set up an educational lecture and forum in the future.
-HP Interns

Licking Envelopes

Hello World!

It's Phoebe sitting in the Heritage Program office on this windy friday afternoon. The reason why I'm writing is a little bit selfish today... I'm using it as an excuse to hide from the massive to-do list that's hanging on our wall. I'm also using it to complain a little bit. In this case, complaining has lead me to a momentous realization. There is a large part of the Heritage Program that many of you probably don't know about, and that most people in this office try to avoid-- licking envelopes. I'm not joking. Envelopes are one of our connections to all of the incredible artists that we bring in to the festivals. Today, I was the lucky one who was pinned with the task of stuffing all of the envelopes with application letters for the Celebraciones de la Gente festival that happens in the end of October. Let's just say that the copy room and I need some time apart after this endeavor. To make the job a little bit easier, I chose some vibrant paper colors and tried humming some songs to myself. Still, it was a daunting task. There were about 200 envelopes that had to be stuffed, and one only one person to do it. I spent some quality time (about 2 hours) next to the copy machine, folding fluorescent pink and yellow paper, decorating my hands with paper cuts, stuffing and addressing envelopes. To make it all a little more agonizing, I found out after I parched my tongue licking envelopes that I didn't have to-- apparently there's a machine for that (why should I be surprised?).
I'm not just writing to complain... I'm writing because the monotonous task of folding mountains of paper for hours made me realize how lucky I am to do work that is so far from that. I realized that, despite how busy these days are, I'm lucky that I get to spend them learning about the beautiful Native American cultures of the southwest and talking to artists and having my eyes widened due to some of the things I read. I realized that, in this life, you have to lick your share of envelopes to understand the richness of the world around you.

Hope you all have paper-cut free weekends,
love,
Phoebe.

p.s.: ANNE FIGURED IT OUT!

Mike Kabotie Tribute Video

Hey everyone.
You should all go watch this video: Tribute to Michael Kabotie.

It's a beautiful video of Michael Kabotie's son, Ed, giving at talk at MNA on April 10, 2010 in remembrance of his father.
Happy Friday!
Love,

Anne and the Interns.

1st Trip to the Hopi Reservation

Hey everyone,
Interns here. We're just back from our first experience on the Hopi Reservation on Monday. During this visit, we hung posters for our upcoming collection trip on Friday the 25th. Our journey started Monday morning at 9 and we geared up for the trip, expecting a long day of travel and meeting people. Anne acted as tour guide as we traveled through beautiful scenery and geological features of the land. Throughout the day she also introduced us to many artists and art dealers.
We learned that each of the 3 mesas has a different artistic specialty. Though we only saw the first 2 mesas, we are excited for the end of the month where we'll see them all.

Our first stop was the Cultural Center, a bright orange building on 2nd mesa. After dropping off some flyers and talking to some people in the shops, we stopped by the restaurant for a "quick" lunch of hopi tacos. Randi and Phoebe demolished the gigantic tacos with no problem. I had one with beef and mashed potatoes which was equally amazing. Anne seemed to know everyone in the restaurant and chatted with several old friends.

Amazingly, we managed to stay awake during the rest of the trip after the big lunch. The scenery was too amazing to sleep through. We made it to the tops of the mesa where many of the artists live. Some tourists were there on the guided tours that are available. These are a good idea for learning some of the interesting history of the mesas and aspects of the culture.

Helping fill us in on some of the Hopi culture was Joseph Day, owner of Tsakurshovi, a traditional shop with Hopi art and goods. He explained how his store specializes in items bought by local people for their daily life and art. His wife's motto is "Don't worry, be Hopi." You might have seen these shirts somewhere across the globe in the last 30 years.

The trip home took longer than expected with lots of construction on Hwy 264, so be warned if you go up to the reservation this week! This allowed us to reflect on our trip and think about the exciting Hopi festival that is quickly approaching.

Til next time,

Grant, Phoebe, and Randi (the interns)

Heritage Program Schedule 2010

Heritage Program Schedule 2010

Just your interns here giving you the schedule for the rest of the season's events!

Festivals

77th Annual Hopi Festival of Arts and Culture
Saturday July 3rd, Sunday July 4th
The oldest Hopi show in the world.

61st Annual Navajo Festival of Arts and Culture
Saturday August 7th, Sunday August 8th
Expressions of Beauty and Place

7th Annual Celebraciones de la Gente
Saturday October 23rd, Sunday October 24th
A lively celebration of the Day of the Dead.

Insight Presentations

Saturday, June 12th, 12 p.m.
Navajo Rug Weaving by Dr. Jennifer McLerran

Saturday, September 18th, 2 p.m.
Havasupai ceremonial dances with James Uqualla and Havusupai Dancers

Saturday, November 13th, 2 p.m.
A celebration of poetry and language with Dine poet Laura Tohe

Saturday, December 11th, 2 p.m.
Zuni Emergence and Migration History  by Curtis Quam      
    
Love,

Anne and the Interns