The museum features both artifacts and contemporary art of Native American cultures with emphasis on the native peoples of the Southwest. The overall mission of the Heard Museum is to educate the public about the heritage and the living cultures and arts of indigenous Native peoples. It started as a small museum in a small southwestern town and has since grown in size and stature to where it is recognized internationally for the quality of its collections, its educational programming and its festivals. The current collection of the Heard Museum consists of over 40,000 items including a library and archives with over 34,000 volumes.
We arrived about 10:00 am and had a mocha in the courtyard of the museum before beginning our visit to the exhibits. The museum's interior courtyard, landscaping, and sculptures are superb and are designed in the Spanish Colonial Style. There is also a wonderful Native American Veterans Memorial on the grounds near the entrance to the museum, honoring those of Indian heritage who have fought in all wars, including the Indian Wars.
We began our tour by visiting several changing exhibits currently in the museum. The first was an excellent exhibition of Hopi Indian pottery, highlighting the works of three prominent Hopi families who created and maintained traditional cultural motifs and techniques by working with clay. The pottery was beautiful and displayed a high degree of skill that was passed down through many generations. Next, we visited a very interesting exhibit that highlighted how Chocolate, Corn, Chili and Cochineal (red dye), all originating in the Americas, influenced food production and tastes throughout the world. Another very interesting changing exhibit was the "Native Words, Native Warriors and Navajo Code Talkers". The exhibit recalled the history and accomplishments of Native Americans, especially the Navajo, who served in WW II as "Code Talkers", transmitting and receiving battlefield messages in their native tongue, foiling any attempt to intercept and decode them.
We then visited the on-going "We Are!Arizona's First People" display. This gallery is designed to educate visitors, especially school children, about the origins, location, and current activities of the 21 recognized Native American tribes and communities in Arizona. Each display also exhibits representative examples of the tribe's cultural artifacts and particular art forms as well as hands-on interactive displays for children. Also along the wall were the winning entries from an annual children's art contest, all very well done. Another gallery, primarily designed for children,highlighted Native cultures around the world through displays of their art and culture. Again, hands on interaction with the displays is encouraged.
After an excellent lunch at the museum courtyard cafe, we toured the ongoing exhibit of artifacts and cultural examples of Native Americans of the Southwest. Again, it was a beautiful and overwhelming display of beautiful art, pottery and textiles representing the various tribes and communities mostly in Arizona and New Mexico. Another amazing display was a collection of Navajo Pictorial Textiles, This were highly detailed and skillfully woven textiles, mostly the size of small blankets or wall hangings. Various sculptures and works of art were also displayed in the hallways and outside courtyards between the galleries
It was then almost time for the museum to close, so on the way out we visited the museum store and gallery. All the jewelry, baskets, pottery and art was first class and authentic. And of course, everything was priced accordingly. They had a lot of beautiful pieces for sale in the thousands of dollars. Judy did get another small pig fetish for her collection at a very reasonable price (Pat insisted on this.)
We had dinner in the RV again and are going to a baseball game tomorrow afternoon (SF Giants v. Milwaukee).
Day 15 Pictures
Day 15 Pictures
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