Message from Mary – The museum’s exhibit building remains closed to visitors until city and state officials determine it is safe for gathering space to reopen. During this time of closure, it’s our intent to keep the museum staff working and bringing the museum to you through Facebook, Instagram and our website.
As you read this eNews you will see that we’ve been able to turn some scheduled events into virtual experiences, such as the Slow Art Day next weekend and the STEAM Second Saturday. We’re also adding regular videos with our experts, who will take you into our collections, through our exhibitions, and outdoors to watch spring unfold on the Colorado Plateau. Families with kids can look forward to a series of educational activities, starting next Friday.
With so much uncertainty about when people will again be able to gather, we have decided to move our largest summer events to fall. The 14th Annual Gala will take place on Saturday, August 29. The Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo festivals will be combined as a single Heritage Festival on the weekend of September 12.
We are also extending the two temporary exhibitions – The Force Is With Our People and Liberating Landscape – through the summer so people will have a chance to come see them once we reopen.
We continue to plan Summer Discovery Camps, and will begin taking signups this week, but we will not take any payments until May.
These are all very difficult decisions, necessitated by difficult times. MNA needs your support more than ever. We also feel what we do is more important than ever. In these stressful times it helps to notice beauty, whether it’s the beauty crafted by human hands or the beauty of the natural world. MNA will continue to try to bring you insights and images that will help transcend the fears we all face.
Mary Kershaw
Executive Director & CEO
Museum of Northern Arizona
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Flagstaff still waves
In this time when we must be physically apart, creative actions can bring us together. As part of the #CreativeFlagstaff campaign, MNA is launching a “Flagmob” on our front fence and hoping it will spread through the community. We’ve made more than 100 small flags for people to decorate and display. Flags have always been a way to send signals across distances, and sometimes prayers into the Universe. You will soon be able to pick up a flag a dropbox in the MNA parking lot. Or follow these instructions to make your own. We can no longer shake hands, but we can still wave.
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Learn about plants
Facebook Live, Tuesdays at noon
With gyms and schools closed, many of us are returning to the simple pleasure of a walk outdoors. Starting this week, MNA plant and garden experts will share knowledge on Tuesdays. In the first video, native plant expert Jan Busco pointed out a few of the earliest spring plants. This coming Tuesday, Carol Fritzinger will give a tour of the Colton Garden and some tips for how to start growing your own food.
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Watch video on Facebook
Celebrate Archaeology Month with a peek at some objects from Walnut Canyon. Gwen Gallenstein, the museum curator for the Flagstaff Area Monuments, takes us into the Easton Collection Center to see sandals, cordage, split twig figures and other items, some 4,000 years old. The video was posted to Facebook on March 26. More videos will be posted in coming weeks.
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Poetry on the Plateau
ONLINE mid-April
As part of National Poetry Month, creative writing students from NAU will share the poems they have written inspired by the Liberating Landscape exhibition. These poems will be posted on the MNA Facebook page in April. If you’d like to work on your own poetry or writing, join the MNA writers group, currently meeting via conference call on alternate Wednesdays from 5-7 pm. Emailfor information.
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Colton Talk: Subterranean Biology
Webinar on Tuesday April 28, 7 pm
MNA researchers have renewed a longstanding tradition of gathering to discuss scientific discoveries, theories, and questions. For now, those discussions will take place as webinars. Register to join the discussion as Dr. Jut Wynn of the Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research presents a road map for protecting the ecosystems found in caves.
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Family Fridays
Facebook Live stream on Fridays at 10:00 am
Starting on April 3, families can follow along on Facebook as MNA educator Mari Soliday presents a short program for kids. From dinosaurs to prehistoric tools, each program will be based on an aspect of the museum, then lead up to a hands-on activity kids can do at home. The materials for each project will be items commonly found around the house.
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STEAM Second Saturday: Arthropods
Facebook Live stream on April 11, 2:00 pm
Arthropods are the most abundant and diverse organisms on the planet. Paige Chesshire from NAU will live stream a bug show-and-tell on the MNA Facebook page. Learn the important role in the food supply of many insects and spiders as pollinators of crops. Viewers will be able to submit question and a hands-on activity will be posted to our musnaz.org for families to download and do at home.
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To help keep kids entertained and educated at home, we’ve put some of the museum activities online. So far you can download coloring pages from The Force Is With Our People, Stormtrooper masks, Wookie fortune tellers, ant lab books, and a fun project to design your own muginspired by Nampeyo. More activities will be added weekly.
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Summer Discovery Camps
June 8-July 31
With the kids home for a few weeks, it’s a fine time to start planning for when they will be home for the whole summer. The Discovery summer camp schedules are now online. All the summer camps are held as small groups, with plenty of outdoor space, and many of the camps involve hikes and field trips. At this time of uncertainty, we are collecting registrations only to hold your place; payments will be made in May when we are able to confirm the 2020 summer camp season
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Liberating Landscape
Images posted Mondays on Facebook & Instagram
Inspired and empowered by the dramatic landscapes of the American Southwest, women took the lead in developing the arts of the region from 1900 to 1940. This exhibition features pottery, photographs, paintings, and drawings of six women artists: Nampeyo, Kate Cory, Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, Nora Lucy Mowbray Cundell, Harriet Morton Holmes, and Lillian Wilhelm Smith. Until you can come see it in person, we’ll be posting images every Monday.
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The Force Is With Our People
Virtual tour coming soon
Whether you’re a Star Wars fan, an art lover, or interested in Native cultures, this exhibition has something to engage everyone. The exhibition features work by more than 20 contemporary Native artists who were influenced by Star Wars and explores the reasons Star Wars resonates with them. It includes fine art, jewelry, pottery, and a full-size robot. Learn more here. Until you can come visit in person, try creating your own Star Wars inspired art at home.
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April and May Ventures Trips canceled:
Churro Sheep and Rock Art Ranch
Verde River Day Float
Oak Creek Canyon-West Fork Hike
Slate Mountain
Four Grand Day Hikes at the South Rim
These trips have been canceled for now. Anyone who had signed up will be contacted. Watch the website for when those will be rescheduled.
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May 7-14, 2021
With all the plans for this spring cancelled, put something on the calendar to look forward to: this seven-day, six-night rafting trip on the Colorado River with Grand Canyon geologist and expert Wayne Ranney. Sign up by calling 928-774-5211 ext. 222 or Online.
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Help solve museum mysteries
Are you interested in spending time at home researching objects from the MNA collection? Would you be willing to transcribe handwritten documents from the archives? There are still lots of ways to help MNA while the museum is closed. Email msoliday@musnaz.org for details and to volunteer.
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Trail work day
Saturday, April 11, 8 am -1 pm
Opening celebration at 1 pm
Get a good workout, outdoors in the fresh air. Help improve the nature trail where the Rio de Flag runs between the rock walls of a small canyon beside the museum. Volunteer tasks will range from weeding and pruning to heavy labor. Email msoliday@musnaz.org for details and to volunteer.
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Community members are raising funds to conserve a key 18-acre parcel within the 90-acre Colton Meadows. Parcel D is sandwiched between two pieces of land already slated for permanent conservation easements. If Parcel D can be conserved, it preserves for perpetuity a continuous wildlife migration route and human social trail. So far more than $100,000 of the needed $600,000 for Parcel D has been raised. Find out more by watching the video of the Feb. 16 public meeting or emailing meadows@musnaz.org.
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Share a plant story
Do you have a favorite plant, gardening memory or recipe? Plants provide food, healing and beauty. MNA volunteer Laura Davis is collecting plant-related stories and memories. These might be your own direct experiences or passed down from elders. Some of the stories will be shared on the MNA Facebook page. Send your stories to mmgardens@q.com .
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Heritage Festival artist applications
This year the Zuni, Hopi and Navajo festivals are being combined into a single Heritage Festival September 12 & 13. This weekend festival provides an opportunity to meet, demonstrate, and sell your art. Artists who sign up early will be featured on MNA’s Facebook page. Artists can use the applications currently online for the Zuni, Hopi, Navajo festivals. Send questions and inquiries to ageorge@musnaz.org.
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The museum doors are closed, but the shops remain open online. Browse through incredible pieces of art, like this alabaster “Mystic Warrior” carving by Marvin Toya. Marvin selects each stone and studies its shape to determine what he will carve. He also makes and plays flutes, and is inspired by his families participation in traditional dancing. You’re purchases help the artists and the museum.
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The t-shirts you are looking for
The one-of-a-kind HOPI-R2 can’t take any visitors for a while, but you can still bring the t-shirt home. These popular t-shirts show both the front and back of the droid painted by artist Duane Koyawena and come in adult and child sizes. The Museum Bookstore just received a new order, so buy yours online before they sell out again.
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Select Museum of Northern Arizona to support MNA with every purchase when you buy through Amazonsmile.
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