Page 18 - the NOISE June 2012

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FROM LEFT: Marvin Charles Lomahaftewa is remembered at FPC during First Friday ArtWalk; Betty Smith returns to Mountain Oasis this month.
CLOUD SPIRIT
“Someday, I will come back as a Cloud Spirit: Remembering Marvin Charles Lomahaftewa, featuring the photography of John Running,” will be on display this July at the Flagstaff Photography Center. During the First Friday ArtWalk from 6 to 7PM the Konina Dance by the Nuvatukya’ovi Sinom Dance Group will be performed at Heritage Square as a part of the Summer Nights on the Square Series.
On July 13, from 6 to 8PM FPC will be hold- ing a reception with the family of Marvin Charles Lomahaftewa, Spider Clan (1950-
1985). His daughter Candice “Taffy” Loma- haftewa brought this show about to honor her father. His life’s work of paintings, jewelry, pottery & carvings will be presented along with the black & white photographs made in 1978 by John Running. The images are from John Running’s book, “Honor Dance.”
FlagstaffPhotographyCenter.com
THE ART SCENE IN WILLIAMS
Williams, Arizona, and its only art gallery, The Gallery in Williams, have begun their very own Art Walk. Second Saturdays will lead you around the town of Williams from The Gallery in Williams to businesses that are venues for art and supporters of art.
“The Gallery in Williams opened last year, Labor Day weekend, 2011, so we have been open not quite a year,” Kris Williams tells me.
“We are an artists’ cooperative; all of our artists are from Williams and the surrounding areas, and we specialize in art depicting Northern Arizona, its magnificent scenery and natural heritage. We have art in many different me- dia: metal sculpture, jewelry, scratchboard, watercolor, photography, pastel, acrylic, oil, colored pencil, bronze, graphite, and more. Our artists are an active part of the gallery, working shifts and running all aspects of gal- lery operation.”
“The principal owners of The Gallery in Wil- liams conceived and organized the Williams Second Saturday Art Walk, thinking that Wil- liams should be a vital part of the art scene
and host our own art walk much like Flag- staff, Prescott, Sedona, and Jerome,” Mr. Wil- liams continues. “Our goal has been to draw from the same art audience as our neighbor- ing communities but not conflict with their events. In addition, Williams, as the gateway to the Grand Canyon, hosts visitors from all over the world, and many of these visitors are yearning to take a special memento of this area home with them.”
“This is the first summer for the Williams Art Walk, and we plan to hold our art walks through October. The future dates of art walks in Williams are: July 14, August 11, Sep- tember 8, and October 13. Currently, we have 11 venues for art, and 4 major art walk sup- porters. We have discovered a wealth of art in retail businesses that are not officially art galleries, including jewelry, sculpture, leather work, photography, and native American art, to mention a few.”
The featured artist for the month of July at The Gallery in Williams is David Drummond, a watercolorist whose forte is painting Lake Powell. Lake Powell has inspired Mr. Drum- mond for over 20 years, and he has captured its beauty in many moods. His art will be on the cover of Watercolor Art Magazine for the August issue.
The gallery, located at 309 West Route 66 in Williams, AZ will have live music by Kerry Lynn Moede this Second Saturday from 6 to 8PM on July 14. theGalleryInWilliams.com
A WEEKEND OF HERITAGE
Every year the Museum of Northern Ari- zona offers four weekends in which one can be submersed in the history and cultures of this area. On Saturday June 30 and Sunday
July 1 its the 79th Annual Hopi Festival of Arts & Culture – the oldest Hopi show in the world.
The weekend will offer booths with over 80 artists, live music, dance, traditional foods, and lectures. Art that will be displayed cov- ers a broad variety of mediums: quilts, Katsina dolls, pottery, paintings, rattles and baskets.
The photography of Kate Cory and Emry Kopta will be on display in an exhibit full of photographs from life in Hopi from 100 years ago in honor of the centennial.
The Hopi Festival is a wonderful place to learn about the history of the Hopi people. The Heritage Insight Presentations will be covering many interesting and important top- ics in these presentations: “Hopi Lands, Snow Capped Peaks, and Red Hill: Understanding the Hopi Legacy of Stewardship and Experi- ence in the San Francisco Peaks Region,” by Micah Loma’omvaya; “The Hopi Way of Life,” by Hopi preservationist Donald Dawahong- newa; “Preservation of the Hopi Language,” by Anita Poleahla and Mesa Media; and
“Hopi Summer,” by author Carolyn O’Bagy Davis.The Big tent at the Hopi Festival of Arts and Crafts promises two days of entertain- ment. Both Saturday and Sunday Casper & the 602 Band will be sharing their Jamaican- inspired reggae blended with Native roots. The Buffalo Dance, among other dances, will be performed by the Nuvatukya’ovi Sinom Dance Group to remind us of the Buffalo that used to populate the lands here. The events under the big tent will be emceed by Jenni- fer Joseph.
Talks and demonstrations will be taking place throughout the event. Jessica Lo- matewama and Alberta Selina will be giving a demonstration about Hopi basket making, Alice Dashee will talk about the role of corn in Hopi culture, Dorothay and Emerson Ami give a presentation on pottery the Hopi way, and Louis Josytewa and Austin Coochy- amptewa will demonstrate sash weaving.
In the lovely courtyard of the museum children will let their creativity run wild. Corn Flowers made from corn husks and cobs, pa- per plate Basket plaques and bookmarks are some of the Hopi-inspired crafts that children can make and take home.
There is no better way to learn about the beauty of place we live than to learn about the beautiful and diverse cultures within. Musnaz.org
OF NATURE AND EARTH
“Most of my work is influenced by nature; my hiking sketchbook is frequently the basis for abstract studio paintings,” painter Betty Smith tells me about her artwork that is fea- tured this month at Mountain Oasis Interna- tional Restaurant. “Science and music also inform my work. Though I have worked in watercolor and oil, my work now is primar- ily in acrylic. My painting process is slow and meditative. Much of the work goes on in my mind before picking up the brush. During the creative process I search for the essence of the subject, thinking, simplifying, and re- fining until the composition, color, and other elements form a balanced and expressive whole. Blues and earth tones dominate my palette. Multiple layers of glaze build up rich, deep color.”
“I started painting diptychs and triptychs four years ago,” she continues. “I love the way each part is a complete, well-composed painting in itself, but when combined to- gether a whole new composition is formed. A large diptych, West Fork Reflections, two 40”x30” canvases, will be showing at Mt. Oasis. It is an abstract from nature inspired by a little spot of reflection in Oak Creek’s West Fork. I have come full circle through years of realistic drawing and painting back to the abstraction of my first oil painting class at the University of Minnesota with Peter Busa, one of Hans Hoffman’s many students.” Mountain Oasis is located at 11 East Aspen Avenue.
SOME GOOD ONES
“I usually make my work using the potter’s wheel,” Arizona Handmade/Fire on the Mountain featured artist Jason Snelson tells me. “I like to exploit the inherent qualities of the clay so that when the piece is finished it represents the fluid, malleable nature of wet clay.”
Mr. Snelson is greatly inspired by the art of others, “I am always impressed with people’s work that is loose, playful, and expressive, yet well crafted. I took ceramics as an elective
18 • JULY 2012 • the NOISE arts & news magazine • thenoise.us