From the Heard Collection

 

I have four more paintings from that display from the Heard's collection of paintings.  This one is called "A Nickel for Your Thoughts" and it was painted by Jaune Quick-To-See Smith.  

This one really drew me too it.  I thought it looked like those awful brush fires that are happening all over the world.  It's called "New Blood" and it was painted by James Lavadour.

This one was composed of four panels and was created by James Schoppert and is called "Kaa Gee Soak" which I'm assuming comes from the Tlingit language.  I tried to find a translation but only found that "Kaa" means person.  

This last one has a touch of humor to it.  It's called "Tall Visitor at Tacito" and it was painted by Gary Cohoe.  

I enjoyed seeing all these large scale paintings in one gallery setting together.  The exhibit contained quite a variety of subjects and styles.  

Another Artful Morning

 

I was at the Heard Museum again on Saturday for another one of their "Artful Mornings" lectures.  I took the opportunity to walk through the changing gallery where they have a selection of paintings from the Heard's Collection.  They were all large scale paintings many of which I had seen before in different locations.  However, there were a few that hadn't been on display in decades.  

The painting at top is by Linda Lomahaftewa and it's Untitled.  To the left  is another painting by Lomahaftewa.  I love the brilliant colors in in both of these.

This painting must be a very new acquisition because it's dated 2026.  It was painted by Nanibah Chacon and it's called Bed Rot 1.  It is described as acrylic on polytab.  I had to look that up to discover that  Polytab is mural cloth.  I was drawn to the bright colors and all the patterns as usual.

This last one was painted by Joe Baker and it's called Phoenix House with Chartreuse Chairs.  It was painted in 1980.  It looks like the artist might have made visit to a house in Phoenix with saltillo tile floors and possibly an R.C. Gorman painting on the wall.

Zuni Girl

 

Zuni Girl is a sculpture by Native American artist Doug Hyde.  She stands in a quiet corner near where the parking lot meets the courtyard at the Heard Museum.  I thought I had posted a photo of her before so I went back and looked and sure enough I did a post a photo of her 10 years ago. 

Back then, there were no plants around to shade her.  She looks much better with all the plants around her and casting soft shadows.

Short View, Long View

 

I met a friend that I don't get to see very often for lunch yesterday.  The Heard Museum is about half way for each of us so had lunch at the museum cafe.  The food there is always excellent so it's always a good choice.

I was a few minutes early so I wandered around the museum courtyard taking photos.  This view was taken at about the halfway mark of the courtyard looking toward the entrance with that fountain leading the way.

This one was taken all the way to end of the courtyard with the second fountain leading the way.  The two fountains sort of mirror themselves making it look like one continuous fountain.

We had our lunch just to the left at one of those tables.  One last al fresco lunch before the heat starts to set in.

Museum Employee Art

 

As I mentioned yesterday, here are three more employee art pieces that were on display at the Heard Museum.  

The one above is three individual round canvases painted by Sylvia Richardson a sales support specialist.  It's called "Messengers: Cicada, Butterfly & Dragonfly".  They were painted in acrylic paint.

To the left is a piece called "Airborne Worm Dance II" by Jay Payestewa - Daugherty who is a shop associate and buyer. This one is a mixed media piece.

This last one is painted by Rebeka Peshlakai who is the Institutional Giving Coordinator.  It's called "Hi Dad".  Her message said it was a painting of one of her dad's favorite fishing spots.  I particularly love the way she painted the clouds and cliffs in this one.  

I'm always impressed by the amount of talent that makes up our world.  

The Lecture Room

 

I took this photo in the room at the Heard Museum where the Artful Mornings lectures are held.  You can see the beaded bag and the soft sculpture I featured yesterday on the table.  About once a year, this room is filled with art works that are created by members of the Heard Museum staff.  You can see three of them behind the speaker.  

Here are two closer views.  The one above was painted by John Bulla (deputy director & COO) with help from Laura Beckman.  I know it looks like it might be composed of beads but it's actually acrylic paint.  That must have taken hours and hours of work. It's called "Baxter Jax - Sun Dog".  

I really like the one to the left also.  It was painted by Nolan Lightfoot (security officer) and it's called "The Hunt".  If you look closely in the bottom left corner, you will see a figure in a red shirt among all that yellow.  It made me think of someone making his way among a forest of aspen trees.  

I'll show you a couple more tomorrow.  

Artful Morning

 

Yesterday morning, I was at the Heard Museum for another Artful Morning lecture.  This time it was about artist Jamie Okuma.

Ms. Okuma has been working with beads since she was 4 years old and her artistic career has evolved into fashion and what is called 'soft sculpture'.  

She created the outfit and the beaded bag to the left.

Here is an example of a soft sculpture.  It also contains a lot of beaded work.

She created this beaded bag for the 2025 Heard Museum Indian Fair and Market.  The whole thing is carefully beaded.

Here's a view of the other side.  More beading this time in a pretty floral design.  

You can see more of her incredible work and designs here.  She has some beautiful designs for both men and women.  

Desert Rose

 

Around this time last year, I posted photos of the desert rose plant that resides at the Heard Museum.  I mentioned in my post that my friend had a desert rose that she got around 2023 and that her's had not yet bloomed. 

The plant to the left is that same plant from the Heard Museum.

It's still producing lots of blooms.

Sometime last year, the Heard Museum acquired a second desert rose plant.  That one has no leaves on it but it does have some pretty blooms.  

My friend Glenda was with me when I took these photos and she said she felt a bit jealous of these two plants.  Hers still hasn't produced a bloom.  I told her to keep the faith.  It will one day.

Two Museums and an Opera

 

It was a busy weekend.  On Friday I saw that the Phoenix Art Museum got a mention in the New York Times about a spring exhibit called "Color Wear: Kaleidoscope of Fashion." It was curated to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Phoenix Art Museum's Fashion collection.  I'll have a few photos to share in the coming days.  On my way to see the exhibit, I passed this sort of Calder-like mobile sculpture.  I discovered it was created by Tuan Andrew Nguyen from metal scraps from unexploded artillery and bomb shells salvaged in Viet Nam. If you look closely, you will see my reflection in one of those discs.

Fashion exhibit was also worth seeing and as I said above, I'll have a few more photos from it to share in the future.  For today I'm just featuring this Salvatore Ferragamo shoe-print silk scarf,  It features images of some of Ferragamo's shoe designs over the years. 

On Saturday morning I was at the Heard Museum for another Artful Mornings lecture and Saturday evening I attended the opera with a group of five other friends.  We saw "La Cenerentola" which translates to "Cinderella" in English.  The story was not quite the same with a nasty step-father instead of a step-mother and no fairy godmother.  The opera is very amusing prompting lots of audience laughter. 

On Sunday, I rested up! Phew!

    

Colorful Flags

 

I was at the Heard Museum yesterday for one of the Artful Mornings lectures and I was surprised to see all these colorful flags flying above the courtyard.  I'm not sure why they were there and silly me, I forgot to ask someone.  Regardless, they made a pretty addition to the museum's courtyard area.

Kay WalkingStick

 

When I was at the Heard Museum last Saturday, I took another look at the exhibit called Kay WalkingStick/Hudson River School.  I wrote about it on January 24th.  WalkingStick is a Cherokee artist who paints natural scenes combined with abstract and Native American symbols and she paints canvases that compliment each other like the two above.  The paintings above are called "Late Summer on the Ramapo".  

This one is called "July Low Water".  It has such a summer look to it like what you would see standing on the edge of a pond or stream.

This one is called "Aquidneck Cliffs" and is her painting of the cliffs on Aquidneck Island.  

I'm glad I took another look at this exhibit.  Along with the beauty of the paintings, I learned about places in the east that I had not heard of before.

The View Out the Window

 

I was at the Heard Museum yesterday for another "Artful Mornings" event and since I was there, I stopped in the gift shop to see what new things might be on display.  But before I even started looking, I was drawn to this window.  I found the view of the cactus outside the window and that red wall to frame it irresistible. There is something about a red wall that catches my eye every time.

There were a lot of new things in the shop but I think this might have been my favorite.  I always like Roxanne Swentzell's work but this little duo was just so sweet.  It's too expensive for me to buy but I can photograph it for free.

At the Artful Mornings event, a curator talked about a new show that will open in April and I can't wait to see it.  The concept for the show is so unique.  I'll tell you about it when I see the show.

The Ladies of the Intertribal Greeting

 

When I was leaving the Heard Museum last Friday, I caught sight of these ladies who stand guard in front of the museum.  They were created by Doug Hyde and they have been standing in front of the museum for a very long time.  The light on them that morning was appealing so I stopped to take some photos.  I've pictured this sculpture before.  The last time was back in 2022.

They were looking so good, I decided to take some close-up shots of each of these lovely ladies.

They all look so good with their various hair styles and their lovely beads.

This group of young ladies are the perfect ambassadors greeting guests as they arrive at the museum.  

The Chosen Paintings

 

Yesterday I posted about a new exhibit at the Heard Museum featuring Kay WalkingStick's paintings.  Today I have three of the paintings from the Heard Collection that she chose to go with this exhibit of her works.  I found the one above fascinating.  It's by Dennis Numkena who was an architect as well as an artist.  He formed the first Native American owned architectural firm in Arizona.  This painting is called "Sky City" and it is described as "imagining a future world informed by Hopi cosmologies and ways of being." To me it has a "Star Wars" look to it. I like it a lot.

This painting is by Darren Vigil-Gray and it's called Motherland of Basketmakers #16.  He is an Apache artist and musician who studied at Santa Fe's Institute of American Indian Arts.  He has painted a series of paintings with the same name and featuring this type of lush landscape.

This last painting is called Sun's Power and it was painted by David Chethlahe Paladin.  Paladin was an influential artist in his contributions to contemporary Native American arts.  His paintings always contained Native American symbols and patterns many of which were formed into something new and imaginative.  

These are three completely different styles of art but I can see why they would appeal to Kay WalkingStick and her artistic vision.  

This is another great show that makes you think about what you are seeing.  I'm sure I'll tour it again before this exhibit ends.

Another Opening at the Heard

 

Yesterday morning I attended a special member's opening for a new exhibit at the Heard Museum.  This exhibit is called Kay WalkingStick/Hudson River School.  This show was organized by the New York Historical Society after they purchased the above painting of Niagara Falls.  It's the first painting by a Native American artist in it's collection.  Kay WalkingStick (b. 1935) was inspired to create a painting of Niagara Falls after viewing an exhibit at The Historical Society in 2022 of paintings by members of the the Hudson River School, a group of 19th artists, mostly men who helped to forge an American landscape tradition.  She said she considers it to be one of her best.

Kay's landscape paintings include Native American symbols and patterns that in a way reclaims the land as native.  She says that after all, "every American lives in Indian territory". The painting above is called St. Mary's Mountain.

This painting is called "Our Land".  Kay WalkingStick is from the Cherokee indigenous people and she has a strong bond with the Heard Museum.  She worked closely with the Heard Museum curators to meld this show as it appeared in New York with paintings from the Heard's own collections.  I'll show some of those in the future.  They included some that haven't been on view in many years and all were selected by Kay WalkingStick.

Another great exhibit at the Heard!

Those Silly Koshare Clowns

 

I was at the Heard Museum Saturday morning for one of the Artful Mornings lectures and although I didn't go in to the museum that day, I did stop in the gift shop to peek at the treasures on offer.

What caught my eye on this day was this display of carvings by Kerry Davis.  They are all what is called "Koshare Clowns" and each one is involved in some whimsical activity.  

Mr. Davis is of mixed Native American heritage with a Navajo mother and a Hopi Father.  Having started carving at age 7, he has become a master carver.

I loved the one in the back on the right.  It took me a minute to realize he was carrying a young clown on his back.  I zoomed in to get a better view.

An Investment in Art

 

Here are a few more wonderful pieces of art that I found on my recent visit to the Heard Museum's gift shop.  These were all for sale in the shop.  The piece above is by Dan Namingha, a very well known Native American Artist.  It is called "Corn Deities".  It's a huge painting that was filling one wall in the viewing room in the shop.  The price tag on this is $22,000.

This one was painted by Baje Whitethorne another well known Native American artist.  This one is called "Original Travelers of the Seven Stars".  The price for this one is $10,000.

On another wall inside the art viewing room were these three paintings by Raymond Nordwall.  They are called "Among the Leaves of Gold".  I didn't check the price on these pieces.

Some very lucky collectors are going to come along and take these home with them.  

Butterfly Dancer

 

I was at the Heard Museum on Saturday for another one of their members 'Artful Mornings' lectures.  As usual I enjoyed the presentation very much.

Of course I couldn't leave the museum without a stop in the gift shop.  That's where I saw this small painting by PJ Payestewa. It's called "Poli Mana Poli" which I believe translates to Butterfly Girl. I'm not sure why this image grabbed me but, I love this piece.

Payestewa is of Hopi heritage and that tribe performs a ritual dance to celebrate the late summer harvest of corn.  Back in 2017, I photographed some Butterfly Dancers who were performing at the Desert Botanical Garden.  You can see them here.

Five Faces and More

 

After lunch in the Heard Museum's cafe on Saturday, my friend and I stopped into the gift shop for a little look around.  That's where I saw this new painting by Dan Namingha, the well known Hopi painter and sculptor.  It's called "Five Faces" and is for sale for $18,500.  I instantly fell in love with it and since I can't buy it, this photograph will have to console me.  

There were a couple of other pieces in the shop that caught my eye.  I really like this "story-teller" sculpture.  It was way up on the top shelf so my photo isn't the best but, I think you tell how cute it is.

And this little clown kachina brought a smile to my face.  In addition to balancing on that log and board, he's attempting to keep a decorated pot balanced on his head.  Tricky!

There are always fun things to see in the gift shop.  I asked one of the clerks to show me a necklace I was admiring and while he was presenting it he said "We are a non-profit so there isn't any sales tax and with your membership, there is a discount.  And, there is no tariff because it's 100% made in America."  I enjoyed his tongue-in-cheek entrepreneurial spirit.