Tucson Lifestyle • March 2020 • Escape

The year 1929 was a significant one for Phoenix, Arizona. The population topped 30,000, Sky Harbor Airport commenced operations, and the Arizona Biltmore opened. It’s also when Maie Bartlett Heard created a museum, just months after the death of her husband Dwight. That venerable institution, which still bears her last name, was shepherded by her through the dawn of the 1950s.

Renowned for championing American Indian art in its many forms, the Heard is a magnificent place to see both ongoing displays of works such as paintings by Pablita Velarde from the Santa Clara Pueblo (Tewa); sculptures by John Hoover (Unangan), Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache) and Doug Hyde (Nez Perce/Assiniboine/ Chippewa); and even non-Native works depicting our state, including photos taken by the late Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Visitors can tour the exhibit HOME: Native Peoples in the Southwest, where they’ll see a full-sized Navajo hogan, a 21-foot mural by Mario Martinez that’s a cultural portrait of the Yaqui people, 500 Hopi katsina dolls from the Barry Goldwater and Fred Harvey Company collections, and almost 2,000 items that include jewelry, textiles, pottery and many other significant pieces.

Three current exhibits that are well worth the trip to see are Maria Hupfield: Nine Years Towards the Sun; David Hockney’s Yosemite; and Masters of California Basketry.

Hupfield (Anishinaabek-kwe) is a conceptual performance artist, and the exhibition features more than 40 of her works, such as Jiiman, 2015, which is a traditional hunting canoe made from gray industrial felt; and Drink Bar for Two, with an array of five sake bottles positioned under a pink light.

David Hockney, a British artist who has worked in mediums like printmaking, painting, photography and even theatrical set design, brought his distinctive way of seeing the world to a series of works created on an iPad. The rich colors and shapes of Yosemite National Park pop off the 24 separate prints, giving viewers a new way of seeing a landscape with which they may be very familiar.

Accompanying that exhibit are 20 examples of Mono Lake Paiute and Miwok basketry. The stunningly eye-catching patterns by artists such as Lucy Telles, Carrie Bethel and Tina Charlie are a visual treat.

The museum also hosts events year-round, including the 62nd Annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, taking place March 7-8, and featuring the works of more than 600 juried Native American artists, live music and dance performances, and activities for children.

Left: “Yosemite 1, October 5th 2011” by David Hockney, photographed by Richard Schmidt. Above: Tina Charlie, Mono Lake Paiute, 1869- 1962, bowl basket, 1928. Photographed by Craig Smith, Heard Museum