So little time and so much to do

Hey Everyone,
This whole blog thing is harder than I thought.  It seems so easy because all you have to do is remember to write but the hard thing is to remember. Or find time to write.  Well its been super busy here in the office getting ready for our first festival.  Right now Anne and I are spending many hard working hours in front of our computers making sure things will run smoothly for the summer.  Last week we got some interest for more interns for the summer YAY!!!  I hope everyone has a great week!
Love,
Cynthia

New Intern!

Hello Everyone,
I know it has been sometime since there has been a post on this blog but things are about to change. My name is Cynthia and I am the new intern here at the Museum of Northern Arizona in the Heritage Program.  Hopefully I will be able to post about what is going on with the Heritage Program and as the festivals kick off in the Summer.  So here is a little about me... I am a student at NAU up here in Flagstaff majoring in Art History and minoring in Museum Studies.  I very excited about this internship and to learn a bunch of new skills.  I will be here this Spring semester and all through the summer to enjoy the festivals.  Hooray!  I am hoping to meet and see a ton of new faces at all the festivals this Summer.
The first festival coming up is the 22nd Annual Zuni Festival of Arts and Culture: Journey to the Center Place, which takes place Saturday May 26 and Sunday May 27 2012.  I hope everyone can come and enjoy the wonderful art, music, food and culture. 
Love,
Cynthia (The New Intern)

Gearing up for The Celebraciones De La Genta!

The time is drawing near for the 7th annual Celebraciones De La Genta! The past few weeks have been full of preparation, and with only 17 days left, things are starting to speed up. The festival will be held as usual at the Museum of Northern Arizona, on October 23-24. This festival is sure to be jam-packed with talented artists, musicians and events. We have many returning musicians this year, as well as a nine member Mariachi band hailing from Tucson, Arizona. This band goes by the name of Sol Azteca, and is prominent in that area for the genre of Mariachi. The Mariachi originated in the state of Jalisco, Mexico sometime in the 19th century, and has evolved into a cultural revolution, and recently has become popular in the United States. Mariachi has continued to grow in popularity, and can be found not only in North America, but in other countries such as Japan. The festival is also proud to recieve a number of talented artists who will be displaying pieces ranging from beaded and silver jewelry, to beautiful Zapoteca Rugs. As in all of the past Day of the Dead Celebrations we will be hosting community Altars, which honor loved ones who have past on. We have also planned heritage presentations that will span the two days of the festival. Prominent members of the community such as Dr. Miguel Vasquez, a professor at Northern Arizona University, will give talks concerning the history and culture of the hispanic communities of the region. Overall we believe this will be a grand festival in honor not only of all of our loved ones who have past on, but of the many rich hispanic communities that popluate our corner of the country. For a full listing of musicians, artists, and events visit the following link http://www.musnaz.org/hp/celebraciones_fest_2009.shtml.

Love,
Anne and THE Intern(Caolan Head) :]

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!