11 - THE HEARD MUSEUM

Monday we went into downtown Phoenix to visit the Heard Museum. 

The Heard Museum is a beautiful complex tucked in between high rise apartment and office buildings. 

It houses an amazing amount of authentic specimens of American Indian art, handiwork and history. Everything that the Mystery Castle was not, the Heard Museum is. 

There were beautiful sculptures in the large courtyard.

They were carved from black marble which makes the detail a bit hard to see in pictures. Unfortunately the high rise apartment building in the background tends to intrude on the mood of the sculptures.

 It had been raining a little that morning and this sculpture has rain drops still hanging from the arms.

 This sculpture was of a group of native American women.

There was a memorial to American Indian Veterans.

Upon entering the museum we were greeted with this display of really huge Hopi pots. They were incredibly beautiful.

On a nearby TV screen was a video of a boy about seven or eight years old who had won the Hoop Dance competition that happens here at the Heard every year. It was amazing to watch him. 

His feet were in constant fast dancing motion as he picked up with his feet, the hoops, one at a time, dancing through them, then adding the next one until he had eight hoops at one time and all interlocked around his body.

As we entered the museum we found that there were some tours going on and they encouraged us to catch up with one that had just started. 

The tour discussed the different tribes in Arizona, their history, their culture and the different styles of art they left behind along with some that is still being created.

There were two tour guides on each tour and they took turns telling about what was in the different displays. They had a huge amount of information which they dispensed in an upbeat and interesting manner.

 There were examples of pottery from all the different pueblos showing the variety of styles from the various areas.

Some of these are like the pots that we have collected over the years from Acoma, Laguna and Hopi pueblos.

There was an extensive displays of silver and turquoise jewelry...

...Navajo rugs and baskets from several tribes.

I was very impressed with the variety of intricate basket designs.

There were all kinds of baby boards.

There was an exhibit of about 700 Katsina (sometimes called Kachina) dolls. These in this picture were donated by the late Senator Barry Goldwater and most are very old.

We found it interesting that this man and his wife, both tour guides, are actually from Klamath Falls, Oregon. They come to Phoenix to be guides here for several months every year. 

His wife used to teach in an Indian School. Part of the Museum was dedicated to Indian schools and the impact that they had on the kids and the tribal culture, some good, some bad.


The Heard Museum is a wonderful place to spend a couple hours. There is also a gift shop with very high end and high quality examples of native American art work.


The next day we really didn't have much to do so decided to go for a walk around the park. We ran across the little cafe that is on the property and decided to have a late breakfast (second one of the day, actually). 


As we were eating I looked out the window to see we were having a total downpour and we were quite a distance from the RV. We waited for it to stop. It didn't and we had an 11:00 lunch planned with my cousin, Orlin and his wife Sandra, who live near here. 


Finally Don braved the elements and hiked back to get the Jeep. We arrived at Orlin and Sandra's looking a bit wilted, but had a lovely lunch and a nice visit with them.


Next blog, the Tuzigoot National Monument and the Verde Canyon Train ride.