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A Blend of the Old and The New at
61st Annual Navajo Festival
Weaver Colleen Biakeddy in front of
her loom at last year’s Navajo Festival.
(Flagstaff, AZ)—In Navajoland, the old and the new, the
traditional and the contemporary, exist side by side,
amidst the wide expanses of earth and sky so dear to all
Diné people. This year’s 61st Annual Navajo Festival of
Arts and Culture at the Museum of Northern Arizona in
Flagstaff will present artists, music, dances, and
Heritage Insight programs. Ancient arts and more modern
forms of expression such as documentary films will
create new understandings about this great people. The
festival is on Saturday, August 7 and Sunday, August 8,
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Natural Hand Spun Weaving by
award-winning weaver TahNibaá Naat’aanii. |
Over 75 Navajo
artists will gather at the festival—weavers,
jewelers, painters, potters, basket
makers—continuing the tradition of bringing
their artwork to market and sharing what makes
their artwork distinctive. Two days of
programming will highlight top musical names
from the region, a traditional dance group, and
revealing talks by area experts to give visitors
an inside look into the largest Indian tribe in
the Southwest.
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Heritage Program Manager Anne Doyle shared, “I hope this
year’s visitors will learn other ways of looking at the
world. This year we’ll illuminate and celebrate the
Navajo experience through many cultural interpreters and
art forms. And there’ll be plenty of opportunities for
fun, with live music, dance groups, kids’ creative
activities, and food.”
MNA Director Robert Breunig added, “This year, a
Memorial Award to honor weaver Alice Nez Herder
(1907–2009) will be given to a weaver whose work best
exemplifies Herder’s weaving. She continued to card and
dye wool, and weave, to well over 100. She’ll always be
remembered as the matriarch of the Herder Family Weavers
of Hardrock, Arizona.” The Herder Family will be at the
festival demonstrating their weaving techniques.
Two New Documentary Films
Two documentary films will be shown at the festival.
Hearing Radmilla tells the story of singer Radmilla Cody
who was crowned the first bi-racial Miss Navajo Nation.
Her musical career was going strong until she hit major
detours in an abusive relationship and time in prison,
where she grew stronger spiritually. Today, Cody is a
motivational speaker and a recording artist who will
explore topics in the film such as race, personal
empowerment, and domestic violence. Director Angela Webb
will also be talk about making this film.
Student short In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman by
14-year-old Camille Manybeads Tso is a 26-minute docu-drama
based on her family’s strong oral tradition about her
warrior great-great-great-grandmother, a pregnant
teenage mother who endured the grueling Navajo Long Walk
forced relocation of 1864–68. She was captured by the
U.S. Cavalry and driven from her home near Black Mesa,
and survived the three-month walk to Fort Sumner on the
New Mexico-Texas border, living in a harsh interment
camp for a year and a half, and the walk back to Arizona
with her child. This film has been shown at many film
festivals and has received numerous awards.
Heritage Insight Presentations
As the first-ever Navajo to earn a Ph.D. in history, Dr.
Jennifer Nez Denetdale is a strong advocate for helping
Diné people construct a history that is entirely theirs.
Denetdale is an associate professor of history at
Northern Arizona University and teaches courses on
Native American and Navajo history, Native American
women, women in the U.S. West, and Indigenous feminism.
She has research interests in colonialism, nationalism
and gender, and environmental and social justice. Her
book Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo
Chief Manuelito and Juanita was published by the
University of Arizona Press in 2007 and her book for
young adults The Long Walk: The Forced Exile of the
Navajo was published by Chelsea House in 2008. Her
current research project is a history of Navajo women.
Denetdale will read from her writings and sign books for
festival visitors.
Theresa Boone–Schuler, a Diné educator from Flagstaff,
will lead the very popular ethnobotany walks along the
Museum’s Rio de Flag Nature Trail. Schuler gained her
knowledge from her father, a noted herbalist who urged
her to pass on the knowledge of traditional healing
plants by teaching about identification and usage. Group
hikes will be three times each day at 10 a.m.,
12 p.m., and 2 p.m.
Navajo linguist and educator Larry King shares humorous
examples and fun stories of how new words and ideas are
introduced into the Diné language. He will introduce the
Navajo phonetic alphabet to familiarize festival
visitors with basic concepts and sounds from his
language.
Matt Tafoya will talk about nineteenth-century Navajo
male material culture, illustrating the old and new ways
of Navajo male attire and its influences throughout
history. Also, at his booth he will demonstrate the
creation of arrows, arrowheads, moccasins, and clothing.
Award-winning painter Redwing Nez from Indian Wells on
the Navajo Reservation will talk about his recent
experience creating a mural in downtown Flagstaff and
about the stories it tells. Nez was chosen to paint the
new Centennial Walk Mural at the Flagstaff Visitor
Center, which depicts 100 years of Flagstaff’s history.
Under the Big Tent
High energy Blackfire’s alternative/punk/Native rock
music and socio-political messages reflect the hopes,
freedoms, and barriers of today’s world. They tackle
topics such as government oppression, relocation of
Indigenous people, eco-cide, genocide, domestic
violence, and human rights. Blackfire was awarded the
Native American Music Awards’ Record of the Year and
Native Heart Awards in 2008. They also have previously
received the Group of the Year Award for their Woodie
Guthrie Singles recording and the Best Pop/Rock Album
Award for their One Nation Under release. Blackfire
tours extensively throughout the world, having already
completed 13 tours to Europe and shows in the Sahara
Desert, Mexico, and Canada.
The Pollen Trail Dancers will perform colorful social
and storytelling dances meant to be danced in the warm
season. Emcee Brent chase accompanies his dance troupe
with humor and Navajo flute playing. The Dance of the
Holy People comes from Navajo Blessing Way beliefs, the
Corn Grinding Dance is connected to the coming of age of
a young woman and reinforces the relationship between
Navajo people and corn, the Sash Belt or Weaving Dance
tell the story of Spider Woman’s influence in weaving,
the Basket Dance depicts the important role of baskets
in Navajo life, and the Bow and Arrow Dance honors the
warriors of old who have protected the Diné way of life.
Canyon Records recording artist Aaron White will perform
his powerful, original songs with acoustic guitar and
Native flute. His finger picking style and passion for
songwriting has made him a Native American Music Award
winner in 2004 and a Grammy-nominated artist is 2003 for
Best Native American Album. White will also talk about
the history of the Navajo flute.
Radmilla Cody will serve as emcee in the Heritage
Insights tent. She was winner of the Best Female Artist
at the 2002 Native American Music Awards and is a Canyon
records recording artist who will sing traditional
Navajo songs and her own lyrics with her stunning voice
and range.
Clarence Clearwater sings traditional songs in Navajo
and his own contemporary songs in English about his
spirituality and the oppression of Native people. His
big, enchanting voice and stirring acoustic guitar are
most often heard on the Grand Canyon Railway,
entertaining passengers between Williams and the Grand
Canyon.
Activities for Kids
“Goat in the Rug” puppet show by the MNA docents will be
performed both days at 10:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. All day
at Creative Corner, kids of all ages will enjoy weaving
bookmarks, coloring Navajo rug patterns, and making
bolos.
About the Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation has the largest reservation in the
U.S., covering nearly 27,000 square miles in Arizona,
New Mexico, and Utah. The population of the Navajo
Nation has surpassed 250,000. As a sovereign nation, it
is focused on health card, education, economic
development, and employment to benefit its people.
Thousands of people each year visit the natural wonders
at Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, and Chaco Canyon
on the Navajo Reservation.
61st Annual Navajo Festival Sponsors
The 2010 Navajo Festival of Arts and Culture is
sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts,
Arizona Commission for the Arts, Arizona Humanities
Council, Flagstaff Cultural Partners, City of Flagstaff
BBB Tax Fund, Main Street Catering, Fred Nackard
Wholesale Beverage Company, and Archaeological
Consulting Services, Ltd.
About the Museum
Now celebrating its 82nd year, the Museum of Northern
Arizona is one of the great regional museums of our
world, evoking the very spirit of the Colorado Plateau.
MNA’s nine exhibit galleries present Native cultures,
tribal lifeways, natural sciences, and fine arts.
The Museum is located three miles north of historic
downtown Flagstaff on Highway 180, on the way to the
Grand Canyon. Festival admission is $7 adults, $6
seniors (65+), $5 students, $4 Native people, $4
children (7–17), and free to Museum members.
Become a member today, in time to attend the Navajo
Festival Members’ Preview, Arts Award Ceremony, and
Silent Auction on Friday evening, August 6. For more
information, go to musnaz.org or call 928/774-5213.
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