Welcome August! At the Museum this month, we’re warming up for some end-of-summer fun and an awe-inspiring open house. Please join us this week as we rock to the tunes of Black Lemon for our final Thirsty Thursday of the year. Then, take time for our free Easton Collection Center Open House on August 24. The center is an architectural marvel where the Museum cares for and preserves its vast collection of pottery, weavings, paintings, carvings, jewelry, photographs, and much more. Seeing the Journey murals by Hopi artists Michael Kabotie and Delbridge Honanie (detail shown above) is a delightful experience in itself. The annual open house is an opportunity for all to tour the center, engage with our collections staff and curators, and ask questions about the collections.

Whether a first-time visitor or a regular guest to the Museum of Northern Arizona, you’ll be amazed to see and learn something new about the Colorado Plateau. I hope to see you soon.

Executive Director & CEO

Museum of Northern Arizona

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Mark Your Calendar

Easton Collection Center Open House

August 24, 10 am-2 pm

Join us for a free, unique opportunity to see art normally kept in protective spaces in the Easton Collection Center. Museum of Northern Arizona collections staff and curators will be present for discussions and to answer your questions. The MNA fine art collection contains more than 2,000 works with a focus on Indigenous artists and Anglo-American artists who were among the first to visit and record the landscapes and people of the Colorado Plateau. Don’t miss it!

Tour Guide Boot Camp Series

Yes, And: Improv for Tour Guides is the first session of a four-part free learning series presented by the Museum. Learn how to be an engaging tour guide with improvisational coach Garrison Garcia, founder of Flagstaff Foundry. Garrison will share techniques for enhancing listening skills, creating dialogue with visitors, and fostering community and laughter. Seats are limited. Please RSVP to ssiskonen@musnaz.org.The series continues with September 21, October 5, and November 2 workshops.

Calling LatinX Artists, Creators, Vendors

Celebraciones de la Gente, a community celebration presented by the Museum of Northern Arizona and Flagstaff Nuestras Raices,takes place October 26-27 at the Museum. We are seeking artists, creatives, and vendors who would enjoy selling their work at the festival. Don’t miss this chance to be a part of this vibrant celebration. Send an email to ctaillac@musnaz.org or call (928) 440-6480. Gracias por tu interés.

Hopi Harvey Project Cultural Talk

Save the date for an illuminating presentation by Colleen Lucero on September 15 at the Museum. Founder of the Hopi Harvey Project, Lucero has spent a decade documenting the stories of Hopi elders who had worked for the Fred Harvey Company. She will discuss how conquest, commerce, and fictional narratives transformed Native American life during the 19th-century travel boom. The talk intersects with our Selling the Southwest exhibit.

Great Time at Discovery Camps

We’re grateful to everyone who helped make our 2024 Discovery Camps successful. More than 60 kids participated in the summer camps, learning about art, culture, and science on the Colorado Plateau. The camps engage children with authentic experiences taught by knowledgeable and enthusiastic educators. The Arizona Daily Sun featured youngsters taking part in cultural camps this year. Become a Museum Membertoday for discounts and the first chance at Discover Camp enrollment in 2025.

Local artists will be teaching classes in ceramics, drawing, watercolor, and landscape painting in Discover Village at MNA starting in September. See our classes page and social media for coming details.

The Grand Canyon Dragon Map

This highly anticipated exhibition explores the origins, heritage, and ongoing use of an iconic geology map first published by MNA in 1976. Alongside a display of the original map are rocks from the Grand Canyon formations, descriptions of the geologic layers, and bygone map-making instruments. Copies of the map and other related collectibles are for sale in the Museum Gift Shop.

Horse & Rider: A Southwest Story

The history of horses in North America is being rewritten as radiocarbon dating reveals that Indigenous people had ridden and cared for horses earlier than previously thought. The new research was the impetus for this exhibition that combines fine art and artifacts from the Museum’s collections with first-person accounts of the cultural and spiritual importance of horses in Diné, Hopi, and Zuni culture.

Selling the Southwest

In the early 20th century, travel industry entrepreneurs employed artists to create a sense of wonder and mystery about the American Southwest that attracted tourists and established a romanticized vision that has remained to this day. Many of the artists are now prominent names in the canon of classic Southwest art. See works by Thomas Moran, Louis Akin, and Gunnar Widforss, alongside pottery, rugs, jewelry, and artwork by Indigenous artists.

Turtle and Arrows Basket

This 14.5-inch diameter basket made of sumac and aniline dyes by Diné artist Jonathan Black features a turtle and arrows design. See the basket and other handmade, authentic Native American works at our Gift Shop, open daily 10-5 inside the Museum of Northern Arizona. Or shop online at shopmusnaz.org. All proceeds benefit the artists and the Museum.