Page 24 - the NOISE MAY 2016 Edition

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FROM LEFT: Artwork by Tommy James and Hoke Denetsosie are featured in “When We Were Young” at MNA this May.
StORy By
yOUth aRt FROm FlaGStaFF’S hIStORy at thE mUSEUm OF NORthERN aRIZONa
G ScHWARTZ
Jim Collette is a supervisory Archaeologist and Ceramic Analyst at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Over the course of his career he has conducted archaeological surveys and excavations of Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, and wupatki national Monument
— among other places. By chance, one afternoon Mr. Collette stopped in the Museum’s library just as Rachel Waters, the Museum Conservator, was assessing the condition of a collection of works on paper from a historic exhibition called the “Junior Indian Art show,” which occurred annually from 1931-76. Intrigued by the promise these young artists from long ago seemed to show, Mr. Collete suggested the Museum curate an exhibition of the works to open during the new Youth Festival at the Museum of Northern Arizona on May 14. Mr. Collette found himself in charge of “when we were young: The Legacy of the Museum of northern Arizona’s Junior Indian Art show.” Though he claims not to be a curator, this is not the first time he has strayed from his usual role at the museum. A man of many interests and serendipitous timing, a few years ago Mr. Collette came across some spanish tinwork in the Museum’s collection slated to be moved to the education department. He suggested an exhibition and since then it has been a recurring fixture during MnA’s “Celebraciones de la Gente” in October.
Dr. James Burns, currently Director of the University of Arizona Museum of Art and Archive of Visual Art, shares a bit of history from MnA Archives in his 2010 doctoral dissertation entitled We Must Grow Our Own Artists: Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, Northern Arizona’s Early Art Educator. In 1931 Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, MnA Curator of Art and wife of MnA Director Dr. Harold s. Colton, established the “Junior Art show” both to promote local art, and out of a concern for the lack of art education in the region. In its earliest years the annual exhibition included works by children from Flagstaff public schools as well as schools on the nearby navajo, Hopi, Havasupai and Apache reservations. In the sweeping cuts to school budgets during the Great Depression, as in our own times of recession, art classes were often the first to go. Ms. Colton founded the Junior Art show as an appeal to Flagstaff schools to prove the value and necessity of art education. Although art classes were cut from school budgets, in the early years of the exhibition, between 1931 and 1942, upwards of two-dozen schools participated. The exhibition went on hiatus during world war II, and was revived after the war, but Flagstaff and Coconino County schools opted out of participation, citing a shift in educational policy focus. In 1947 the exhibition was renamed the “Junior Indian Art show,” and continued as an annual exhibition exclusively for native American students until 1976 (Burns 160-161).
The students were prolific and varied in their creative pursuits. According to a 1936 announcement of the exhibition, students submitted “cut-outs, creative compositions, original designs for textiles or wallpaper, work from nature, copy work, sculpture (small), block print, batik, tie and dye, stencil and stick printing, woodwork, woodcarving, art leather work, metal work, art embroidery, effigies, toys, bead work, rugs, jewelry, basketry, and bookbinding” to be judged for a number of prizes. Many of these works (over 250) were purchased by the Museum and accessioned into MnA’s collection. For the current exhibition, Mr. Collette and his team managed to whittle down this historic collection to about 30 works on paper — all varieties of drawings, paintings and prints — as well as some three-dimensional objects. The subject matter these young artists chose to depict is diverse, though fairly traditional and usually related to their physical and spiritual world. Many of the young artists show enormous promise.
A 12-year-old Hoke Denetsosie, who would grow up to be a well-known illustrator of children’s books about navajo life, lovingly renders a tight group of stocky horses in a drawing from one of the exhibition’s earliest years. In muted shades of brown, white and green, he depicts the essence of a life around these animals. each animal makes eye contact with the viewer, who seems to take the vantage point of the young artist. They are completely at ease under his gaze. Mr. Denetsosie continued to make art into adulthood, exhibiting at MnA, and working as an illustrator.
A number of children tackled the subject of landscape, and often, stylistic trends of the era are evident in the way they render the world around them. They seem to be influenced by mid-century illustrations of the American southwest. As an example, a small tempera painting
of Monument Valley by a 16-year-old Roy Burns (navajo) from 1954 is vibrant and stylized. symmetrical, rounded juniper bushes rhythmically punctuate the foreground, carrying the eye toward a similarly soft-edged sandstone butte.
Unsurprisingly, the san Francisco Peaks seem to be popular subject matter. Two examples from the 60s — one by a 15-year-old navajo artist named Tommy James from 1967, and another by 13-year-old (in 1963) navajo artist Eddie Adam Yazzie — demonstrate the stylistic scope of the collection. Mr. James, working adeptly with colored pencil, approaches his subject with precision. A wide road in the foreground draws the viewer back through a treed valley to a small collection of yellow-roofed buildings at the base of the mountain. Using short, soft strokes in a limited palette, his drawing is delicate and shimmering. Mr. yazzie, working in oil paint, captures the feeling of Flagstaff’s spring winds in wide swooping brushstrokes. The rhythms of his swirling sky are echoed in the rise of the mountains.
In his dissertation, Dr. Burns quotes Ms. Colton’s reflections on the creation of the “Junior Art show,”and her goals in its establishment:“The Junior Art show”was designed‘... to encourage art in the schools of northern Arizona ... to stimulate the young artists and assist their teachers in the Arts and Crafts’” (Burns, 163). while not all credit should be given to Ms. Colton, but rather to the handing down of traditional skills and techniques — the success of the program was clear. A number of well-known painters, sculptors, katsina carvers, jewelers and graphic artists began their exhibiting careers as children at MnA. Delbridge Honanie and Terrance Talaswaima, who were both founding members of the artist collective Artist Hopid, showed in the exhibit, along with Michael Kabotie, Milland Lomakema and Neil David Sr. The artists of this groundbreaking group were dedicated to documenting every aspect of Hopi life, while incorporating contemporary ideas and subject matter into their work. Often working together on large-scale murals, the artists were unafraid to incorporate social commentary into their depictions of contemporary Hopi life.
Both student and adult work by Messrs. Honanie and Talaswaima are included in this exhibition. Mr. Honanie, who won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arizona state Museum for his work as a painter and wood carver, submitted a quiet drawing in crayon and chalk of a man in a vibrant blue shirt weaving at the edge of a wide mesa. Beyond the loom, which fills most of the composition, a landscape of soft, green hills fades into the suggestion of a pale blue sky. Mr. Honanie submitted this painting to the “Junior Indian Art show” in 1964 when he was 18 years old.
Mr. Talaswaima’s skill as an illustrator of traditional Hopi life is evident in his tempera painting Boy with Bow and Arrows, which he submitted to MnA at the age of 12 in 1952. In the painting an adolescent boy with a yellow cloth around his waist stands front and center in the composition, carrying a yellow bow and a single red arrow. He smiles broadly as he embarks on his journey away from the pueblo behind him, full of youthful optimism. with very spare means he builds a detailed narrative.
In addition to the historic artworks on display, the exhibition will also include a number of objects from the Museum’s archives including posters and hand-painted signs. Mr. Collette has also contributed volumes of children’s books illustrated by some of the represented artists including Messrs. Talaswaima and Denetsosie.
“when we were young: The Legacy of the Junior Indian Art show” opens saturday, May 14 from 10AM-5PM in conjunction with the first youth Festival at the Museum of northern Arizona, 3101 n. Ft. Valley Rd, Flagstaff. The one-day event features crafts, dance and musical
performances, and a cake to celebrate the 40th anniversary of MnA’s Discovery Camps, and the exhibition will remain on display for the month. 928/774-5213, musnaz.org
| G. Schwartz is ready for shorts season. arts@thenoise.us
24 • MAY 2016 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us